Here’s an important tradeoff I never really considered until reading this article: rooftop solar panels can be hazardous for firefighters. It’s an interesting example of how wide and varied the adaptations are to innovation. In this case the potential lethal electrocution from the traditional means of venting a roof on a burning building (creating holes in the roof with an axe) has meant that both firefighters and the solar industry have had to think about fire risk and how solar installations change firefighting and the expected cost of a fire. I wonder how many benefit-cost analyses of solar take into account the higher expected cost of a fire, and the logical associated higher fire insurance premium.