no. you’ll need more equipment besides the panels, and they don’t put out that much power anyway. also, consider the weather conditions where you live. a key data element you want to look at is direct radiation. you might be able to find suitable values for that from your nearest airports weather data collection system. to my knowledge the panels have a lifespan of about 25 years. unfortunately, this is also about their break-even point in terms of cost.
Can you economically break even with solar energy as an individual? Sure. It will take a while, even with support from the government, unless you have a very good electricity tariff, in which case you can’t. But then you would have more money over for solar panels, anyway… ![]()
The question I would ask myself is if solar energy is the best investment of my money to help the environment. In my case it wasn’t, YET. For one thing, we had old appliances. Replacement of all incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent lights, a new fridge for $800 and a new washer/drier for $1000 have cut our consumption from 280kWh/month to 150kWh/month. We got a hybrid a couple months ago, which cuts our CO2 budget for commuting by more than half.
I also replaced a bunch of bulbs at work and I have optimized my computers not to run when I am not there. These measures cost only a few dollars, yet save solar panels worth $10,000.
Next thing will be to insulate the windows better for winter.
And then, some way down the road, I will invest more in solar with the goal of actually becoming a net producer at home to offset my energy use in agriculture etc.. But personally I am not doing it for financial return, anyway.
Solar energy and carbon budgeting are an economics 101 problem. One should invest money first in things that return the most the cheapest. Solar cells amortize in three to five years energetically, luminescent bulbs in probably three to six months. The new car amortizes financially almost immediately, leaving more money over for investments in other energy saving/producing technology. So if you have exhausted all your other options, go for solar. But there are usually a lot of things before that which make more sense - for you AND the environment.