Yup. Solar needs to be installed at an angle to work. Interesting about firefighters. I wonder if that would impact tiles. I do not expect the 30% tax credit to be around any longer, so I am discounting it.
Sorry that I brought up the roof which is somewhat off topic, but not completely. I now find ourselves thinking “will this product last 20-30 years we plan on staying in this house?” All the time! 
That was not the case with our previous houses.
I wonder what the impact is with homeowners insurance?
I did watch a local news segment recently about training firefighters for solar roofs due to the increased use and related risks/issues, a lot of which have to do with the electrification.
https://www.wired.com/2017/05/rooftop-solar-panels-great-planet-terrible-firefighters/
Well, no Tesla roof for us. We’ll live with our leaky roof. Hey, I just saved $80,000 or so, right? Time to go spend it!
Do you get enough sun to get solar roof in Seattle?
Best places for wind and solar tend to be where the people aren’t. Transmission costs then become significant issue. Supplementing with wind/solar makes sense but costs need to come down a lot for the economics to really work. Storage needs to better develop as well.
I wouldn’t let hubby buy the car, but I will be interested in the roof someday when, hopefully, the price has dropped. Our current house came with solar, and we are enjoying an average electric bill of $62/month. Our previous, non-solar house (approx. same square footage) had summer bills as high as $450. The highest bill we’ve had here so far is $190. This house is extremely well-insulated, though. We’re able to completely shut off the heating/cooling system during the cooler months and that has resulted in a few net positive months with the electric company. Hubby would like to get off the grid completely, but we’ll have no incentive to look at that option until our current system expires.
We have a solar water heater and photovoltaic panels on our roof. Our electric bill is under $20, which is required so we can stay connected to the power grid and not have to store the power we produce.
With the PV panels, they can be removed and re-installed when you need to reroof for only about $500 or so, we were told when we installed the roof. Our roof is ideal in pitch and orientation for PV–only visible from the back yard. The panels only cover a small portion of the roof.
I don’t think the Tesla tiles will come down in price significantly unless there is economic incentive for them to lower the price - i.e. competition (although I’m sure they have these patented) or much lower energy prices (which I don’t see happening any time soon). But right now, Tesla owns all of the manufacturing and all of the installation.
They are selling them based on being able to get a certain return on your investment, and I am sure they are priced already so that most people will net a small amount of money over 30 years.
The trick is to price them low enough that the homeowner makes enough that he is willing to make the up-front investment, and not one penny lower. Otherwise Tesla is just giving money away.
You can probably expect a 30% price drop if the tax credits go away.
We only had to pay for 1/3 of the cost of our solar and PV, due to nice tax credits – federal and state. We have always been low users of electricity, now our electric bill is as low as it’s getting.
When our kids are home, we use some of the excess electricity we give back to the grid the rest of the year. The kids run their multiple computers and gadgets 24/7 their entire visit.
Well, Mr. just pointed out that I will have to postpone my retirement for a year to pay off the roof.
Seattle is actually a perfect place for solar. We rarely get extreme cold/hot temperatures so photovoltaics operate at optimal temperatures.
Wind is where people aren’t…unless you are 
This is changing my pre-retirement as I am now looking elsewhere in the county for a home and planning to sell the one I built 20 years ago for our lifetime home.
This is how I am obsessing this summer. Behemoth industrial wind turbines are coming to my township–100 of them in 2 townships. 600’ tall. Setbacks from residences, not property lines, a mere 660’…55 dB noise allowed (rural nighttime without turbines averages 20-25); 55 is 10-12x as much.
I thought zoning was to protect residents and property value? Our county appears more than willing to sell out those of us who live here.
Nothing screams rural tranquility like being surrounded by red flashing lights all night, property devaluation, and noise, not to mention ice and debris throw-- a realistic danger with such insanely short setbacks.
FYI:
https://www.civicsolar.com/support/installer/articles/how-solar-panel-temperature-affects-efficiency
To answer the question about Seattle.
@systress, holy smokes that’s invasive! They must have taken over the town zoning board. I’m sorry you’re being exposed to that. In my mind, when you ruin someone’s environment like that you need to buy them out.
We can’t figure out where to retire to until one of our offspring decides to settle down somewhere. It could take a decade, which is why I’m also on the Home Improvement thread. If we’re going to be here a while a few more things need updates.
Wow, @sryrstress! That is NUTS. 55 db is quite some humming… Wind turbines are an eyesore and a major nuisance.
Hopefully new designs in wind energy will prevail which will be less invasive and noisy such as:
https://www.wired.com/2015/05/future-wind-turbines-no-blades/
I really like solar/PV because it’s so QUIET. Wow, that’s a LOT of DB to be going 24/7!
I find wind turbines kind of pleasant and relaxing to look at, but I don’t think I’ve ever been within 660’ of the big ones. I don’t think I’ve ever even been close enough to hear one. 600 feet tall, wow, that’s a 50-story building.
I dunno… Every time we go to Maui the sight of those turbines makes my BP go up - not in a good way. Such an eyesore.
@notrichenough - did the city do its thing so you could get closer to that waterfront?
@BunsenBurner - the septic design was approved by the Conservation Commission on Wednesday, supposedly they’ve started digging already. I watched the video of the meeting, the entire process took 45 seconds. That is not a typo. So I don’t know why it took so long, but that’s the bureaucracy in action I guess.
With any luck we can close by mid-August. 
Then we tear out that carpet.