Up to 40 percent of the cost of installing solar panels onto your home or business isn't related to hardware at all, but rather due to complications from "soft costs," like permitting, zoning, and hooking your system up to the power grid. In fact, according to a report released earlier this year by SunRun, local permitting and inspection processes alone add more than $2,500 per residential installation nationwide. To add to the problem, permitting and other processes are often complicated and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In order to make solar energy competitive with other types of energy, it will be...