Cost: With new loan programs offered by Sun Run and others, homeowners avoid the up front cost and can actually save money the very first month with their solar system.

Climate Variability: It’s more about daylight hours than weather. Lots of solar radiation gets through clouds. Solar works in Northern states also. Germany is the most solar country in the world and the entire country lies further north than the lower 48 states.

Aesthetics: Solar tiles exist. Also, I think solar panels look nicer than a large coal power plant.

Not 24 hours: You don’t have to store any power at all if you get a grid-tied system, like the vast majority of people do.

Also, here are some more Pros: http://community.pvpower.com/profiles/blogs/some-benefits-of-going-solar?xg_source=activity

One thing I rarely hear about is solar thermal – mostly NOT an individual homeowner’s solution except for solar hot water heaters – and the absolute fact that the U.S. could produce all of it’s electricity on 100 square miles of abandoned agricultural land in the desert southwest. An interview with a couple of solar thermal company executives AND a Bush DOE administration official brought this fact to light. The DOE official actually admitted that it could be done for much less than nuclear after economies of scale kick in (currently it’s about the same cost per kilowatt). Of course, distribution could be the issue, but that could be rather easily solved by updating our already decrepit electricity grid.

The interview was on NPR (I think it was Science Friday). I hope that this is food for thought for someone and that nuclear should never be the solution – especially in the sunny U.S.

Food for thought.