Henry Dover answers:

Not to be supercillious, but the others are right, in that if you have to ask this question, you should be seeking the help of an electrician. The service panel is nothing to be trifled with.

I’m taking a wild guess, but it sounds like you have a very small solar setup, and the inverter is not designed for grid-tie. If that is the case, you may wish to simply wire a completely independent circuit for your solar, or just use an extension cord / power strip to power a few devices. At least, that would be the best thing to do at first, to get a feel for how much power the system puts out.

Henry Dover answers:

That’s a very interesting question.

Did liberal programs back in the first half of the 20th century make it harder for us to have clean power today?

I never put the two together.

Henry Dover answers:

Oil companies have politicians in their MySpace. They’re friends with benefits. Lots and lots of benefits.

Henry Dover answers:

I don’t even see the need to debate- they should be provided incentives to build them. It costs to build the technology into the homes, but once built they pay for themselves in savings.

Do you mean that discussion should be encouraged? Yes by all means. And you’re doing that. Thank you! Now write you legislators at all levels until one of them does something about it.

Henry Dover answers:

It depends. Outfitting a house for solar costs upwards $50,000 and the economics are so bad that people have to say it “increases your home value”, and you need heavy subsidies so it doesn’t look completely ridiculous.

Just how much it “increases your home value” suddenly gets nebulous as a web search quickly reveals.

Most people go solar on general principle, and a solar home might appeal to a buyer in the same frame of mind, but otherwise, don’t expect it to be a good investment.

According to Money magazine, the best renovation projects are:

“… Updating your kitchen, renovating your bathroom and making outdoor space more usable.”

A home’s value is based on location and then within the same sub-division, square footage. Hence a home in Cary, North Carolina that runs $300,000 can cost $1.3 million in Calilfornia.

Someone buying a $1.3 million home in California might not worry about a $50,000 solar system thrown in, but in Cary, NC it would definitely turn away some buyers if it made a $200,000 home suddenly cost $250,000.

Quite frankly, I would avoid a solar home because of the maintenance and attention it would require. When you buy utility power, anything bad that happens up to your meter, is the utility’s problem.

With solar you need to wash the solar panels, take care of batteries that don’t last forever, and generally have to pay a heck of a lot more attention to your home power supply than with utility power.

I would much rather waste time spewing on Yahoo than have to worry day to day about my home power supply.

Since I gather you have already installed solar, just take satisfaction in becoming energy efficient and don’t expect it to have much effect on your home’s value one way or the other.