Back in 2010, Ecolibrium Solar looked to improve the time to profitability on flat-roof solar panel installations by bringing out the Ecofoot mounting system. Most recently, the Ecofoot system saw an installation project on two flat rooftops, which provided not only plenty of power, but a more rapid time to profitability.

The recent Ecofoot project in question was for two rooftops on a Clarion Hotel in El Centro, California. The system in question was designed to be a grid-tie system that produced some of the hotel's power, and is an impressive 127.5 kW solar photovoltaic system.

Ecofoot, meanwhile, was brought in to provide the mounting due to its significantly lower ballast weight requirements, a helpful trait considering the hotel's overall column-based layout. Plus, the Ecofoot system could offer a significantly higher wind load bearing capacity, making wind much less of a problem in the system's operation.

The Ecofoot system allowed for several key points, including the installation of over 500 total solar panels in just under a week, while at the same time be able to stand up to high winds. What's more, the hotel's owner insisted that the racking system was not to penetrate the roof, making installation a further challenge. But mounting systems that penetrate the roof improve the likelihood of roof leaks at the mounting points, which in turn ups the financial burdens for system owners.

The Ecofoot system removes that issue entirely, reducing the overall financial burden while at the same time improving the time to profitability by removing one major likely expense involved.

Further improvements to the system are planned with the slated release of the Ecofoot 2, introduced at the InterSolar North America show in July. Ecofoot 2 does much the same things that Ecofoot does, but improves installation speed and reduces costs, taking an already good thing and making it better, as well as making it the next standard in solar racking system.

Perhaps the one major sticking point getting in the way of users going to solar power is its high initial overall expense, as expressed by its rather lengthy time to profitability. Sure, users save money on their monthly power bills, that much was never in dispute, but the savings are almost vanishingly small against the huge amount of money that had to be shelled out in order to get the system in play in the first place.

The less time it takes for a solar power system to pay for itself, the more likely users will be to get the systems installed at their own homes and places of business. The more likely users are to install their own power generation systems, the less need there is for large-scale power generation, and in many cases, the better off we all are as a society.

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