Still looks a lot beter then the 8 i have

I still need to take a photo of the other eight - running 24 now.

Heh, I noticed the pool.... What are all those barrels floating in it?

You also got my curious if the greenhouse I built this year has updated on google maps.... not yet, only the frame of it is in the image. :P

Those are pads to help reduce water evaporation.

google maps still has my last car, from 10 years ago...

Yeah, one before showed things from five years ago ...

Really though, this is the best use for solar. No way in hell can solar be a primary(coal, nuclear, Hydro, natrual gas), or secondary(Wind, geothermal(due to location limitations)). It will always be third line power generation due to it's fickle nature. Best used where space would otherwise be wasted(roof's, over parking lots) to ease demand on primary and secondary whenever possible.

In this case it's to help lower how much power we have to pay for - and to have a little power whenever they drop the ball and the neighborhood goes dark.

doesn't look like much solar panels compared to the size of your home

That's just a third of the ones installed, a full five kilowatts worth at this point. Used that for a base as the solar controller could handle up to 80 amps and six sets of panels delivering up to 12.5 each came to 75 amps. Best solar power day so far was just under 22kWhs.

This is enough to 'just get by' in case the power goes out for a while, refrigerator and freezer keep their cool and microwave and a few fans and lights. I can split the batteries into two 15kWh banks, one was enough last winter and the second can help cover a cloudy/rainy day or two.

Something is better than nothing and if you've changed other things to make your home more energy efficient that might help push it further

LED lights everywhere and I typing this on the netbook (15 watts vs 100+ using the computer.) We could save more here and there, but until the mains go down I'm not going to tell an 83yo she can't do as she pleases (and she understands that if it all goes to heck she might be left reading by the glow of her kindle. )

all thats good for day to day energy use. Why use a 200-500w computer for typing up a document. I was thinking about more when you were running primarily off the solar

That looks rather like its one of thoes housing developments that have been so popular the last few decades. Just hope you do not have one of thoes hoa things, thoes things suck.
ALso, if you ever get the money, there are quite a few diferent pool heater designs out there.

House was built in '67, and while there is now a HOA we aren't a part of it. (When they tried to get my dad to sign up he told them that unless the HOA intends to pay off his mortgage and property taxes they don't get a say in what he can or can't do to/with his property. )

We did have a pool heater years ago (solar!) but the rubber-like tubes rotted in the sun after a decade or so and what use the pool got in the cooler times wasn't worth the cost of replacing it.

Another problem I have right now is some rather crappy neighbors who make doing anything in the back yard unpleasant.

Yah HOAs are a hell you wanna avoid. It really sounds and seems like a good idea, but, one way or another karins get in charge and then its all downhill. I read more horror storys of them than I do good ones, or even just vaugly resonable ones. Then once the karins are in charge, they start robbing everyone, and driving away anyone with a diferent viewpoint, so you eather end up with a war, or worse going on. Its kinda sad. I have also noticed that HOAs tend to have mostly very crapy people, so you end up with rather a bunch of jerks living around you.
Yah thoes rubber/plastic tubes never last. Well not the cheep ones that most bring use.

Yeah, yuotube has a lot of stories of people battling their HOAs.

And the solar pool heater lasted a decade or two before there was more leaks than warm water coming down. That's actually the third pool for the place. First was a 30' above-ground round one (bought second hand for a mere $100 - the old owners were getting an in-ground pool) that lasted us almost seven years (far side started rusting and it 'blew-out' in '77. Second pool was in-ground and had that solar heater. Dad even got an inflatable dome for it and they did use it a couple of winters. It started cracking due to ground shifts and we end up with the current one - which isn't seeing much use, but a few chemicals to keep it from getting too green and stinky is cheaper than having it filled in ...

Most do not realize tell too late, pools are huge money sinks.

Looks like you had fun...

Well that rather steep 'slide' coming off the roof was an old ladder wrapped in foam to protect the panels as I slid them up onto the roof. Only almost dropped two of them due to the wires I was using to pull them up being wet from the morning dew (god's hint not to try for too early a start!)

Yes the hazards of working on elevated areas.

your pool is to cold and to green to swim...... but right to hold a lot of of beer boxes......

According to Google Maps, I was living on an empty lot for several years!

Good thing people don't trust them to navigate with! ("But googlily maps told me to drive into that lake/ocean!")