BYClive Thompson ILLUSTRATION BY Alvaro DominguezSolar Flair_Installing an array on your roof is environmental
exhibitionism—and it’s contagious.
“OH, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY DO IT,” MY
neighbor said.
I was nursing a beer at his winter holiday
party as he told me about the solar panels
on his Brooklyn brownstone roof. They’d cut
his electricity bill down so much that in a
few years they’ll have paid for themselves,
he told me. I had questions: Did it damage
his roof? Were there any complications?
Any regrets? Nope: If anything, he wished
he’d put up a bigger array, to produce even
more juice. “It’s great,” he gushed.
I went home, intrigued. I’d been think-
ing about putting an array on my roof for
years, but something about my friend’s con-
fidence pushed me over the edge. I called
up Brooklyn Solarworks, a local firm, and
their crew of electricians arrived and, with
a chill, we-got-this vibe, installed a gor-
geous, sleek set of panels. It’s a “canopy”
setup, with the panels raised 9 feet above
my roof on thick, shiny aluminum braces,
crafted with such perfect welds it made my
engineering-nerd heart swoon. My house is
old, built in 1902, so the canopy lends it a
vaguely William Gibsonian aesthetic: a ram-
shackle blend of vinyl siding, snaky wiring,
and dark promise. You can see the panels
from a block away; they attract attention.
Indeed, a few months after they were
installed, I got a knock on my door. It was
a neighbor from around the corner who’d
seen my solar array and, like me before him,
was intrigued. We clambered up on my roof,