Climate change will increase the future value of residential rooftop solar panels across the United States by up to 19% by the end of the century, according to a new University of Michigan-led study. The study defines the value of solar, or VOS, as household-level financial benefits from electricity bill savings plus revenues from selling excess electricity to the grid - minus the initial installation costs. For many U.S. households, increased earnings from residential rooftop solar could total up to hundreds of dollars annually by the end of the century, say the authors of the study, which is scheduled for publication April 19 in the journal Nature Climate Change. "Given the average 25-year lifespan of a rooftop solar installation, a system built today will nearly experience 2050 weather," said study senior author Michael Craig, assistant professor of energy systems at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability and of industrial and operations engineering at U-M's College of Engineering. "So, it's important for households to think of future value when building solar. If households do so, our findings indicate they would see even greater value from solar, and might decide to build more." Public awareness of the increased future value of rooftop solar could spur greater adoption of the technology, which in turn could accelerate efforts to decarbonize the power-generation system in the United States and globally, the study shows. The expected financial gains seen in the study were driven largely by increased demand for residential air-conditioning as the climate warms. The other key factor affecting the value of rooftop photovoltaic systems, the researchers say, is future solar-panel performance in response to climate change. Craig and colleagues analyzed data from 2,000 households in 17 U.S. cities and estimated air-conditioning demand and solar-panel performance under future climates using a moderate... |