Understanding Solar Energy

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.

Assuming you would stay in Chicago for other reasons, the solution for a high heating bill is 1) air seal and upgrade insulation in your house, and then 2) replace your furnace with a low temperature heat pump.

Chicago has electricity prices 25% lower than the national average. If you want to see an example in your area, watch Technology Connections heat pump videos on YouTube.

Air seal and upgrading insulation: correct me if I'm wrong, but that implies either tearing open all of the exterior walls or ripping off all of the siding, no? If so, it feels like it would take a LONG time to recoup the cost of materials and labor for that job, unless there was literally no insulation in there to begin with.

Alex is a smart guy, and he makes a lot of convincing agruments in favor of heat pumps, but the thing he consistently sweeps under the rug is that for about half the US (and all of Canada), the annual cost to run a heat pump sits well between a natural gas furnace and resistive heating. And the further north you go, the more it shifts to the right. I run the numbers every few years and for my specific house, I'd pay 30% more to run a heat pump instead of a furnace. (Before factoring in the cost of the unit itself and installation labor.)

Where I live, the only way heat pumps make economical sense is if natural gas gets dramatically more expensive, or if solar gets cheap enough that every household can afford a roof full of solar panels and a basement full of batteries. (Which to be honest is kinda my dream situation anyway.)