I know how we could save at least 30-40% in energy consumption. Why can't we do this?

Question:

Why can't we make roofing materials with solar panels? Make it law to require every new building to have it on the total area of the roof. And offer tax incentives to existing structures to upgrade. Residential and commercial. We would still use energy, but we could save a huge amount. The savings would pay for itself sooner than you think, and the benefit of how much total energy we would save as a nation would be unbelievable. It just seems simple to me. Why not? Write your congressman at congress.org and tell them. They listen. Numbers talk.

Answer:
it's obvious that its a great idea to make our house roofs all have solar panels. but the initial cost to buy them and install them to your house is very expensive. its just like buying a hybrid car. they tend to be more pricey then the average car. thats why its hard to spread them out to the people because of the costs.

Your plan sounds good on the surface, but in reality one must see the whole picture. If it were that simple to do, then don't you think we would be doing it already? Right now, building a roof of this nature would be out of reach for the average consumer due to cost. Solar panels are not cheap, and during heavy weather such as hail, wind, and ice, solar panels do not fair well. Given this cost, and the cost of doing maintenance every time one gets damaged, we would have to own an oil well to support the financial aspects of owning such a roof. I agree 100% with what you are saying, and believe if we really all stick together, we can make this a better planet to live on. When and if someone can come up with a competitive Eco friendly roof that will save energy, that would be a start in the right direction. People are going to do what is less expensive, and until the price of solar panels come down to earth, we can't make people buy in to something they can't afford. Same thing goes with cars; we have already many vehicles that are great on fuel savings, but the cost is so high that people just won't buy them. We must all band together, and find answers before we don't have an earth to stand on.

solar roof materials? see this story from 8 years ago
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3546...

the problem is the economic system that doesn't charge the full cost of fossil energy sources, see the stern report

UK planning standards http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads... will require homes to be carbon neutral in 20 years (including micro-generation) but expect the building & development industry to resist this all the way.

I think they already exist. I heard a story about it a few weeks ago. It is a company in Michigan, if I remember correctly.

I don't think they can make it law though. The american public likes choices and the people who make the laws would never be up for it.

The cost would be excessive. A modest sized roof panel system designed to produce about 4 kW of power costs about US$50,000. This simply cannot be recovered by the energy savings involved.

If you are interested go to Home Depot's web site and check it out. They have links to a neat calculator that will estimate your costs and savings.

I know how we could save at least 30-40% in energy consumption. Why can't we do this?

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