No doubt you’ve heard plenty about solar energy but always thought it was too expensive. Well, with fuel prices climbing plus solar cells becoming more reasonable, adding solar power to your house is a great, long term solution to high energy bills.
That isn’t to say they’re cheap. Previous to rebates, it typically requires twelve or more years for a house owner to make their investment in solar panels back. That’s much longer than the average person wants to wait. However, many states at this time offer rebates, so the final price to the homeowner is far less than it use to be. The rebates vary from state to state, so it’s not possible to say how much of an impact they have overall.
Solar panels are steadily becoming more efficient. They produce more electricity now than they used to. They require almost no maintenance, many of which you could possibly do by yourself. This helps to keep the low cost.
Solar energy isn’t just for creating electricity. You can use to heat the water for your swimming pool or heat your home as well. There are many choices for those who are interested in building a green living home without sacrificing comfort.
The solar energy implementation prices have fallen by 90% since the 1970s. That doesn’t make it cheap - yet! - to install enough photovoltaic cells to power a house, but in some areas the incentives given to install solar cells cuts the overall cost to the homeowner about in half.
To decide if solar energy is right for you, take this into consideration:
• Check your energy consumption. You should know how big a system you will need to power your home. Make sure you consider your highest consumption levels and the possibility that it will grow.
• Find out how much a photovoltaic system to meet your need will cost you. The size will depend both on your energy need and on the available sunlight (solar resource) in your area.
• Check for rebates and that can help to decrease your costs.
• Are you going to setup your system as "On the grid" or "Off the grid"? What does this means? On the grid means that you can sell the excess of electricity and buy when you don’t have enough. Off the grid, means that you will need a battery system to store your excess, this can increase a little bit the costs.
• The environmental benefits.. This is actually a personal factorrather than an economic one. You are being proactive to start a green living style. You are contributing to generate less pollution day by day, that's green living.
Choosing to utilize solar power in your home is an investment you will appreciate on many levels. Over a number of years it will save you money as you generate environmentally friendly energy. It’s not cheap to start, but when you combine the environmental benefits with decreasing your reliance on fuel costs you will certainly appreciate the possibilities.