Now to dispel some myths:
- Solar only works in direct sun on sunny days?
- Wrong, it charges all day, even on the dimmest days, sure it charges a minute amount less on cloudy days BUT it still charges!
- You can only use it in the daytime?
- Incorrect, the solar energy is stored in a standard battery array, either lead-acid (like a car battery) or Lithium Ion
- It is so expensive and won't really pay for itself?
- False! Even though your house may have 20 or so outlets on each floor, you only need to buy a setup to have enough power for the appliances/electronic devices you use. Also, you don't have to do your whole house; you can do a few outlets at a time, as I did, small steps.
- There are no stores or dealers that supply solar power equipment, it's too hard to find?
- Wrong again, there are now 100's of online and many local stores that will ship (and install) kits of what size you need. Most are now modular and you can add or remove modules as needed.
Now for some facts:
No noise, no smell, no refilling, no moving parts to break down, small footprint.
A high end commercial generator (can't say the name) with a 7 gallon tank runs for 16 hours before needing to be refilled.
At $3.70 a gallon for gas, that's $25.90 every 16 hours plus having to drive down and buy that gas.
If the power is out for 3 days for example, that's $116 for three days plus the gas in the car for the drive.
We have an average of 3 power outages per year here, obviously not all for 3 days but keep doing the math, this solar setup pays for itself exponentially quickly. No smell, no moving parts to break down, it's a no brainer!
Next power outage I'll be chillen easy, no waking up in the middle of the night to fill a gas generator or having to drive somewhere to actually get gas (and pay for it lol)