My wife who is the medical professional in the family is not keen on having solar panels on our roof. She worries about the kids sleeping upstairs and the long term effects of having electricity/ radiation over their heads. Also she does not like the look of how panels would look on the roof of our cape. My buddy is a local deputy fire chief and mentioned how solar panels are risky during a fire. They do happen. The other issue I have is when I need my roof stripped or an overlay done. Since our house is very efficient there are too many negatives for us to save a few dollars in electricity.
I noticed a huge improvement just changing out my bulbs and making sure the kids turn lights off etc.
Wow, looks like you have a challenge with your spouse, interesting that a medical professional would be so wrong on solar. Sad to see how people seem to get such wrong information unless they are using it to reflect other concerns they do not want to bring up. Sunlight is radiation from the sun, the panels are just intercepting a portion of the sun and converting it to useful AC power, the same AC power that is running through the walls of the house and in the power lines running in every public building and through the neighborhood. The power electronics in the device that converts the power from the panel to AC is not much different than a power supply in TV or laptop. If there is RF generated by the electronics, its diminishes rapidly with distance. A cell phone on the other hand is a known source of RF with far more output power right next to the body, so unless cell phones are banned in the home that is a far bigger risk. Highly likely your utility has a RF transmitter in your power meter so they can read it remotely and of course if you have wifi in the house, you are pumping the house full of RF.
Not sure where the fire chief is getting his outdated info, for several years all solar panels mounted on a roof are required to have rapid shutdown electronics per NEC, effectively if the power is turned off to the house the panels cannot put out more than 50 volts outside of the panel frame. Most panel put out zero volts but the 50 volt threshold is used as that is not enough to hurt someone. Roof ventilation usually occurs at the ridgepole and so either side works just as well. Sadly a lot of smaller especially volunteer departments just do not train their folks very well with respect to solar. I got a free training program available on the web and supplied it to the local fire chief when I installed mine 20 plus years ago and they include it in their training rotation. The biggest risk with Rapid shut down panels is some fireman damaging them dragging equipment across the roof. Yes in very rare occasions panels have ignited, due to damage from animals or defective components. That is true of any electrical component, you have for more risk with a wood stove than panels on the roof.
Fire code requires access "lanes" both above the panels and beside them for fire dept access. Most homes have a back roof facing away from the sun and most fire departments access the roof from the side without the panels and usually waive the requirement.
Your concern about roof replacement is valid, do not install panels on an old roof. Most roofs are now 30 years guarantee. And if you roof is marginal most tax advisors will interpret IRS guidance that the replacement of the roof on the side the panels are located can be included in the installation cost of the panels which qualify for a 30% federal tax credit (not deduction). Aesthetics are subjective, panels can be made less obvious by the use of black frames but it all comes down to they look "different", your spouses ugly panels on the roof are offset by zero power bills every month for as long as you live at the house. Put the money you were paying for power into the kids college fund and it will add up. If you are still living there in 30 years, the panels are long since paid for, but still cranking out power, and anyone stripping the roof can take them down in about an hour or so. There are valuable materials in the panels and panel recycling is slowly starting to be put in place although most are being grabbed for reuse.
If the power is not coming through the panels is coming from the street. Meanwhile looks like you have natural gas running to the house which implies a gas stove?. Definitely a high health risk than panels on a roof.
The reality in Mass is if you do not have solar, you are paying for your neighbor to install it via your monthly power bill. Its likely you are looking at an 8% per year increase on your power bill for the transmission portion of the bill to pay for all the incentives.
