What is this dumpster looking thing on this roof? It’s been there for a while so I don’t think it is a dumpster.
A: It is an old solar system for heating either air or water (not for generating electric power). In the 1980s, there were lots of tax credits for adding solar things, and one way to get a fat credit for not much effort was a solar air or water heater, such as this. They sucked, for the most part, and usually didn’t last long, but the credits returned more than the cost of the crappy system. I’ve seen a few in my neighborhood, but they’ve mostly been removed.