There is a house in our neighborhood that has Solar Panels. I did not think it was attractive at all. Is Going Green suppose to be attractive? As a women I like things to look a certain way. Inviting , neat and traditional. Solar panels on the sides and top of ones home does not meet my specs. Here is where I have to lay aside my specs.Hubby says "I have two people coming over to give estimates for solar". It seems that our house is in a good location. All the panels would be located on the roof. Since we are higher then the other houses , they would almost be invisible. One could only see them in a car at the top of the hill. Even then it would not stand out so they say. We can choose our color and number of panels. Now comes the cost part.
For a 230 rated power , which is 14 panels the cost is about 20,000 dollars. The state has a grant program which they give back about 3500.00. Our county has a tax credit program which will give us 5000.00 credit. The Federal government has a tax grant which will pay us back 30% of the original system cost. All that means is our bottom line cost will be about 5500.00 dollars. Now there is a Renewable Energy Credit known as REC. It is like owning a piece a stock in the solar energy market. In today's market it is about 300.00 dollars per 1 REC. Our system has 3 REC's. Each year we can sell them. Some companies will buy them up front However they can only buy so many months, you always own the stocks. If we were to sell our REC for 120Months that would lower the net cost to about 2500.00 dollars. Whew, that was a lot to soak in! I still want to know how much we would save in the long run. With repairs and maintenance would the cost be less? What about the Green issue, does that out weigh the cost saved?
Research states that pounds of Carbon Dioxide Emissions reduced with our Solar Electric System in a 25 year period is 330,050. Now the equivalent number of miles driven in a typical American car would be 365,792 Miles or 14,631 miles per year. That is like Parking one car for the 25 years. As you can see the Green effect is great.
My questions for you, Do you have Solar in your home? If you don't would you consider it?
I think everyone who owns a home should consider solar. With all the incentives out there right now it is time to do it.Eventually you will get back the money spent. In the mean time you are helping mother nature.
ReplyDeleteI agree--those solar panels are UGLY. And what happens when you need a new roof? Is all that money you save going to just be spent when it comes time removing those darned things when you have a leak?
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