A homeowner is considering to install solar panels to their home to reduce their carbon footprint.

A homeowner is considering to install solar panels to their home to reduce their carbon footprint. Installing solar panels will have an upfront cost of $20,000, but will help reduce the homeowner’s electricity usage from the grid by 45% each month. Assume the homeowner uses 1500 kWh/month in electricity and currently pays $0.16/kWh. Each kWh results in 0.5 lbs of CO2 emissions. The shipping and installation of the solar panel system will result in a one-time emission of 2000 lbs of CO2. What is the simple payback period for the investment in terms of cost and CO2 emission? Should the homeowner invest in solar panels? The typical homeowner will move every 7 years