As solar panels continue to decrease in price and more homeowners take the plunge into relying on the sun for their energy needs, you’ve probably wondered yourself whether to hop on the bandwagon and install solar panels on your home. And you probably have questions about it. Luckily for you, The National Solar Tour is making its way through the  area this weekend on October 2 and 3.

Visiting nationalsolartour.org and clicking “tour map” will reveal a map of the United States marked with homes participating in the event. Zoom into the Chestnut Hill area to reveal the homes in the neighborhood. At these homes, solar curious residents can chat with homeowners who have taken the solar plunge and ask them questions about the process. Is my location sunny enough? How much can I expect to pay? What’s the payback period? Why did you decide to go solar? What installer did you use? Are there backup batteries for the system? What energy cost savings have they seen? How do I get power at night when the sun isn’t out? Answers to these questions and any others you might have can likely be best answered by the homeowners who’ve gone through the process themselves, and this is your chance to ask them.

The tour is self-guided, so you can use the map to make notes of the addresses of homes you’d like to visit. A number of the houses on the tour will feature brief videos you can view, in case you can’t make it to every site you want to see. (The map will be updated closer to October 2, so check back.)

The event is Covid safe, so you’ll be talking with homeowners outside their homes. You can mask up and socially distance as you prefer. The event’s official sponsor is Springfield Township, and the township Environmental Advisory Commission’s Vice Chair, Joy Bergey, is the best point of contact for any questions you might have about the event. You can reach her at solarspringfield@gmail.com.