This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use

Thanks for all the email, comments in the forum, and comments on other forums (I’m looking at you, Slashdot!).



Because that article was so widely read—more widely read than the first two articles in the series—I received a number of questions and comments that deserve some elaboration. So let’s dive into them.

Cool Article. Are there other articles?

Glad you asked. The Solar Power: One Month Later is the third in a series of articles I’ve written on my personal exploration of solar power.

The initial article, Checking Out Solar Power dealt with my initial thinking on the subject, including reasons why, plus the bidding process.

The second in the series, Going Solar: The Install discussed the physical installation process.

How much did it cost?

I talk about costs in the first two articles, but to give round numbers, the total cost of the system was roughly $55,000 before rebates. The California Solar Initiative kicked in about $11,500, which brought our out-of-pocket expense down to $43,500. My wife’s company has a deal with Sunpower, so she qualified for an additional rebate of $4,750.

That brought our final cost down to about $38,750. Again, those are round numbers, but pretty close to the mark.

We’ll also be getting another $2,000 tax credit when we file our 2009 tax return. Continued…