The Difference Between Residential and Commercial Solar for Luxury Homes

Residential properties tend to have lower power requirements than commercial properties for obvious reasons. While a residential unit may house a single family with four individuals, a commercial property may house a few hundred employees all under one roof. The type of appliances and equipment used also varies, further distinguishing the two.

There is one exception, however, which is luxury homes. Such homes tend to have a larger energy footprint because they are both bigger in size and have more complex operations than non-luxury residential units.

For example, a luxury home with 10 rooms not including shared areas will need substantially more energy to keep these rooms cool or warm. Other factors like heated pools, garden lighting, and others will also push the amount of energy required.

Considering the previous fact, every homeowner should consider switching to solar energy, and implement it throughout the house like in solar hot water systems; this way, the home becomes more energy efficient while also cutting down bills and helping the environment.

In such cases, a luxury home may benefit from working with a company that supplies commercial solar Los Angeles as opposed to residential solar. Here are some additional reasons why:

Power Output

Residential solar panels tend to have a lower power output than commercial types. This is mostly because residential properties require less energy. In general, a residential panel will have about 72 cells while a commercial one will have 96 cells.

While power output varies from provider to provider, having a higher-yielding panel per square foot means you can output more energy with fewer panels. This makes sense for a luxury home that may need more power but without wanting too much of a solar panel footprint that may interfere with the aesthetic appeal of the home.

Efficiency

Because of this difference in power rating, efficiency is also different. Commercial panels are built to be more efficient as they are designed to produce more power per panel than residential panels. This adds to the advantage of using commercial panels for a luxury home compared to residential panels.

Design

Depending on the vendor and the variety of stock they have, designs differ between commercial and residential solar installations. While commercial installations are designed to be as invisible as possible, blending into the overall structure, residential solar installations designs can at times stick out like a sore thumb. If what you want are panels that do not interfere with the beauty of a luxury home, then commercial panels are a better bet.

Installation

Residential homes have slanted roofing, a feature that makes installation of solar panels inherently difficult. Conversely, most commercial buildings have flat roofs because of all the installations that go up there. Solar panel installations also follow this convention.

Residential units are designed for the complex installation procedure on a slanted roof while commercial solar units are designed for easy installation on a flat roof. This is a no-brainer if you want to install solar panels in a luxury home that has significant flat-surface roofing.

Cost

Coincidentally, residential and commercial solar panel installations do not differ in pricing significantly. This is primarily because while there are factors that differ between the two, the underlying technology is the same and most solar companies price them according to this technology, not the other factors. As this is the case, installing commercial solar units on a luxury residence will possibly not cost that much more than using residential solar units.