As energy conservation becomes a priority among more and more people and material prices continue to fall, solar energy applications such as solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar heating and cooling (SHC) are becoming less of a novelty item and more of a trend among homeowners.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the first quarter of 2014 was the first on record in which residential solar PV installations exceeded commercial installations in the U.S. Additionally, about 80 percent of the existing SHC market volume resides in the small residential sector.