Denver: 300 Sunny Days a Year

The web site of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation says that Denver has 300 sunny days a year, more than San Diego or Miami Beach! Sooooooo, why don't we have solar panels on every single house and business roof (unimpeded by trees of course) on the Front Range?

That's a rhetorical question of course. There are many reasons why there are aren't solar panels littering the Denver landscape. Probably the biggest reason is cost. The average U.S. household uses about 800 kilowatt hours per month. A photovoltaic (PV) system cost about anywhere from 5-7 bucks a watt. After doing the math the PV system can cost around $40,000-$50,000. Now that is a bit on the high end. There are many factors that contribute to the cost of a PV system like how much sun you get in your area and how many kilowatt hours you actually use in your household and how many you want to offset. But to put it succinctly, for the average joe or jane a PV system is cost prohibitive in the short term (long term it's a great investment). Who has 40 to 50 G's to drop in order to offset their entire household's energy needs? Don't worry, the price will be coming down.

Another reason could be home owner's associations (HOA's). I've heard from two people now that their HOA's would never let them put up solar panels because they are such an eyesore. Now, I've never personally owned a place where there was an HOA, you'll have to forgive me if I wonder aloud why someone would see clean energy as an eyesore. After a little more research I'll have a deeper discussion on this.

And one last reason that demand for PV systems is low might be because of general education. Homeowners in general really have no reason to educate themselves on PV systems because they are high in cost and I've heard that city or county inspectors don't really know how to inspect a PV system. So everybody is in the dark.

I suspect that there are more reasons. What do you think?