[SSN558]

I took a couple of semesters of Solar Engineering when I was doing graduate work in Sac. You do the math and find out all of SMUDS claims were nothing more than a fraudlent sales pitch for federal money and tax credits. None the less a few students that were willing to propagate the company lie got jobs.

There is no technology that can make use of the incident sunlight in Northern California and turn it into a viable energy replacement. Basically they don't have enough annual sunlight. Solar energy doesn't become a viable consideration until you get down around Los Vegas and El Paso. Even in Los Vegas it would take solar collectors of about 25,000 square miles not including the service roads to supply all of the cities heating needs.

You can find the facts in the Building Code or an ASHRAE handbook.

[null and void]

I have a small solar array on my roof. My electric bill was 32¢ last month. At this rate it will pay for itself in 20 years or so.

I'd love to have a larger array (the DC to AC converter can take 4 times the power I generate). But, by California law, any power I generate above what I actually use is a GIFT to PG&E...