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posted by
Fnord666
on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:34PM
from the the-future-is-looking-brighter dept.
from the the-future-is-looking-brighter dept.
New data from the Solar Jobs Census 2016 shows that employment in the solar-power industry increased by a historic 25% nationwide from 2015 to 2016, for a total of 260,077 workers.
The industry added 51,218 new jobs in 2016, a growth rate about 17 times faster than that of the overall U.S. economy, which grew by 1.45%. One out of every 50 new jobs added in the U.S. was created by the solar industry, representing 2% percent of all new jobs.
Growth occurred in 44 of the 50 states. And in 21 states, solar jobs grew by 50% or more, according to The Solar Foundation.
Competition among manufacturers has already brought down the cost of panels to grid parity in many places. Competition in installation can't help but bring those costs down, too.
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Solar Power-Related Jobs in U.S. Grew 25% in 2016
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Grelb's Reminder:
Eighty percent of all people consider themselves to be above
average drivers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:48PM (6 children)
Tesla's big solar cell factory in Buffalo is supposed to start making solar shingles in the near future:
http://buffalonews.com/2017/03/24/tesla-start-taking-orders-solar-roof-april-elon-musk-says/ [buffalonews.com]
If your house needs a new shingled roof, consider this as a 2-birds-with-one-stone option.
No good for me, just spent $12K on new regular shingles a few years ago...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @08:35PM (5 children)
My roof is right on the edge, 25 year old asphalt shingles.
I'd like to do it. But I don't want to be a guinea pig.
So I'm probably going to go with a metal roof and regular solar panels.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:12PM (4 children)
My advice to both anons is read your local building code, hopefully online.
To install solar panels where I live you need an architect or CivEng signoff on roof loads for the panels.
Also to the anon putting up sheet metal that stuff is heavy and you might need a signoff, again its heavy, or can be. I would if I went metal.
Anyway my point is if the CivEng says replace your 1/4 inch particle board sheets with 3/4 ply or bulk your trusses up by doubling them with 2x6s or WTF to hold your solar panels up, in some situations blah blah it might be cheaper to upgrade the roof surface and structure before you put the new roof up even if you don't put the panels up.
I'm kicking myself for this now, as I got a new roof about 5 yrs ago and I wonder if I'd need to rip it off to upgrade the innards to hold panels.
If you're gonna install panels sooner or later you can get signed off by an eng now before you get your roof, even if you don't put up panels. Could save you anons some money. So you cheap bastards could use some of your saved money to subscribe to SN and get the nifty yellow stars by your names, hint hint.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:25PM (1 child)
My neighbor, who works for Vivint Solar, told me they they finally understood that people like me want to sign a single check for a new roof and panels (because i don't want anyone to play the blame-the-other-guy game for months if I get leaks).
My roof is not going to last much longer, but my bank account isn't looking forward to this. (nope, not leasing)
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Thursday March 30 2017, @04:51AM
"finally".
I guess you don't have Petersen Dean advertising almost constantly in your area.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @10:19PM
First anon here. When I had my roof done, the old shingles were cracking and mossy on the north side, but no leaks. Once the two original layers were off, the roofers were very complimentary, the sheathing is 3/4" real plywood from 1963 and everything was super solid, no signs of past leaking or other problem. Plenty of strength to support the weight differential between asphalt shingles and glass/solar shingles (but probably not heavy slate tiles--that isn't a common roofing material around here). Sigh...it will be another 25-30 years before this house is ready for another roof.
Did you look at the photo in the Buffalo News article? By shingling the whole roof, it looks *different* from shingles, but probably would not upset the neighbors because it is uniform. If you happen to live in an area where the neighbors object to "things" then putting up separate solar panels can raise some eyebrows.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @11:41PM
Also to the anon putting up sheet metal that stuff is heavy and you might need a signoff, again its heavy, or can be. I would if I went metal.
And my advice to your fool ass to is just shut the fuck up already.
(a) It is not sheet metal, its either metal shingles or standing-seam, nobody uses sheet-metal for roofing
(b) It weighs substantially less than asphalt shingles, asphalt is fucking heavy