Tiny Houses With Solar Power Systems

• A 1kW to 3kW solar system is enough to power most tiny homes, saving homeowners between $250 and $750 per year on electricity bills.
• A complete tiny house solar package starts around $7,500, covering panels, a 5,000-watt lithium battery, and an inverter — but costs vary based on your energy needs.
• Solar is the most practical renewable energy source for tiny homes, offering flexibility for both off-grid and grid-tied setups.
• Space limitations are a real challenge, but ground-mounted arrays, flexible panels, and folding solar kits offer smart workarounds.
• Keep reading to find out which solar setup actually makes sense for your tiny home — the answer depends on one factor most people overlook.

Tiny houses and solar power are one of the most practical pairings in sustainable living — and the numbers prove it.

The same values that draw people to tiny home living — cutting costs, reducing environmental impact, and gaining independence — are exactly what solar power delivers. Specialized off-grid and solar power packages designed specifically for tiny homes are making it easier than ever to go fully unplugged without sacrificing comfort. Whether you’re building from scratch or retrofitting an existing structure, understanding how solar works in a tiny home context will save you thousands of dollars and a lot of frustration.

Solar Power and Tiny Houses Are a Perfect Match

Tiny home living strips away the excess — smaller footprint, lower consumption, and a lifestyle built around intentionality. Solar power fits that philosophy perfectly. A standard residential solar system might need to generate 900 kWh or more per month to power a full-sized home, but a tiny house typically needs a fraction of that. This smaller energy demand means a smaller, cheaper solar system that’s easier to install, manage, and pay off.

Why Tiny Home Dwellers Prioritize Energy Independence

Most people who choose tiny home living aren’t just downsizing their square footage — they’re deliberately opting out of systems they don’t want to depend on. Paying a utility company every month runs counter to the self-reliant mindset that drives the tiny home movement. Solar panels offer a direct path to energy independence, turning sunlight into free electricity and reducing or eliminating monthly power bills entirely.

The appeal goes deeper than finances. Tiny homeowners often place their homes in rural or off-grid locations where utility connections are expensive or simply unavailable. In those situations, solar isn’t just a preference — it’s the only practical solution.

Solar Is the Only Practical Renewable Energy Option for Tiny Homes

When it comes to renewable energy, tiny homeowners don’t have many choices. Wind turbines require consistent wind speeds, significant land area, and are often prohibited by local zoning laws. Micro-hydro power only works near a water source. Solar panels, by contrast, work almost anywhere, scale easily from 1kW to 3kW to match a tiny home’s modest appetite, and have no moving parts to maintain. They’re also the most affordable renewable option per kilowatt of capacity, making them the clear front-runner for sustainable tiny home energy.

How Much Power Does a Tiny House Actually Need?

Before you buy a single solar panel, you need to know how much electricity your tiny home actually consumes. Oversizing your system wastes money. Undersizing it means running out of power. Getting this number right is the foundation of a well-designed solar setup.

Average Energy Consumption of a Tiny Home (Around 120 kWh/Month)

A typical tiny home uses somewhere between 100 and 200 kWh per month — significantly less than the U.S. average of around 900 kWh for a standard household. The lower end of that range applies to energy-conscious tiny homeowners using efficient appliances, LED lighting, and minimal heating and cooling loads. A solar system sized between 1kW and 3kW is generally sufficient to cover the full energy needs of most tiny homes within this consumption window.

That size range is also why solar costs less for tiny homes than for conventional houses. A 1kW to 3kW system is a compact, manageable installation — not the sprawling rooftop array that a 2,500-square-foot house requires.

How Your Appliances and Lifestyle Affect System Size

Your actual energy consumption depends heavily on which appliances you run and how often. A tiny home with a full-sized electric range, electric water heater, and a window AC unit will need a much larger solar system than one running energy-efficient alternatives. Here’s how common appliances stack up in terms of daily energy demand:

Swapping high-draw appliances for efficient alternatives is one of the smartest moves a tiny homeowner can make before sizing a solar system. A propane cooktop instead of electric, a tankless propane water heater, and a mini-split heat pump instead of a window AC can dramatically shrink your system requirements — and your upfront solar cost.

Tiny home dwellers who are deliberate about their consumption patterns often find that a 1kW to 2kW system covers everything they need. Those running more energy-intensive setups may need to push toward 3kW, but it’s rarely necessary to go beyond that for a true tiny home footprint.

On-Grid vs. Off-Grid Energy Needs

Whether you’re grid-tied or fully off-grid changes your solar system requirements significantly. An on-grid tiny home can lean on the utility company as a backup, meaning you can get away with a smaller panel array and skip the battery bank entirely. An off-grid setup, on the other hand, requires enough panels and battery storage to cover multiple cloudy days without grid backup — which increases both system size and cost.

Core Components of a Tiny House Solar Power System

A functional tiny house solar system isn’t just panels on a roof. It’s a coordinated set of components that each play a specific role — and getting the right combination is what separates a system that works flawlessly from one that leaves you in the dark. Here’s what a complete setup looks like.

Solar Panels: Roof-Mounted, Ground-Mounted, and Flexible Options

For a 1kW to 3kW tiny home system, you’re typically looking at four to ten solar panels rated at 300 to 350 watts each. Roof-mounted panels are the most common choice for stationary tiny homes, but the limited roof area of a tiny house can make it challenging to fit everything you need. Ground-mounted arrays solve the space problem by moving panels off the roof entirely, allowing for optimal tilt and orientation — though they sacrifice portability. For mobile tiny homes and tiny houses on wheels, flexible or folding solar panels are the most practical option, conforming to curved surfaces and packing away when the home is in transit.

Inverter and Charger: The 5,000-Watt Standard Explained

The inverter converts DC electricity produced by your solar panels into AC power that your appliances can actually use. For tiny homes, a 5,000-watt inverter-charger has become the standard baseline — large enough to handle the simultaneous load of typical tiny home appliances without breaking a sweat, while remaining compact enough to fit in tight spaces. The charger component allows the system to pull power from the grid or a generator when solar production is low, keeping your battery bank topped up during extended cloudy periods.

Inverter placement is one of the trickier aspects of a tiny home solar installation. The unit needs to be accessible for maintenance, protected from moisture, and positioned close to the battery bank to minimize power loss over cable runs — all within a space that may only be a few hundred square feet.

Lithium Batteries: Why 5,000-Watt Storage Is the Baseline

Battery storage is what transforms a solar system from a daytime-only power source into a true 24-hour energy solution. Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries have become the preferred choice for tiny home solar systems, offering a longer cycle life, deeper discharge capability, and better performance in temperature extremes compared to older lead-acid alternatives. A 5,000-watt-hour (5kWh) lithium battery is the standard starting point for tiny home systems — enough to cover a typical evening and overnight energy load after a full day of solar charging.

Add-On Components Worth Considering

A basic panel-inverter-battery setup will get you running, but a few additional components can make your system significantly more reliable and easier to manage. A charge controller — specifically an MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) charge controller — optimizes the power flowing from your panels into your battery bank, improving efficiency by up to 30% compared to older PWM controllers. A battery monitor gives you real-time visibility into your state of charge, so you’re never caught off guard by a depleted bank.

For tiny homeowners who occasionally need more power than their panels can deliver — during a stretch of cloudy weather or a high-demand period — a small propane or gasoline generator connected through the inverter-charger provides a reliable backup. Some systems also incorporate a secondary solar input specifically for running an energy-efficient air conditioning or heating unit, keeping that high-draw appliance off the main battery bank entirely.

What a Tiny House Solar System Costs

Cost is where a lot of tiny home solar conversations get complicated. The range is wide, the variables are real, and the cheapest option isn’t always the smartest one. Understanding what drives the price — and what you actually get at each price point — helps you make a decision you won’t regret two years down the road.

Solar panels for tiny homes generally fall in the range of $2,275 to $6,825 for the panels alone, depending on system size and panel quality. Add in batteries, an inverter-charger, mounting hardware, wiring, and installation labor, and the total system cost climbs from there. The good news is that tiny home systems are small enough that professional installation is often completed in a single day, keeping labor costs relatively contained.

Entry-Level Package Pricing Starts Around $7,500

A turnkey off-grid solar package sized for a tiny home — including four 300 to 350-watt panels, a 5,000-watt lithium battery, and a compatible inverter-charger — starts at approximately $7,500. That price point covers the core components needed for reliable daily operation in a well-designed tiny home with efficient appliances. It’s not the rock-bottom cheapest option available, but it represents a system built for real-world longevity rather than spec-sheet performance.

If budget is tight, solar loans are a practical financing option. Because the system begins generating savings immediately, many tiny homeowners find that monthly loan payments are partially or fully offset by the reduction in their electricity bills — making the financial case even stronger over a 5 to 10-year horizon.

Key Factors That Push the Price Up or Down

The biggest cost variables are battery capacity, panel count, and whether you hire a professional installer or go the DIY route. Adding a second 5kWh lithium battery for extended off-grid autonomy can add $2,000 to $3,000 to your total. Upgrading to higher-efficiency monocrystalline panels increases upfront cost but squeezes more power out of limited roof space. DIY installation can save several hundred to a few thousand dollars in labor, but requires a solid understanding of DC wiring, local electrical codes, and system configuration — mistakes here are both dangerous and expensive to fix.

Space Limitations and How to Solve Them

The core challenge: A typical tiny home roof offers between 150 and 250 square feet of usable surface area. A 300-watt solar panel measures roughly 5.5 feet by 3.3 feet — about 18 square feet. To build a 1.5kW system with five panels, you need approximately 90 square feet of unshaded, properly oriented roof space. That’s achievable on most tiny home roofs, but leaves little margin for error — and a 3kW system may simply not fit on the roof at all.

This is one of the most underestimated challenges in tiny home solar design. Unlike a standard residential roof with 1,500 to 2,000 square feet of space to work with, a tiny home roof is a finite, precious resource. Roof pitch, skylights, vents, and shading from nearby trees all reduce the usable panel area further.

The good news is that tiny homeowners have developed three reliable solutions to the space problem, each suited to a different living situation. The right choice depends on whether your tiny home is stationary or mobile, how much land you have access to, and how much flexibility you have in your daily energy consumption habits.

Understanding your space constraints before purchasing panels is critical — not after. A solar professional or even a detailed site assessment using a tool like Google’s Project Sunroof can give you an accurate picture of your roof’s solar potential before you spend a dollar.

Ground-Mounted Arrays: Best Output, Least Portability

Ground-mounted solar arrays move the panels off the roof entirely and onto a dedicated structure installed on your property. This approach solves the roof space problem completely and allows you to orient and tilt the panels at the optimal angle for maximum solar production year-round — something a fixed roof-mounted system often can’t achieve. Ground mounts also make cleaning and maintenance significantly easier, since you don’t need to climb on your roof to access them.

The trade-off is obvious: ground-mounted arrays require land, a permanent foundation, and a cable run back to your tiny home. They’re an excellent choice for stationary tiny homes on owned land, but completely impractical for tiny houses on wheels or homes that relocate frequently.

Flexible and Folding Solar Panels for Mobile Tiny Homes

For tiny homes on wheels, flexible solar panels and folding solar panel kits offer the most practical solution. Flexible panels conform to curved or irregular roof surfaces, adding minimal weight and no significant wind resistance — both critical considerations for a mobile structure. Folding solar kits can be deployed when parked and stowed during transit, making them ideal for tiny homeowners who move frequently. While flexible and folding panels are generally less efficient per square foot than rigid monocrystalline panels, advances in thin-film and monocrystalline flexible technology have significantly closed that gap in recent years.

Going Off-Grid vs. Staying Grid-Connected

One of the biggest decisions a tiny home solar buyer faces is whether to go fully off-grid or stay connected to the utility grid. Both approaches have genuine merit, and the right answer depends on your location, lifestyle, budget, and how much energy security matters to you. For more insights on off-grid options, consider exploring additional resources. Neither choice is universally better — but one is almost certainly better for you.

What’s worth understanding upfront is that going off-grid doesn’t mean going without. A well-designed off-grid solar system with adequate battery storage can power a tiny home as reliably as the grid — often more so, since it removes your dependence on utility infrastructure that’s increasingly vulnerable to outages, rate hikes, and grid instability.

Benefits of Full Off-Grid Solar in a Tiny Home

• Zero monthly electricity bills — once the system is paid off, your power is essentially free
• Location flexibility — place your tiny home anywhere, including rural or remote land without utility access
• Complete energy independence — no exposure to utility rate increases, which have risen consistently year over year
• Resilience during grid outages — your home keeps running when neighbors lose power
• Reduced environmental footprint — 100% of your electricity comes from a clean, renewable source

The financial case for off-grid solar in a tiny home is unusually strong compared to larger homes. Because tiny homes consume so little energy, the battery bank required to provide overnight and cloudy-day coverage is relatively small and affordable. A 5kWh to 10kWh lithium battery bank — costing $2,000 to $5,000 — is typically enough to keep a well-designed tiny home running through the night and through one or two overcast days.

Location matters enormously here. A tiny home in Arizona or New Mexico, where average peak sun hours exceed 6 hours per day, will recharge its battery bank faster and more reliably than one in the Pacific Northwest, where 3 to 4 peak sun hours per day is more typical. In lower-sun climates, sizing up the panel array and battery bank — or adding a backup generator — is the prudent move.

Many tiny homeowners who make the switch to off-grid solar report that the lifestyle shift is surprisingly easy. The key adjustment is developing an awareness of your daily energy consumption — knowing when to run high-draw appliances, monitoring your battery state of charge, and occasionally trimming usage on low-sun days. It’s a habit that most tiny home dwellers find aligns naturally with the intentional, resourceful mindset they already embrace.

For those building a new tiny home from scratch, designing the electrical system around off-grid solar from day one is significantly cheaper and cleaner than retrofitting a grid-connected home later. Decisions about appliance selection, wiring layout, and battery placement are all easier and less expensive when made before the walls go up.

Why Some Tiny Homeowners Stay Grid-Tied

• Lower upfront cost — no need to purchase a battery bank, which represents a significant portion of total system cost
• Net metering opportunities — excess solar production can be sold back to the utility, further reducing electricity costs
• Simpler system design — grid-tied systems have fewer components and less complexity to manage
• Urban or suburban locations — tiny homes in populated areas often have reliable grid access and limited land for ground-mounted arrays

A grid-tied tiny home solar system without battery storage is the most affordable way to start generating your own solar power. By eliminating the battery bank, you can install a functional solar system for considerably less than a full off-grid setup — and still eliminate a substantial portion of your monthly electricity bill through net metering arrangements where available.

The limitation, of course, is that a grid-tied system without batteries goes dark during a grid outage. Your solar panels may be producing power on a sunny afternoon, but without batteries to store it and an islanding-capable inverter to manage the transition, your home loses power the moment the grid goes down. For tiny homeowners in areas with reliable utility infrastructure, this is an acceptable trade-off. For those in regions prone to severe weather or grid instability, it’s a significant vulnerability.

A hybrid approach — grid-tied with a small battery backup — offers the best of both worlds for many tiny homeowners. You get the cost savings of net metering, the security of backup power during outages, and the option to expand your battery bank over time as budget allows. It’s a pragmatic middle ground that’s growing in popularity as battery costs continue to decline.

Backup Power During Outages: A Growing Priority

Grid outages are becoming more frequent and longer-lasting across the United States, driven by aging infrastructure, extreme weather events, and increasing grid demand. For tiny homeowners, a solar system with even a modest battery bank provides a level of resilience that conventional grid-tied homes simply can’t match. A 5kWh lithium battery paired with a 1.5kW to 2kW solar array can keep essential loads — lighting, refrigeration, phone charging, and a fan or small heat pump — running for 12 to 24 hours without any sun, and indefinitely as long as the panels continue to generate power.

Environmental Benefits of Solar-Powered Tiny Living

The environmental case for solar-powered tiny living goes well beyond the obvious reduction in grid electricity consumption. Tiny homes already use a fraction of the building materials, heating energy, and cooling energy of conventional houses — and when you layer solar power on top of that reduced footprint, the impact compounds significantly. A tiny homeowner running a well-designed solar system can realistically approach near-zero carbon emissions for their housing energy use, which represents one of the largest categories of individual environmental impact. Choosing solar for a tiny home isn’t just a financial decision — it’s one of the most concrete, measurable steps an individual can take toward genuinely sustainable living.

Disadvantages You Should Know Before Buying

Solar power is genuinely well-suited for tiny homes, but it’s not without its drawbacks. Going in with clear eyes about the limitations — and knowing how to work around them — is what separates a solar installation you’ll love from one you’ll regret. These aren’t dealbreakers, but they’re real considerations that deserve honest attention before you commit.

The most common mistake tiny home solar buyers make is underestimating total system cost and overestimating available roof space. Both errors lead to systems that either strain the budget or fail to deliver enough power. Understanding the disadvantages upfront lets you plan smarter and build a system that actually works for your specific situation.

High Upfront Costs for Solar and Battery Storage

A complete off-grid solar system for a tiny home — panels, lithium battery bank, inverter-charger, charge controller, and installation — represents a significant upfront investment, typically starting around $7,500 and climbing higher as you add capacity. The battery bank alone is often the single most expensive component, with a quality 5kWh lithium iron phosphate battery representing $2,000 or more of that total. For tiny homeowners already stretching their budget to build or buy their home, finding the capital for a solar system can be genuinely challenging.

Cost Snapshot: What You’re Actually Paying For

Component	Estimated Cost Range	Notes
Solar Panels (4 x 300–350W)	$800 – $2,000	Monocrystalline recommended
5kWh Lithium Battery	$2,000 – $3,500	LiFePO4 preferred for longevity
5,000W Inverter-Charger	$1,000 – $2,500	Must match battery voltage
MPPT Charge Controller	$150 – $400	Improves efficiency up to 30%
Mounting Hardware & Wiring	$300 – $800	Varies by roof or ground mount
Professional Installation	$500 – $2,000	Often completed in one day
Total Estimated Range	$4,750 – $11,200	Varies by system size and location

Solar loans and financing programs have made this barrier significantly more manageable. Many lenders offer solar-specific financing with terms of 5 to 20 years, and because solar systems begin generating savings from day one, your monthly loan payment is often partially offset by the reduction in your electricity bill. Over a 10-year period, the cumulative savings of $250 to $750 annually add up to $2,500 to $7,500 — nearly covering the cost of a basic system entirely.

It’s also worth noting that battery costs have been dropping steadily year over year as lithium technology matures and production scales up. Buyers today are getting significantly more storage capacity per dollar than buyers just five years ago, and that trend is expected to continue through the end of the decade.

Shaded or Wooded Locations Reduce Solar Reliability

One of the most overlooked disadvantages of tiny home solar is the impact of shading. Tiny homes are frequently placed in wooded or heavily treed settings — exactly the kind of secluded, natural environments that attract people to the tiny home lifestyle in the first place. But trees and solar panels are a difficult combination. Even partial shading on a single panel can significantly reduce the output of an entire string of panels, depending on how your system is wired. If your chosen site gets fewer than four peak sun hours per day, or if shade is unavoidable for a significant portion of the day, you’ll need to size your system larger to compensate — which drives up cost.

Inverter Placement Challenges in Small Spaces

A 5,000-watt inverter-charger is not a small piece of equipment. It generates heat during operation, needs to be positioned close to the battery bank to minimize resistive losses in the DC wiring, and requires adequate ventilation to prevent overheating — all within a living space that may be under 400 square feet. Finding the right location that satisfies all of these requirements while remaining accessible for maintenance and out of the way of daily living is a genuine design puzzle. It’s one of the reasons working with an installer who has specific experience with tiny home systems is worth the added cost.

A Solar-Powered Tiny Home Is One of the Smartest Sustainable Investments You Can Make

When you stack up the savings, the independence, the environmental impact, and the alignment with a values-driven lifestyle, the case for solar-powered tiny living becomes almost impossible to argue against. A $7,500 system that saves you $500 a year in electricity costs pays for itself in 15 years — but that calculation doesn’t account for rising utility rates, the value of grid independence, the resilience during outages, or the intangible satisfaction of powering your home with sunlight. For the tiny home lifestyle, solar isn’t just a smart financial move — it’s the logical completion of a philosophy built around living more deliberately, more sustainably, and more freely.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are the questions tiny home solar buyers ask most often — answered directly, without the fluff.

Can a Tiny House Run Completely on Solar Power?

Yes — a tiny house can run completely on solar power, and thousands of tiny homeowners are already doing it full-time. The key is designing your system to match your actual energy consumption and choosing efficient appliances that keep your daily load manageable. The following conditions make a fully solar-powered tiny home most achievable:

• Your location receives at least 4 to 5 peak sun hours per day on average
• You use energy-efficient appliances, particularly for heating, cooling, and cooking
• Your solar system includes a properly sized lithium battery bank for overnight and cloudy-day coverage
• Your total daily energy consumption stays within the 3 to 6 kWh range typical for an efficient tiny home
• You have a backup plan — generator, grid connection, or a slightly oversized battery bank — for extended low-sun periods

The 1kW to 3kW system size range covers the needs of most well-designed tiny homes. An energy-conscious tiny homeowner running LED lighting, a mini refrigerator, a laptop, and efficient cooking appliances will sit comfortably at the lower end of that range. Adding electric heating, a full-sized AC unit, or an electric water heater pushes requirements higher and may require supplemental power sources.

The short answer is yes — but success depends on honest load calculation, smart appliance choices, and a system designed for your specific climate and location. Get those three things right, and full solar operation is not just possible, it’s reliable.

How Many Solar Panels Does a Tiny House Need?

Most tiny homes need between four and ten solar panels rated at 300 to 350 watts each, depending on total energy consumption and local sun hours. A 1.5kW system — five 300-watt panels — is a solid starting point for an efficient tiny home in a reasonably sunny location. A 3kW system — ten panels — provides enough capacity for a tiny home with higher energy demands or a location with fewer peak sun hours.

The simplest way to estimate your panel count is to divide your daily energy consumption in watt-hours by your average peak sun hours per day — that gives you the watt capacity you need. Divide that by the wattage of the panel you’re considering, and you have your panel count. For example, a tiny home consuming 3,000 watt-hours per day in a location with 5 peak sun hours needs 600 watts of panel capacity — just two 300-watt panels. Add a 20% buffer for real-world inefficiencies, and you’re at three panels. That’s a very manageable installation.

What Size Battery Bank Do I Need for a Tiny House?

A 5kWh lithium battery is the standard baseline for a tiny home solar system, providing enough storage to cover a typical evening and overnight energy load after a full day of solar charging. Tiny homeowners who want two to three days of autonomy during cloudy weather — or those running higher-draw appliances — should consider a 10kWh bank, which typically means two 5kWh lithium batteries wired in parallel. Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries are strongly preferred over lead-acid for this application due to their longer cycle life, deeper usable discharge depth, and better performance across temperature ranges.

Are Solar Panels Worth It for a Mobile Tiny Home?

Yes, solar panels are absolutely worth it for a mobile tiny home — and in many cases, they’re the only practical power source available when you’re parked off-grid. Flexible solar panels and folding solar panel kits are specifically designed for mobile applications, adding minimal weight and no significant wind resistance during transit. While flexible panels are slightly less efficient per square foot than rigid monocrystalline panels, the gap has narrowed significantly with recent technology improvements. For a tiny house on wheels that moves regularly, a portable folding solar kit paired with a compact lithium battery and inverter-charger gives you reliable power wherever you park — no hookups required.

How Long Does It Take for Solar Panels to Pay for Themselves on a Tiny House?

The payback period for a tiny home solar system typically falls between 10 and 15 years, based on a system cost of $7,500 and annual electricity savings of $250 to $750. That range is wider than it sounds, because the actual payback timeline depends heavily on three variables: how much electricity you were previously paying for, your local utility rates, and how much of your system cost you financed versus paid upfront.

Tiny homeowners in states with higher electricity rates — Hawaii, California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, where residential electricity rates consistently exceed the national average — will see faster payback periods because the savings per kilowatt-hour are larger. Those in states with lower electricity costs will see a longer payback horizon, but still benefit from the grid independence and outage resilience that solar provides regardless of rate savings.

It’s also important to factor in the declining cost of utility electricity being a thing of the past — rates have risen consistently over the past two decades and show no sign of reversing. Every year utility rates increase, your solar savings grow proportionally, accelerating your payback timeline beyond initial projections.

Finally, the federal solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) can reduce your net system cost by a significant percentage — currently 30% for systems installed before the end of 2032 under the Inflation Reduction Act — which can meaningfully shorten the payback period. A $7,500 system with a 30% ITC applied drops to an effective cost of $5,250, reducing the payback period accordingly. When you combine tax incentives, rising utility rates, and the genuine value of energy independence, solar-powered tiny living makes compelling financial sense long before the panels fully pay for themselves.