I think the age of solar panels may well be upon us. I just heard that the IKEA store down in Charlotte has started installing solar panels on the top of their store. The roof apparently stretches over 3 acres, all of which can be used to collect sunlight. That 3 acres of rooftop can be used to produce electricity for the store. IKEA estimates that it will save them about $25,000 a month in energy costs. Now it doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out if they have 3 acres of rooftop and they can produce enough electricity to supply over 120 homes, I would have a decent shot at doing the same for my house with just my rooftop.
My question for a general contractor would be, “why aren’t we hearing more about solar panels that you can put on your own house”? I would like to get solar panels on my house and then I would know that I can produce my own electricity and I wouldn’t have to use coal or or nuclear power or whatever other ways that they make electricity. Not only would I be doing something good for the environment but I can also save some money. I wouldn’t have to go out and spend money to help the environment.
One of the other big benefits of solar power is that you could conceivably live “off the grid”. You could go get a Lake Norman custom home builder to build a home in a secluded part of the lake and you would still have electricity. You know you can’t really beat that. You could just have your own well put in the ground to run off the electricity from your solar system. It is those kinds of things that make me wonder exactly what kind of limitations there will be in the future as far as where you could live and where people will be living. I don’t think that traditional restrictions that we think of now with access to electricity, cable, telephone and water are going to be that much of big deal.
If you start to factor in wind power the possibilities expand even further. Wind power gives you the ability to generate electricity at times when the sun is just not producing, such as during cloudy weather. I can imagine a scenario where solar power, wind power and an emergency auxiliary generator could allow you to live in even the most remote area without much difficulty.
Satellite communication is presently more expensive than most people will pay today, but look at the explosion of global positioning satellite units. What seemed like twilight zone technology when I was a kid is now so commonplace that it is an app that I can download from the app store in a minute.
When you search for home builder Mooresville, tell them you are interested in solar power and see what they can tell you. You may be surprised.