Just had a great conversation with Steve Patton of Bay Solar Power Design tonight. He was quite glad to tell me about the penetration of solar power in the Pacifica community. I recall many cloudy days in Pacifica. Now, if that sort of cloudy city can make a fair go of solar power installations, there's no reason why other locales cannot do even better.

San Francisco definitely got solarized by Vote Solar.

Steve shared with me a ballpark calculator for installing solar power in your home.

1. kWh day x 200 = Wattage of System Production

2. Wattage x $6.50 = Cost of Solar Power Installation

Examples:

Using 10 kWh/day would require 2 kW (2,000 watts) production x $6.50 = $13,000

And 40 kWh/day would be a 8 kW system, or $56,000.

Remember, call for discounts! Also look for energy efficiency savings around the home to cut down usage. Read your PG&E bill carefully.

The payback on most solar systems is rapidly dropping below 10 years now, and if the cost of energy goes up with rising oil and gas prices, then the savings should happen far sooner.

Mother Earth News ran an article on how to calculate your ROI once you get a price quote on a system. They even posted a solar power ROI calculator as an Excel spreadsheet.

The issue with solar power is that people have to see it as a long-term investment. In a world where the average savings is far down and many people are worrying about short-term money management, one might think to put it off. Yet it is an investment in one's home, and in the world.