A Bold Proposal: Initial Savings from Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas

Autodesk is committed to helping designers and engineers create a future where we all live well and within the limits of our planet. We are excited to lead the way with sustainable, forward-thinking business practices. Together, we can design a sustainable future. In this spirit, my wife and I went solar on our new home in Texas. I chronicled the process in a series of blog posts:

• A Bold Proposal: Solar Plans for My Home Energy in Cypress, Texas
• A Bold Proposal: Proposed Layout of Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas
• A Bold Proposal: Proposed Schedule for Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas
• A Bold Proposal: HOA Approval for Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas
• A Bold Proposal: Installation of Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas
• A Bold Proposal: Inspection and Activation of Solar Panels for My Home in Cypress, Texas

When titling these posts, I considered solar in Texas a bold proposal ($37,044) because in 2011 we made small improvements to our home in California that I classified as a modest proposal ($1,581) as an homage to Jonathan Swift.

Our SunPower system automatically generates reports each month. Recently we received our first one. As you can see from the graph at the top of this blog post, our solar system generated more energy than we used for every day in the April reporting period except March 13. March 13 was a particularly cloudy day. Beware the tertius decimus of March.

Due to a more moderate climate, our annual energy usage in California was low, so it took about 6 years for us to recoup our $1,581 investment. Texas weather in April was also moderate, as in, we didn't get much sun, but we didn't have to run the air conditioner either. It will be interesting to see the results in June, July, and August. We estimate that it will take 10.5 years to recoup our $37,044 investment. The SunPower smartphone app shows me an estimate of my lifetime savings from the system, so I can check it at any time.

Autodesk has always been an automation company. Today, more than ever, that means helping our customers automate their design and make processes. We help them embrace the future of making, where they can do more (e.g., efficiency, performance, quality), with less (e.g., energy, raw materials, timeframes, waste of human potential), and realize the opportunity for better (e.g., innovation, user experience, return on investment). Doing more with less for the opportunity for better also includes our employees' lifestyles as well as our software and business practices.

Savings are alive in the lab.