I used to work for a plumbing and heating company that had opened a little side business, selling, and installing solar panels, in the early 80's when I gather there were various tax rebates available. The thing I remember most was that they got a lot of calls from customers having problems with tracking. I guess the units are supposed to follow the sun so that they collect more energy.

I don't see any advertising for these anymore, but I know the newspaper did write an article about a woman here who had bought a very expensive unit, because of her concerns for the environment. I think she probably sold back to the utility, but I still don't think she would ever recoup anything. This is a very sunny environment, so if it gonna work it will work in a place like this.

I was under the impression though that solar energy would provide electricity. Do you heat with electricity?

I would do a lot of investigating before I jumped into something like this - the plumbing and heating company I worked for I think concentrated on the sales staff in their solar business - and I think it was probably fairly high pressure.

Tax credits are also available for insulation and energy efficient windows, I believe. I think that might be a more cost-effective place to start, and if you want to reduce you electrical usage, the fluorescent light bulbs and energy efficient appliances, when appliances need to be replaced, really do help a lot.

The Dept of Energy website might be able to help you and I know I called the DOE when I was thinking about getting cellulose insulation, and the man was able to kind of give me his opinions.

By the way that website used to have a do it yourself energy audit somewhere on it, based on your location, how many in your house, # of rooms and a lot of other factors that I remember finding very interesting.

In fact, here it is: http://hes.lbl.gov/