Solar During a Grid Outage: What Nobody Told Me
I want to tell you about the conversation I had with my neighbor Dave, eight months after my solar install. There was a grid outage — a utility fault two streets over, about 4 hours in the middle of…
Solar Basics
Solar installation guides and reviews: from DIY rooftop panels to full home systems. Real costs, real savings, and what to expect from the process.
Ground Mount vs Rooftop Solar: When to Pay More
My panels are on my roof. That was the obvious choice for my house — good southern exposure, appropriate pitch, relatively new roof. But during my research phase, I spent time understanding ground…
Solar Financing: Why I Paid Cash (Real Numbers)
I paid $26,040 cash for my solar system. No loan, no lease, no PPA. When I tell people that, the reaction is usually either “wow, good for you” or “that seems like a lot of cash to…
Net Metering: What My Utility Actually Pays Me
When I was researching solar, every installer pitched net metering like it was a magical one-for-one exchange: “Every kWh you send to the grid is like spinning your meter backwards!”…
Solar + EV Charging: Does Adding a Car Change the Math?
Six months after my solar install, I bought a used 2022 Chevy Bolt EV. I want to be clear that I did not buy it to “complete my solar setup” — I needed to replace my aging Civic and the…
7 Solar Quotes Via EnergySage: Zero Sales Pressure
Before I found EnergySage, I made the mistake of filling out a “get a free solar quote” form on some random website. Within 48 hours I had received 11 phone calls, 6 texts, and 3 emails…
Solar in Cloudy Ohio: My Real Winter Production Numbers
When I was researching solar, every Ohio skeptic had the same response: “But you live in Columbus. It’s cloudy all the time.” I heard this from neighbors, coworkers, and most…
Federal Solar Tax Credit 2026: How to Actually Claim It
I filed my taxes two months ago and got a $7,812 federal tax credit from my solar installation. Not a deduction — a credit. That’s a dollar-for-dollar reduction in what I owed the IRS, and…
Solar Panel Maintenance: Spoiler, It’s Almost Nothing
Solar Panel Maintenance: What You Actually Need to Do (Spoiler: Very Little) When I was in the research phase — after I’d already worked out exactly how many panels I needed and understood my…
DIY Energy Audit: Found $200/Month in Waste
DIY Home Energy Audit: The Weekend Project That Showed Me Where $200/Month Was Going Before I got serious about solar — the seriousness kicked in when my bill hit $412 in a single month — I made a…
Time-of-Use Rates: How I Cut My Electric Bill 40%
Time-of-Use Electric Rates: How I Gamed My Utility and Cut My Bill 40% I want to be careful with the word “gamed” here, because what I actually did was completely above-board — I just…
What Solar Salespeople Won’t Tell You: 6-Month Dive
What Solar Salespeople Don’t Tell You: My 6-Month Research Deep Dive I’m a mechanical engineer. I spend my days analyzing tolerances, running failure mode analyses, and questioning every…