Going solar

This is a really interesting story about a family in Orleans that have installed a solar panel, and are selling power back to the grid:

Even in December, the rooftop solar panels on the Helmerson family's home can produce enough power on a sunny day to meet the family's needs — and a little more.

The catch: at $12,000 for the system, it will take about 15 years for it to pay for itself. I would expect there to be great economies of scale with a system like this, though. Imagine a $6000 system that paid for itself in 7 years... at that point I think you'd start to see mass adoption.