[quote=FlyerInHi]BG, some people like to run the AC all the time. I also like to have lights on for esthetics inside the house. The house just looks better with the lights on.
You may think that solar panels look ugly as sin. But popular opinion has shifted. People think that solar panels look high-tech. They lend a cool factor to the home. Not sure if that “look” will last though.
I personally prefer a modern house with clean lines and solar panels. Adapting solar panels to a Tuscan/Mediterranean house is ugly. They should have dispensed with the stucco covered foam architectural elements to begin with!
I agree with you that insulation should be first priority. A well-insulated house is also a quieter house.
I live in a condo… but I’m considering solar for a house in Las Vegas.[/quote]
Those people who feel they have to run AC all the time live in too hot a climate (like yourself, FIH :)). We’ve got a lot of “Mediterraean” in combination with “Mid-Century” house styles going on around here with Spanish-style and Craftsman sprinkled in the mix (which tend to be the oldest houses). Our few examples of “back east” house styles don’t have the “syrofoam-pillar facade,” like you see in newer construction, lol. Our Mediterraneans often have wrought-iron railing, block wall decor and gates, incl remote-controlled driveway gates. Also many “Mediterranean” homes have one or more archways. Perched atop an authentic “s-tile” clay roof, those solar panels look ridiculous, IMO. Especially facing the front of the house.
You’re right in that it definitely costs more to live in “lizardland” (that includes LV, FIH)! Not only is your utility cost jacked up beyond recognition 8-10 months per year but if one or more wage-earning homeowners are commuting long distances to work every day from “lizardland,” their gas expense alone no doubt costs $200 or more extra per month for each vehicle in the household making a daily commute.
There’s a lot to be said for living 0-7 miles or so from the ocean in coastal CA’s most “temperate zone.” For a SFR dweller, living near the coast is just a much less stressful (and cheaper, overall) life. Size and age of home be damned.
Living in a crowded multifamily unit in a beach community with a tiny, useless garage or no garage and/or lacking in available street parking … not so much (ex: Mission Beach SD).
