I've been a big fan of solar energy for years, so we sited our house to face the right direction and angled the roof correctly.
The cost to get started has come down substantially, though it does still require a considerable long-term investment.
After reading a National Geographic article about the environmental downsides in the manufacturing process and an article about Japan's disposal difficulties of old panels (because of the toxic elements), I'm beginning to wonder if solar will turn out to be like CFL bulbs.
I always questioned the high cost and the mercury in the bulbs, and sure enough, disposal has become a problem.
The vast majority of us send our CFLs to the landfill instead of proper disposal.
Mercury on the loose is not a good thing.
Yes, I know that button batteries have even more mercury, but that's a whole other letter on their equally improper disposal coupled with why are we too lazy to wind a watch anyway?
And you don't want to get me started on how many of us really do sort and dispose of everything properly?
Lori Hamilton
Cobble Hill