The latest trend in solar power doesn't involve pricey rooftop installation.
Now, portable solar panels are gaining popularity, and for good reason. They offer a variety of benefits that rooftop panels don't.
What are the benefits of portable solar panels?
Portable solar panels are designed to be easy to move around, so you can set them up wherever you need them. This means you can put them on the sunniest parts of your property, especially if this is not your roof.
They're not especially heavy, either. According to CNET reviews, it's easy to find portable panels that weigh between 10 and 40 pounds — with many on the lower end of that range. So, moving them around shouldn't be too much of a hassle.
And because they're not permanently attached to your house, you can easily take them with you when you move, making them easy to reuse. Tons of people take portable panels with them camping or on road trips, enabling them to be energy self-sufficient.
Like their rooftop cousins, portable panels can save you serious money on your energy bills.
Beyond being able to provide power to your home at any time (with battery-stored power, even during an outage), they also can help you reduce pollution and fight the overheating of the planet.
How much do portable solar panels cost?
People might opt for portable solar panels over the rooftop variety because they're easier and cheaper to buy, install, and clean. Portable panels certainly represent the more affordable option.
Not needing to climb onto your roof to have your panels cleaned (or pay someone else to) is an enormous benefit.
So how much do they cost?
The foldable variety costs about $1 to $2 per watt of energy, according to TreeHugger. This figure equals roughly half of what rooftop panels cost.
But just because they're cheaper doesn't mean they're necessarily less powerful. You can find portable panels that can generate the same wattage of rooftop ones, although they do generally produce less electricity.
Energy Sage lists highly rated portable solar panels ranging from about $221 to $756, although Lowe's, Amazon, and Home Depot all sell cheaper options.
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