This is a great summary of the situation. I've been thinking about installing solar panels on my house, and been thinking about these same sorts of issues. Unfortunately, for my situation here near Chicago, things are much worse than the author's Atlanta: winter requires tons of energy here because it's very cold, and we have even less sun then.
It's one of the things that makes me think about wanting to move to Texas or Phoenix or something. Ample year round sun, and the big energy expense: climate control, corresponds much better to when you have it (you need to "cool" in the summer and the day). It rubs me the wrong way that here, our big energy cost is heating in the winter. It doesn't fit well with the utopian solar future I'm envisioning.
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