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Is Solar Power Cost Effective?

Posted Posted in Solar Energy Articles     Comments Comments Off
Nov
9

Monthly power bills seem to only go in one direction – up. In fact, despite taking conservation measures such as replacing incandescent bubs with energy efficient ones, the overall billing amount continues to move higher. This has led to frustration by many homeowners who feel that the power companies rate increases are designed to offset efficiency improvements they put into place, causing the bill to never really go down much. Smart homeowners are looking to solar power to solve this problem.

One of the key issues for any homeowner solar power cost. Installing solar power on your home with the goal to eliminate monthly power bills can be a large investment. It is important for each homeowner to understand the costs involved with installing solar power. With a little bit of homework, every homeowner can figure out whether solar is the right solution for them.

One of the first things any homeowner needs to do is to approximate how many solar panels they might need. Here is a simple way to compute this. Take out your last electric bill, and find out your total electricity usage for the month. This will be expressed in kWh, or kilowatt hours. Divide this number by 30 to find your average usage per day. Once you have this number, then further divide that by 9, which is the average hours of strong sunlight per day in most areas. This will give you the approximate power needed to be generated by your solar panels. It is then simple math to figure out how many panels you will to install to get to that number, and your ultimate solar power cost.

Once you know how many panels you might need, it is easy to approximate the cost of materials and installation. Since the upfront costs can be substantial, it is important to know how many years it will be until the entire solar power cost is paid off. For many homeowners, this number is somewhere between 4 and 7 years, depending on the size of your home and the amount of sunlight your area receives. Once this time passes, its’ all 100% savings in your pocket each month. Just imagine the freedom achieved by not having to pay a monthly electric bill any longer, nor care how much the power company decides to raise rates. In fact, higher rates can be beneficial to you – if you generate enough electricity the power company will actually be sending you a check in the mail each month!

With each year that passes, there are dramatic improvements in solar panel efficiency. Even a few years ago, solar panels were not nearly as efficient as they are today. The more efficient the solar panels are, the less of them you need to eliminate your power bill. This saves money and makes the time to payback that much quicker. For most homeowners, the true solar power cost is actually quite low and it makes sense to move ahead with the solar power installation.