Residential Solar Energy

Like anyone else, I'd like to save some money on my utility bills. I have wondered from time to time if I would benefit from solar energy at home. I see the panels on houses here and there but don't know much about it. Then along came Vince Hough's Residential Solar Energy: Your Guide to Whether Solar Will Save You Money. That sounded like just what I needed!

Hough has done his homework, and we get the benefit. He covers how solar works, which was really more than I wanted to know, but it's important to have some understanding if you're considering a major commitment like installing solar panels. More importantly, he discusses the variety of regulatory and financing issues to be considered.

The problem is that every state is different, and regulations may even vary on the local level. The good news is that Hough's treatment will give you an understanding of the options that are out there. Once you begin to research what is available in your area, you will have the knowledge to compare programs. The bad news is that with the variety of programs that exists around the country, finding what you need on the local level can be a challenge. Hough gives some tools to get there, including web sites, books, and other resources.

At this point, I'm not sure solar makes sense financially for my house. Hough says "a very rough rule of thumb says that you should adopt solar if the local utility retail rate is more than $.12 per kWh." My last bill shows I pay $.1161, so it's probably a wash. Plus, I would have to consider the initial outlay of purchasing a system, versus leasing or renting a system. But, as Hough points out, solar power is becoming less expensive, and is the "most cost-effective clean energy alternative for replacing the residential energy provided by fossil fuels."

Solar power keeps getting cheaper and more efficient. I suspect it won't be long until many of us power our homes from the abundant energy of the sun, and Hough will be leading the way.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Before I even read this book I could tell I was going to appreciate the author because the subtitle is ‘your guide to whether solar will save you money’. I like his way of thinking!


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Let me explain about myself a bit: I’m not crunchy and green. I don’t freak out if some plastic gets thrown in my garbage can and I don’t crank my AC up to 85F so we don’t use the electricity. I want to be moderately comfortable and I want to save money while still doing things to help keep a cap on pollution but I don’t go nutty about it, okay? Right away the author appealed to my sense of cents, as it were, and I appreciate that a lot. You’re not going to sway me to put in solar just to give up our hydroelectric wattage to save penguins in Timbuktu.


This is not a book on HOW to build a solar grid for yourself but it will help you to assess whether solar is right for your needs so if you’re thinking about solar cells for your house I’d look at a book like this first thing. Otherwise you might get overwhelmed with all the options and choices and not know where to turn like we did several years ago and decide that it’s just not worth the bother. But after reading this it gave me a new view on solar energy and I think we’re ready to give it another go this year.


Mr. Hough lays out everything so you can understand the basics and he even explains ways that you can get solar power set up on your house for free. For those who are serious about building a self sufficient homestead, having a reliable source of energy that doesn’t rely on the vagaries of local government or stability of the infrastructure is a must. I would suggest picking up this book along with one on wind power and hydroelectric for those who live on the water.

I would highly recommend this book! I do not have my own place yet, but have been really wanting for it to be solar powered when I did get a place. This book came along at the perfect time, it has a lot of great & useful information to teach about the different systems & which ones would be most cost effective for you. I will definitely be using this book in the future when I do get my own place!

This book is full of so much information. If you are being harassed by solar companies to buy from them. If you want to know what's best for your home, lifestyle and environment this is the read for you. Mostly easy to understand, it will help guide you through endless questions about how different solar-powered systems work.

This book is exactly what the title says it is about, telling you if you will save money using solar energy to power your home and other buildings. I liked that it is easy to understand and full of really good graphics to explain in details what you probably do not know about solar energy and how it works.

I requested this book because I'm thinking of adding solar panels to my home, and wondered what was involved in this decision. This book provided me with the tools to figure out whether this is a financially viable option for me. It introduced me to the language of solar--names of components, types of systems, then provided several resources for calculating the ROI on such a project. I thought it was an excellent resource for the homeowner who isn't really familiar with the concept and wants to learn. Diagrams helped the reader to visualize how things would look, and also maps/graphs helped to visually demonstrate various important factors such as state laws and availability of sunlight. I'd buy this book!