Being form Washington State & the Puget Sound area, Duane Minnis lived among the trees for over 20 years. In fact, he worked for a tree company for 4 years.  A tree preservation company to be more exact. Evergreen Tree Care Inc., a company out of Spokane, WA ( works to keep trees healthy and strong). However, trees can be dangerous to your property & home. When a tree becomes sick, it can fall.  Trees naturally grow in forests.  As such, they work together, forming a strong root system and rely on each other to stay standing during the an atypical strong storm.  However, when people (mankind) build homes we take out large numbers of trees that are designed by nature to hold each other up during storms.  When a tree that used to be in a forest is standing alone, it becomes more dangerous to fall in a storm.  There are things that tree-trimming companies can do to reduce the risk of a healthy tree falling in a storm. However, sometimes unhealthy trees really need to be removed.

When it comes to solar, I support my clients who love their trees. In Utah, there are some older neighborhoods with a lot of trees. Most people move there because they like the trees. So, asking them to remove them to put solar panels on their roof, can end a conversation very quickly.  If your home is nearly all covered by shade and you love your trees, you are probably not a good candidate for going solar. Furthermore, it would simply be not practical to remove a whole yard full of trees to put solar on your home.  Its a bit of a choice when you decided to buy your home.

There is a middle ground though.  Sometimes one or two trees won’t cause too much shade to make installing solar impractical. Or, sometimes a shade tree is sick and needs to come out for safety reasons.  So, if you have some trees, we can still have a conversation about whether installing solar would be worth your while.  

Duane Minnis, owner of Solar Consultants, LLC has a background in the tree industry, and has an appreciation for trees. It may be worth your while to have a discussion. Lets have a discussion about your trees as it relates to consideration of solar power for your home.  Feel free to schedule a phone conversation. You can also send us a few photos of your trees and yard so we can discuss it more.