Oct. 12, 2022

Good Afternoon, Dude. I’m Solar Sam, Your Solar SalesBot

How will solar sales be different in the year 2040? 

Today’s solar sales experience is fairly familiar: You call for a solar quote. Or maybe someone comes to your door to set an appointment. Then you give some basic info about your electric bill, and the salesperson uses software to quickly generate a quote. And then you think about it, maybe compare it to other quotes. It’s a little painful and fairly easy, but could it be even easier in the future?

And if it could be easier, at what cost to your personal life and privacy?  And speaking of privacy, this Probably True Solar Story does reference when two people fall in love, yada, yada, yada. So  you should probably listen to this one when young kids aren't listening and it's just you and your significant other...

True solar takeaways:

  • Ideally, your solar panels should face South in the Northern Hemisphere. If designing a home, Sothern exposure can also provide energy-saving natural lighting and heating benefits.  
  • You need to make sure that any trees are trimmed below the solar panels
  • Your home's wiring and fuse box may need an upgrade.
  • Solar can come with batteries for backup power, but it's an option, not a necessity. Today's grid is still 99% reliable, but if you want peace of mind for three days out of the year, go for it. 
  • If you're getting new air conditioning, consider a heat pump, which both heats and cools the air.
  • Get all solar quotes in $/DC watt so that you can compare apples-to-apples pricing. In other words, "$3.00/DC watt" could be one quote. $3.25/DC watt is another quote. If all have quality equipment and good online reviews, select the least expensive one.