The most important thing you need to take away from this lesson is…

Before attempting to build an urban, suburban, or an off grid solar panels for your entire house, take my energy efficiency  course. It's free for being a member and it will save you $1,000's of dollars in the long run.

Why? Because attempting to build solar panels before you have air sealed your home, then taken advantage of free passive heating and cooling means you'll be building a larger system than necessary. At the very least you should have eliminated 75% of your power consumption by now. That is 75% less energy you now need to produce via solar panels.

As mentioned before, 70% to 90% of energy savings is in energy conservation. What do I mean by that? I mean, that if you start building solar panels now at your current rate of energy usage, you’ll spend way more than is necessary. You’ll need to build more panels, you’ll spend way more than is necessary on parts, and you’ll need a much bigger solar system than is necessary.

In short, the solar industries are pulling a fast one.​ The solar industry and the utilities want you to invest 10's of 1000's of dollars into their pockets. Instead of building or buying 20 solar panels, you'll only need 3-5 panels to create the same level of comfort in your life.

The best part is, you can build them for next to nothing.

For many people this is the difference between success and failure.

The first thing you need to do is understand your energy usage, which means an energy budget. (Remember that?) You can eliminate half of it easily without any loss in comfort.

The second thing you need to do is air seal your home. Doing these things will drastically reduce your energy consumption.

The third thing you need to do is take advantage of as many free techniques for heating and cooling ​as your situation allows.

Now you’ll be in a position to really see some savings and you will be amazed at how far your solar panels will go in saving you on energy costs.

For the stubborn among you who don’t heed this advice, don’t say you weren’t warned.

Also to make sure I get the legal mumbo-jumbo in there, be sure to adhere to all local laws, as well as practice safety.