Solar panels are becoming one of the major ways homeowners can go green. The panels are usually mounted on the roof, but they can also be mounted on ground racks, trellises and custom structures. Solar panels quietly produce electricity directly from sunlight for an expected life span of 30 years and offset over 5 tons of greenhouse gasses each of those years.
Solar panels are so popular with homeowners that they are becoming one of the hottest targets for burglars. An editorial in the Omaha World
Herald on October 18, 2008 warned potential internet buyers to beware of unreasonably cheap offers of solar panels for sale. The editorial (“When thieves ‘go green”) points out that they are often sold for as little as $100 over the internet, but their actual worth is estimated at $1,500 each.
The proof of their effectiveness was demonstrated to one victim of a recent theft of 19 solar panels who then “saw his electric bill explode from $3 a month to $300 at the height of the air-conditioning season.” A recent article in The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/technology/24solar.html) reported that police, especially in California have dramatically increased their investigative techniques for these types of burglaries. California reportedly has the largest solar power market in America with more than 33,000 installations.
Solar panels are much more common in Europe, and thieves have methodically been at work there for a number of years. The New York Times says homeowners have taken more preventive measures such as “installing alarm systems, hard-to-unscrew panels and video-camera surveillance.” However, a California office-building owner who lost 58 panels (with an estimated replacement cost of $75,000) is considering painting the remaining panels bright pink in an effort to deter future potential thefts.
The World Herald editorial summed it up: “Rooftop robbers apparently have no mercy, and greed has no second thoughts.”
