Thinking of going solar? Read this first...

Home solar may be the energy solution of the future, offering clean, reliable energy without having to depend on power companies and their high energy rates. With new financing options in the works from some companies, getting into solar could soon be easier than ever before. If you like the thought of energy-independence, then picturing your home with its own solar panels might make you giddy. Before you get too excited, though, there are a few things that it’s important you know about solar energy first.

Solar Is Expensive

If you want a full solar array capable of powering your home, there could be a significant expense involved. Depending on the size of your home and the extent of your energy needs, your solar setup could easily cost you $30,000 to $45,000 or more. You may be able to finance the panels and installation, but it’s still a major expense. Tax credits or other incentive programs may help to offset the cost, but the availability of these programs and what’s required to qualify can vary from year to year or by locale.

Recouping Your Investment

The money you save on your electric bill should eventually be more than what you pay to have solar panels installed, but it may take a while for you to save more than you spent. Depending on the size of your solar panels, where your property is located and how much of an effect the panels have on your electric bill, it could take 10 years or longer for you to recoup your initial solar investment.

Solar Mounting Concerns

Not all homes are ideal for solar. If your property has a lot of tall trees surrounding it or you otherwise experience a lot of shade on your house, this can have a negative effect on how well your solar panels function. Also, if you’ve had issues with your roof in the past you may have a hard time installing a roof-mounted solar array given the weight of the equipment. If you opt for an off-the-roof array to take advantage of the best lighting on your property, there will be added expense involved since you’ll have to put in a concrete slab and use different mounting equipment as well.

Do You Have a Battery?

Many people think of solar as being a way to keep power no matter what’s going on with the grid, but that isn’t always the case. Many solar arrays are designed to back-feed power into the grid itself, essentially selling the power that you generate to the electric company and reducing your bill that way. If there’s a blackout or other problems with the grid, though, you’ll still be affected because that power isn’t being stored locally. If you want local power storage, you’ll need batteries… and that can be even more expensive, depending on your home energy usage and whether you want the batteries to supply some or all of your power needs.

Cleaning and Maintenance

One thing that’s left out of a lot of solar conversations is the ongoing cleaning and maintenance requirements that solar panels have. The effectiveness of solar panels can be affected by dust and dirt buildup, so your panels will have to be cleaned as part of your normal spring or fall cleaning routines. Damage to panels and dead cells can also affect them and will require an installer to come out and fix. If you have batteries as part of your unit, these may have to be replaced after several years as well as they can start holding less of a charge over time.

Home Valuation Effects

Having a functional solar installation can have a nice positive effect on your home’s value, especially as energy costs continue to rise. It may reduce the number of interested parties a bit while solar is still relatively uncommon for homes, however. While some buyers will be excited about the idea of buying a home with solar, others may wonder how trustworthy it is or worry about future maintenance costs. While you’ll be able to get more for your property if you decide to sell, it could take you longer to find a buyer.

Have Solar Questions?

A home solar array can still be a great investment so long as you go into it with a good understanding of the realities of solar panels. HomeKeepr can help you find installers and other solar experts who can answer any questions you might have and hook you up with a great deal if you’re ready to move forward. Sign up for your free account now to get in touch and make your solar dreams a reality.

Getting The Most Out of Solar

As spring begins to really set in across the country a lot of homeowners are finally getting out into the yard and garden, soaking up the sun’s rays. Something else is taking in the rays in a big way right now: your neighbor’s solar panels. Although they function all year, just to be clear, the longer days mean more electricity production and lower utility bills. If you’ve been glancing up at those panels with envy in your heart, maybe it’s time to get your own mini electricity plant.

Depending on where you live, getting started with green energy can be a simple process with a range of providers to choose between. You should still learn as much as you can before choosing a system.

Solar Panels and Green Energy 101: Start Here

Before you dive head-first into a solar system, we want to give you a bit of a primer so you know what you’re looking at when you see it. Pretty much everyone knows that solar panels somehow make sun into electricity, but that may be the end of their knowledge base.

What’s actually happening inside is that the sun’s rays are being captured by special solar cells and converted into DC electricity. Just how that all works and what you need to make it happen is more of a mystery. Luckily, you don’t have to be a scientist to choose a good system.

Solar Panel Materials

Not every solar system is the same, which is why they vary in price so much. See, solar cells can be made from one of two main materials: monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon (thin film options are also becoming more widely available, but the adoption rate is low due to high cost). The first one, monocrystalline silicon is a more expensive, but more effective, solution. You’re gonna get more juice out of this material per square foot. That matters a lot when you have limited space on your roof to place panels.

Polycrystalline silicon is meant for areas with more space to spread out, like solar farms (or even dairy farms). But, the larger surface area means more maintenance, more chances of failure and so forth. For your house, focus your efforts on monocrystalline silicon if you’re serious about green energy.

Configuring Your Panels

Although there’s a very clear answer for the materials that should be inside your solar panels, how to configure them from there is a bit more open. You should really think about what it is you want your solar array to do before committing to a setup. These are your primary options:

Photovoltaic Direct. Unless you’re only going to use it for a single application that you do during the day, configuring an array as photovoltaic direct doesn’t make much sense. Basically, this is the kind of solar power that’s on your calculator (remember those?). It’s on-demand and when there’s no light to use, there’s no juice.

Off-Grid. Mountain Men and vacationers alike can take advantage of off-grid photovoltaic systems. These are systems that aren’t hooked up to the grid (hence the name), but are sufficient to provide your entire power needs. Used in conjunction with a battery bank for those long, dark nights, an off-grid system can make sense for temporary setups (like your RV) or very remote ones (that cabin way up on the hillside).

Grid-Tied with Battery Backup. After coming back to civilization, you may want to consider a grid-tied photovoltaic system with a battery backup. This way, you kind of have your cake and eat it, too. You store your own power, but you can also pull from the grid if you don’t make enough. You’ll be able to use these systems in an outage, since you’ve stored some electricity. Once the batteries are used up, though, karaoke party time is over. That aside, metering techniques have changed enough that it may be more cost effective to chuck the battery bank.

Batteryless Grid-Tied. Most systems today will be batteryless grid-tied photovoltaic. Essentially, your solar energy goes into your house, whatever needs to be used in that moment is sucked up by your TV and your fridge and so forth, then it travels out of your house to the grid. Your electric meter keeps track of how much electricity is leaving your house, as well as how much is coming back in during the night when you’re not generating any of your own juice. The only real downside to these systems is that they cannot act as an electricity backup in case of a power outage.

Getting the Most Out of Solar

Not all areas of the country are a good fit for solar, no matter how much you may want them to be. In fact, not even every house in an area generally believed to be good for solar is good for solar, so it pays to do a little legwork here before getting too emotionally invested. And by little, go to Google’s Project Sunroof and type in your address. It’ll do the rest.

Of course, having a house that’s awesome for solar is just the first step. There are several things you should do before making the leap to get the most out of the sun, including:

Weatherproofing your house. All those tiny leaks and the lack of insulation in the attic can impact how much you really benefit from solar in a big way. Because your air conditioning or heat is going to be influenced by those points, it’s a good idea to start by weatherproofing your home, no matter the season. Do it tight, do it right.

Upgrading the windows. Normally, if windows are opening and closing safely, they’re basically good. But when you’re talking about squeezing every cent out of your pricey solar panels, a window (and other glass panels like patio doors) upgrade is a great idea. Look for a low U-factor, indicating a tightly constructed window. Solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) is another story. If you’re trying to use passive solar heat with your active solar panels, choose a high rating. If you’re trying to stay cool, or at least prevent outside heat from coming in unauthorized, go with a lower number. Your local window experts should be able to advise you on what’s best for your location.

Investing in Energy Star appliances. Energy Star appliances have long been the standard for efficiency. When you see an Energy Star tag, you know you’re looking at a washing machine, dryer, microwave, refrigerator or whatnot that’s among the most efficient in the market. If your new solar panels are trying to power your 50 year old refrigerator, you’re wasting an awful lot of power for nothing. Upgrade that fridge right away (they have some new ones with really cool features like on-door touchscreens and cameras that can show you what you forgot to get at the market)!!

Planting trees and bushes strategically. This is another one of those “depending on where you live” suggestions, unfortunately. In some areas, you simply can’t grow a tree tall enough to shade problematic parts of your home, for example, but maybe you can grow a taller bush to shade your air conditioner condenser from the heat of the summer so it works more efficiently. Grow all the things, but nothing too big too close to the house.

A Note on Solar Panel Financing

When you’re looking to pay for these fancypants solar panels of yours, there are plenty of options. There are a lot in most states, including rebates and grants, so seriously, go find a good loan.