Every homeowner that makes the switch to solar becomes part of the solution to sustainably meeting the world’s energy needs. To ensure that your residential solar system is not only kind to the planet, but to your finances as well, avoid these seven mistakes when installing solar panels.
For help finding contractors, or for pricing on a system, click here.
1. Hiring the Wrong Contractor
Choosing the wrong solar contractor can lead to multiple mistakes. An awesome contractor will not only advise you about the right system to choose, where to install it and how many solar panels you’ll need, but can help with financing, incentives and other cost-cutting options. The right contractor will assess your home’s energy usage and show you how to make the system as efficient as possible.
2. Picking a Bad Location
Ideally, a home solar system should be installed on a south-facing roof that is not shaded by other structures or trees. In sunny areas, other roof locations can make a home a good candidate for solar as well. If a good roof location isn’t available, your solar contractor will provide you with information other alternatives, such as ground-mounted PV arrays.
3. Buying the Wrong-Sized System
Homeowners need to be clear about what percentage of their home’s energy needs they expect to be met with a new home solar system. Even a small system can save homeowners money, but it’s important to understand what they should expect before signing a contract. A good contractor will know the efficiency ratings of the solar panels that they install and can explain how efficiency ratings affect performance.
4. Missing Out on Incentives
Incentive and solar rebate programs offered on the federal, state and local level are always subject to change. While a great solar contractor will keep up to date on them, it’s important for you to do your homework as well. Depending on where you live, you may be able to save up to 60 percent on installation costs by taking advantage of incentive programs.
5. Not Getting the Most Out of Solar
Learning about how net metering systems work with home PV systems helps homeowners make the most out their solar systems. Since many utilities charge different rates at different periods of the day, you can enjoy additional savings by taking advantage of your solar array’s peak efficiency periods.
6. Missing Out on Financing
A careful assessment of your home’s energy needs and your household’s financial health can help determine whether it’s more advantageous for you to purchase or lease a system. Other types of solar financing options are available as well, including home equity loans.
7. Missing Out on Property Tax Exemptions
Home improvements can trigger a new tax assessment on your property, but many states exempt renovations that increase a home’s energy efficiency or that use renewable energy. Check with your state’s board of equalization department for details.
Don’t Do These 7 Things When Installing Solar Panels
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Berkeley Finalizes Solar Lending Program
There is little doubt anymore that Berkeley solar rocks. For the past year or so, the city has been ironing out the details of its solar lending program, the most progressive in the world. Essentially, what the program will do is set up The Sustainable Energy Financing District, which makes Berkeley residents eligible for a very ambitious solar program.
The story started in 2006 when Berkeley voters passed a ballot measure vowing to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. In response, officials devised the new plan, recently finalized by a unanimous vote in the city council.
The program will effectually erase the biggest obstacle to residential solar installations: up-front costs.
Instead of coming up with roughly $30,000 just to get started, homeowners can apply for municipal loans up to $22,000 for a new solar system. The program is getting overall support from residents; one, because the tax increase is voluntary and, two, because eventually homeowners would likely save more money from reduction in energy costs than they are paying on the loan, all without exceptional up-front costs. Residents would pay off the loans by way of a voluntary property tax increase of about 180 dollars a month. Loan terms are 20 years.
DOE Funds CSP
The Department of Energy is sending more money to solar projects. The department announced another $67 million for solar research and development recently. In accordance with the federal government’s usual tendencies regarding solar power, the money will go to researching and developing new storage techniques for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). CSP solar systems concentrate and absorb heat from the sun to produce electricity.
Traditionally, the biggest obstacle to affordable, large-scale solar power has been storage: how to store the energy collected for use during the night and other non-peak hours. Recent innovations have turned solar heat collection and storage a viable option, and the DOE is jumping on the bandwagon. These monies will go to a handful of universities and companies to facilitate the advancement of CSP technology. (more…)
California’s Top 10 Up-and-Coming Solar Cities
It’s fairly well-known that across the Golden State, more and more Californians are going solar, but the areas where residential solar installations are growing the fastest may come as a surprise.
The nation’s leading residential system installer SunRun teams with PV Solar Report, an industry data analyst organization, to provide stats on California’s solar industry. For their latest installment, PV Solar Report gleaned data from the state’s database of home solar rebate applications to determine the fastest-growing California solar cities.
For example, PV Solar Report founder Stephen Torres noted that “while Apple Valley may not have the most solar in the state, its solar installation numbers grew by almost 70 percent in 2011.”
California’s Top 10 Solar Cities 2012
Here are the cities that made the list:
The report not only counts the number of home solar installations and the rate of growth from one year the next, but looks at the number of solar leases as well. The increase in the number of solar leases is perhaps the most surprising data of all.
In Fresno, for example, out of 459 home PV system installations, 256 were installed as leased systems. It’s a trend that seems likely to continue. Beginning in June of 2001, solar leases began to outpace home solar system purchases. In December of 2011, leasing accounted for over 70 percent of California’s home PV market.
Equally surprising was SunRun’s account of their accomplishments. In 2007, SunRun virtually invented the solar lease model. They have remained the industry leader in solar leasing in California, with twice the market share of any other solar provider.
Their success has led to some pretty astounding statistics. The company boasts 18,000 home solar system installations. As Zach from CleanTechnica wrote in his article about the new data, “Wow, $1.5 million/day, one rooftop every 11 minutes! Impressive.”
SunRun describes their leasing program as a “solar power service,” allowing homeowners to use solar electricity in their homes for as little as zero down and letting them simply pay for the solar electricity that the home generates each month. SunRun President Lynn Jurich says it’s because of this option that solar is expanding to more median-income communities, adding that solar service enables homeowners to “lock in a low rate for clean electricity.”
Other fast-growing solar cities that didn’t make the top 10 list include Antioch, Norco and Whittier. Each grew by almost 70 percent last year. The PV Solar Report’s complete list of top-performing cities accounted for almost 7,500 residential systems installed in California last year.
5 Solar Rebates Every California Homeowner Should Know
Sunny California is prime real estate for solar energy, and a number of California rebates make home solar systems highly affordable for Golden State residents. The only downside to these programs is that some have limited funding. Homeowners interested in solar panels will want to act soon to take full advantage of all the savings.
For pricing on a home solar system, click here.
Here are five solar incentive programs that every California homeowner should know.
1. The Federal Incentive Program
The government offers the most generous program. The federal incentive program pays for up to 30 percent of the cost of installing a residential solar system in the form of a tax credit. The program is currently set to expire at the end of 2016.
2. California Solar Initiative
The California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) has transitioned its residential rebate program over to your local utility companies. The CPUC oversees the program. The state still exempts renewable energy home improvements from property tax assessments, so installing a PV system won’t raise your property taxes.
The new program offers per-installed-watt rebates from the state’s three major utilities, Southern California Edison (SCE), Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E). It’s a tiered program, with rebates that step down in price as more utility customers participate in the program.
Currently, PGE and SDG&E are at the ninth step of the ten-step program, offering rebates of $.25 per watt. SCE is at the seventh step of the program, offering $.65 per watt.
Municipal utilities offer rebates as well, some of them substantially more generous than those offered by the larger utilities, although annual funds are generally limited. Of course, if you live in one of California’s top solar cities, your rebates are likely generous. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, for example, just moved to step six of their ten-step program, offering $1.62 per watt.
3. Single-family Affordable Homes (SASH) Program
Low-income Californian homeowners may be eligible to receive free or greatly-discounted home PV systems under the CPUC’s SASH program. Residents must be PG&E, SCE or SDG&E customers to qualify and must meet income requirements.
Generally, households earning less than 50 percent of the area’s median income levels may apply for a free 1-kilowatt home solar system. Households earning between 50 percent and 80 percent of median incomes may qualify for $4.75 per watt to $7.00 per watt rebates. SASH is administered by the non-profit organization GRID Alternatives.
4. New Solar Homes Partnership
The CPUC offers cash rebates to home builders who build houses with solar electrical systems built in. The New Solar Homes Partnership has been a huge success, and it’s likely the program will meet its goal of 400-megawatt capacity by 2016.
5. Thermal Rebate Program
The three major Californian utilities offer tiered rebate programs for solar water heating systems, too. Currently, all three utilities are in the first of a four-step program. Homeowners who replace a natural gas system can expect rebates of about $1,500. Those who replace electric systems can expect about $1,000.
Photo via joncallas
Harnessing Solar Power with Grass Clippings?
Biophotovoltaics. It’s the intersection of life and electronics. Of organic matter and renewable energy production. Of one clean, natural process happily married to another.
Interest peaked? Good. Keep reading.
The beauty of biophotovoltaics
The term is fairly new to solar industry circles. It’s used mostly to describe a device that can generate solar electricity through photosynthesis.
You may remember a certain “Juicing Jellyfish for Solar Power” idea buzzing around the web over a year ago. Or Daniel Nocera’s artificial leaf, which uses solar to split hydrogen and oxygen for use in a fuel cell.
As farfetched as those concepts seemed at the time, biophotovoltaic breakthroughs keep coming, this time in the form of grass clippings that may someday power whole villages.
How? MIT researcher Andreas Mershin believes that powering up rural villages–often left in the dark without an electrical grid–could be done simply and cheaply by blending custom chemicals with green plant matter and painting it on a rooftop.
Granted, the current efficiency of his solar cell is miniscule. At just 0.1% efficient, it has a long way to go in development, though Mershin’s cell has already quadrupled the performance of earlier biophotovoltaic systems.
His projection for a deliverable paint-chemical-plant mixture? Just a few years.
Do you think it’s feasible?
Let me know in the comments, and check out Mershin’s video for more information.
Photo: MIT News
Will My Solar Panels Become Obsolete?
Recently I wrote about what to expect and what to look for in a solar warranty. One reader, Mary Ellen, raised a very good question in response. She wondered about the fast pace of solar innovations, including thin-film and other technologies, that might render today’s solar system obsolete by tomorrow. Indeed the solar industry is growing by leaps and bounds, and so is research and development of every facet of it, from new cells to smaller panels to higher efficiencies. So concern about buying now what you could pay half as much for in the near future is certainly a legitimate one.
There are but a few things I can say in response. First is that it is more or less a matter of personal judgment. Yes, the solar industry is changing fast and a variety of factors, including a ramped-up silicon supply and ever-increasing demand, will likely facilitate a fall in prices. As for efficiency, experts all over the world are working on newer and better ways to deliver solar power, but most of these innovations are still in the research phase and are probably 10 to 15 or even more years away from wide scale distribution. So, I suppose, it depends on how long you’re willing to wait. Many existing state solar rebates and incentives decrease over time, foreseeing the inevitable drop in cost. So while prices are higher now, rebates are also the most generous.
Secondly, the beauty of solar panels is that they do not exactly go obsolete. Unlike older cell phones with mediocre batteries that die and are thrown out, solar panels have no such parts. They degrade very little over time and should work for at least 20 years and even longer. Again, it is a matter of personal preference as to what you do right now. Nonetheless, today’s panels will work far into the future and, should technologies increase and panels become more compact, efficient, and cheaper, it will be easy to upgrade and fulfill the remainder of your electricity needs. (more…)
Microinverters: The Latest Improvement for Solar Panels
The latest development in the rush to increase efficiency and decrease the cost of solar panels is the microinverter. Developed by Enphase Energy, with the help of numerous venture capitalists, this new innovation promises an inverter for every solar panel in an array. Its creators claim that these inverters can increase efficiency by 5 to 25 percent.
In a typical array one inverter, which converts direct current (DC) to the necessary alternating current (AC) that powers the home, is connected to each and every panel in that array. In the new Enphase Energy design, one microinverter for each panel would reduce installation costs by eliminating the need for many cables running to one single inverter. It would also improve efficiency by cutting down the distance of transmission in which energy is typically lost, allowing the panels to produce more usable electricity. (more…)
5 Simple Home Solar Power Options
Even as the cost of home solar falls, the cost of conventional electricity continues to rise. The Energy Information Administration predicts that energy consumption will more than double by 2035 worldwide. Homeowners are starting to look at solar energy as protection against future price increases.
Fortunately, there are many solar options that will not only immediately reduce your monthly energy bills, but save you even more money over time. Here are five of the best.
For pricing on home solar power, click here.
1. Solar Water Heating Systems
Solar water heaters can cut your hot water costs by more than 50 percent. That kind of efficiency means that you’ll recoup the initial installation costs in around 5 years. Since the solar panels for these systems last 20 years or longer, you’ll enjoy many years of extra savings. A number of rebates and incentive programs can substantially reduce upfront costs as well. In fact, in many areas, there are more programs offered for solar hot water than there are for home photovoltaic (PV) systems.
2. Small Residential PV Systems
Even a few residential solar panels can make a significant impact in monthly electric bills, particularly if your utility company has a tiered-rate system. Utilities typically offer a base rate to cover basic electrical needs, but as your consumption increases, so do the rates. Many utilities increase rates further during peak-demand periods. The time of day when electricity is most in demand is usually in the afternoon, when solar panels are at their highest efficiency. As solar panels are modular, you always have the option to add more later.
3. Ground-Mounted (Backyard) Systems
If you’d like to go solar, but your home’s roof simply isn’t a good candidate for solar panels, consider a ground-mounted system. In the past, ground-mounted systems were considered more expensive, as they require extra equipment. But more and more solar contractors are offering ground-mounted systems that operate with GPS technology, enabling them to tilt towards the sun as it crosses the sky. This increased efficiency can offset the additional costs.
4. Solar Shingles
If you’re considering installing a new roof on your home, incorporating solar shingles into the design is another affordable way to work solar energy into your life. You’ll spend less than if you purchased a roof and a home PV system separately.
5. Solar Leases
Solar leases make it possible for just about any homeowner to enjoy lower electrical bills for little or no money down. The solar provider will install a system for you, maintain and insure it, and you just pay the provider for the electricity that the system produces at a locked-in rate, protecting you from rising energy costs.
Have You Gone Solar?
Have you made the switch to solar? What type of system did you go for, and why? Let me know in the comments!
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