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I look up at this every morning when I go out to feed the birds. The squirrels live here and most of the birds. The woodpeckers definitely live here. The limb on the left is a little insecure. There is a wire connecting the left-most limb to the rest of the tree in hopes that it doesn't fall down and smash into any of us. This is also the lovely tree that shades the side of my roof that would otherwise get reasonable solar power. 

About a decade ago one of my co-workers introduced me to an online site that would estimate how much you could save with solar panels. I think he was actually testing me to see how committed I was. I told him we had too much shade but we went through the site anyway. It said I'd save $500 total over 15 years and he agreed with me that it was absolutely not worth the bother. 

Now we need a new roof so I talked with someone just to see if things have changed since panels have continued to fall in price. The magical difference is that the roof replacement counts as part of the project, and the whole thing qualifies for a tax credit. With a decent roof, only the panels would count for a tax credit. With a roof replacement too, both the panels and the new roof count for the tax credit. When he sends me the spreadsheet I'll check it out but it might be possible. The roof would be warrantied to last 30 years. 

Also nice, solar panels reduce the temperature of the roof by 5 degrees C. 

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