Introduction

The cost of living is not just a matter of housing. Another important aspect are the utilities. With the ever-increasing rates, extreme weather and conscious efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of the humankind, solar panels sound like a promising option.

The decision process in sorting out whether to install panels and how many is multi-factorial, involving questions of cost and capacity as well as weather conditions that vary over time. In this module, we will use open data to emulate conditions and combine that with an iterative calculation (a bit like the real-estate investment case study of the previous model).

Learning outcomes

This module will help you do the following:

• Use real data to emulate a scenario
• Compare two alternative approaches
• Adjust inputs and parameters to capture assumptions
• Study the effect of inputs and parameters on the outcomes

Warm-up

This week, we speculate about solar panels.

Warm-up assessment

After reading the above article on solar panels, prepare two brief lists: in the first one, your individual strengths (what areas of knowledge, expertise, and experience do you have) and weaknesses (what areas of knowledge, expertise, and experience do you lack in particular) that would affect your ability to make an informed decision on whether to install solar panels on a specific residence.

Concepts

After this module, you should be familiar with the following concepts:

• Threshold
• Open data
• Emulated data
• Multi-factorial
• Cost analysis

Remember that you can always look concepts up in the glossary. Should anything be missing or insufficient, please report it.