REDUCE OR ELIMATE YOUR ELECTRIC BILL = SOLAR PV = Electricity Not Heat.
The more light, the more energy solar panels produce. Direct sunlight is best, but even cloudy days produce electricity.

Facing South Is Best .
South-facing roofs get the most sunlight, all day long. East and west-facing roofs also work but will produce less electricity..

Spin Your Meter Backwards - NET METERING.
During the day, PV solar usually makes more power than your house needs. The excess power is sent back through your electric meter to the utility, spinning the meter backwards and earning you credit. At night, you “withdraw” the power you “deposited” during the daytime.

The Economics of Renewable Energy.
As a solar energy customer, you only pay what you use above that of what you produce. If your goal is to have a ZERO electric bill, keep in mind that there may be a small monthly service charge.

Eliminate the Most Expensive Power .
Most utilities charge higher rates for power as you use more. So, even if you only use solar energy to produce HALF the power you need, you may cut your energy bill by 70% by only buying the cheapest power from your utility and eliminating the penalties caused by higher power usage

UTILITY UPCHARGE SCALE AS USAGE INCREASES CHART	DECREASING FEDERAL FUNDING FOR SOLAR PV SYSTEMS

The Economics of Renewable Energy
Whenever any purchase is made to lower operating costs, the question that will arise is the one about payback: how long will the savings created by a solar system add up to equal its cost? The classic method for calculating simple payback is to divide the annual savings into the initial price to calculate the number of years to payback the original expense of the system. So if a system costs $10,000 and is saving $2,000 per year, the simple payback is five years ($10,000 divided by $2,000.) But using payback as a benchmark for making the decision to go solar begs the question: what is an acceptable payback? Five years say some, ten years say others. A great many people feel that the solar option is justified if it simply pays for itself within its lifetime. Solar electricity generated on site is clean and it recycles dollars in the local economy instead of buying and burning irreplaceable fossil fuel. It also helps our utilities by providing energy when it's most needed, during the summer. The economics of the decision to go solar should really be viewed in the same light as you would view any other investment: its annual return or yield.

 

When a CD, stock or bond is purchased, the annual return that this instrument provides is stated in terms of a percentage. If $1,000 is placed in an account that yields $50 a year, the yield or return is 5.00% (.05 x 1000 = 50). If the yield is taxable, the actual or net return will be less, sometimes considerably. An annual return of 5% that is taxed can actually be less than 3%. The safety or security of an investment can also affect the yield. Usually, the deposits in a large bank in a certificate of deposit produce the lowest return because they are so safe and secure. Risky instruments, like junk bonds or penny stocks, can produce spectacular results, but your entire investment is at risk. You could lose everything.

 

When a solar system generates savings for a homeowner its yield is not taxable. Typically a solar electric system will provide a ten to fifteen percent return per annum. If you want to find a ten percent annual after tax yield on as safe and secure an investment as solar, you would fail in today's economy. A ten percent yield from solar equals at least fifteen percent before taxes; today there is no better an investment opportunity. In fact, it is now possible to borrow at five to six percent to make an investment in solar that yields more than ten. As part of a home improvement loan the interest is deductible so the real cost is even less.

 

However, there is a big difference between going solar to avoid high utility expense and placing the same money into a stock, bond or CD. While the traditional avenues of investment are available to us as options, we really have no choice about our utility bills. Unless we choose to live in cold, dark homes, we must keep paying that monthly energy charge. So the choice to go solar is more about how you are going to spend your money than whether or not the payback is less than five years. It is similar to the rationale behind making a home purchase rather than renting one. Home ownership is all about developing equity and retaining value while renting is just a permanent never-ending expense. When you own a solar energy system, you are no longer renting energy from the utility; you are generating energy yourself and developing equity by putting your savings to use elsewhere.

 

READY TO EVALUATE YOUR APPROXIMATE INSTALLED COSTS AND REBATE? .
(CLICK HERE AND DOWNLOAD THE .XLS Worksheet)

Once you determine your annual electric consumption and enter the details on the worksheet, give us a call gto discuss your project.