Rooftop Solar Leases Scaring Buyers When Homeowners Sell

Renewable Energy World
For people who own rooftop power systems, solar adds value to the home -- about $25,000 for the average installation in California, according to a study in December by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, funded by the U.S. Energy Department’s SunShot Initiative. Leased systems are another story because they’re considered personal property rather than part of a house. For many potential buyers, a solar lease is a liability rather than an asset, and may drive some people away.

More affluent, older, rural residents installing more solar

SolarServer
The U.K.'s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has released a new report which finds that solar photovoltaic (PV) installations through the nation's feed-in tariff (FiT) are concentrated in more affluent households with higher energy consumption. "Identifying trends in the deployment of domestic solar PV under the Feed-in Tariff scheme" also finds that rural areas have a greater density of domestic PV installations, as do areas with more educated, older residents.

New Study Finds Solar Panels Are "Contagious"

StumbleUpon
Are you more likely to install solar panels if your neighbor has them? A new study (PDF) out of Stanford says that you are. More specifically, it finds that for every 1 percent increase in the number of installations in a particular zip code, the time until the next adoption of solar decreases by 1 percent. Or, as Vote Solar's Adam Browning put it: Solar is contagious!