Since the house was also completely new, we couldn't even do a pre / post type of analysis using the electric bills. One of the primary questions we struggled with back then was a simple one: How much actual energy is the solar system producing? It sounds almost silly, but there wasn't any way of telling exactly what the energy production was. These were indeed tiles not panels, so my past experience with that house is partly what lead me to reach out to study this new Tesla system. I mentioned that the house built in '01-'02 had an early version of solar tiles on part of the roof. Finding trained people to maintain new technological systems has been an issue with these homes in the past. We had the same experience with the geothermal system in the 00s, but my guess is the current iterations are probably improving materially. The house built in the 00s also had a saltwater pool, but by then the technology was refined and significantly more dependable. The pumps it ran on also tended to break down, and we developed a pattern of resorting to using chlorine at times when the conditions warranted. The saltwater pool in the 80s was constantly having problems with algae blooms after hard rainfalls. The downside of brand new technology is that it usually struggles to work consistently. Thus, I've grown up experiencing the pros and cons of installing cutting-edge technology into homes. ![]() Another of their homes built in 2001-'02 had a full geothermal system installed for both heating and cooling air conditioning, as well as an early version of solar tiles on a portion of the roof. That home also had a pool with the first saltwater system that I knew of anywhere. It was connected to a tank buried in the ground in the basement that supplied all of the house's hot water needs. For example, their house built in the mid-1980s had 8 large solar panels for heating water on the roof. My parents were keen on pushing the envelope in terms of technology built into their homes. Source: Tesla Solar Roof Installation, picture from home owner's manager. More complicated also means you should assume more expensive than estimated. These experiences have provided some basic understanding of the process for building residential properties, and one rule of thumb is to assume that things will always be more complicated than planned. During my teenage years, my brother and I even helped as the onsite liaisons between the builders and my parents for the construction of one home. My parents built three houses in their lifetimes and helped refurbish another. While I have not directly expended the financial and emotional effort to build a house myself, I did have tangential experience during my younger years. I will provide pictures though to give readers an idea of what a solar roof tile system looks like in operation. Due to my concern over the emotional responses by advocates for and against this stock, I'm going to keep the exact location and owner anonymous. I will provide a lot of data including Tesla's original estimate of production, actual figures obtained through Tesla's application that tracks and helps control the system, as well as cross verify the data with the Net Meter readings from the local electric utility. The system that I analyzed is not mine but was purchased by someone I know who has been gracious enough to allow me to investigate and utilize their data in terms of production and usage. I just want to provide what I think is an interesting case study about Tesla's solar tile product to the public. Hence, I want to be clear from the start that there will be no recommendations at all regarding the company, the stock, or the product under discussion. I'm also cognizant of the highly emotional points of view regarding Tesla, Inc.'s ( NASDAQ: TSLA ) stock, and its high-profile founder and CEO Elon Musk. I'm breaking from my normal type of article here at Seeking Alpha that usually concerns either a company with limited research posted, or a general Macro / Investment Strategy piece. ![]() Petmal/iStock via Getty Images Introduction:
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