In these technologically advanced times, electricity enables every activity we undertake, from cooking to commuting, from resting to entertainment. Electricity runs everything. For that reason, alternative forms of electricity are becoming popular. One of the most common types of electricity is solar power – power from the sun. A solar panel is usually fitted with photovoltaic cells. These photovoltaic cells convert energy from the sun to electricity. You can then use the energy to power our homes, offices, and industries. There are many advantages of solar energy with the main one being it’s low cost nature.
For many other reasons that we’ll discuss below, solar power is becoming a preferred way of powering domestic activities in many homes. The positive solar energy wave is sparked and sustained by the advantages of solar energy. Before we expound on the advantages of solar energy for your home, it is important to understand that an efficient solar system includes a battery. Batteries store energy harvested by the solar panels to be used later when the sun is out. Batteries come in different shapes and sizes. Make sure you choose one that serves you well, depending on your needs.
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Reduce Energy Bills
Bills are daunting. What makes them daunting is the fact that they are recurring. Energy bills are among the most costly bills for a homestead. Eliminating such a substantial recurring cost can see you unlock a different level of financial freedom. You will be able to up your savings and invest robustly.
By installing solar energy, you significantly reduce the amount of money you pay for your electricity bill. At the same time, you will not need to cut down on the powered activities in your house such as watching TV or running appliances. No appliances will need to be packed away. With the same comfort and luxury grid connection offers, you can easily substitute that with solar energy.
The upfront cost might seem enormous, but when you calculate the long-term saving a solar installation will afford you, it is definitely worth it. On a sunny day, solar can maximize the sun’s energy. But even on a cloudy day, although the electricity generated is limited, the 10 percent or 20 percent produced is still a significant amount of energy.
Tax Cuts and Rebates
Installing solar is not only a financially astute decision from the saving on bills perspective. Receiving tax cuts and rebates adds to the advantages of solar energy for your home. It does not matter where you live. The highest probability is that your state or city offers various tax cuts and rebates for solar. Some that you can take advantage of include.
SREC
Solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) empower the home solar owner to earn a fair share of the return on solar energy sales. Some states require that power companies source a percentage of their power from renewable sources. Solar is very renewable. The requirement set is known as the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
For the energy companies to attain the RPS, they have to buy renewable solar power from homeowners. Homeowners can participate by selling their SRECs through SRECTrade, an aggregator that collects SRECs and sells them to power companies.
Net Metering
Sometimes, especially during summer, your home solar system might produce more energy than you can consume. With net metering, you can feed the excess power to the grid. By pushing the excess power to the main grid, the solar owner earns credits which they can redeem by drawing power from the main grid when they do not have enough power.
The homeowner uses electricity from the grid in the evening, at night, or during cloudy days. Still, because of the credits, the power bill is significantly reduced.
State Tax Credits
Different states also offer different incentive programs for solar owners. Check out what your state or city offers and take maximum advantage of it. You can also engage an expert as they might know more than you and will advise you better on how to maximize your rebates and cuts.
Performance-Based Incentives
PBIs (Performance-Based Incentives) are incentives calculated by the amount of solar energy you are able to produce. A feed-in tariff encourages the growth of renewable energy sources in the early stages of their development, when production is typically not economically viable, thus protecting producers from some of the risks associated with renewable energy production.
Tax Exemptions
Certain states offer sales or property tax exemptions for homes with solar. The exception is a fantastic opportunity to improve the price of your home and further reduce the tax amount you will pay as a household.
Increase Your Property Value
A home is a major investment for most homesteads. Increasing the valuation of the property then is very impactful to the stability and wellbeing of the homestead. On average, your property valuation improves by four percent when you install solar. That means, if your home is currently valued at $500,000, a four percent increase means that your property adds $20,000 immediately. This number might be significantly higher depending on where you are based.
On average, the price of a homestead improves depending on the amount of electricity it produces. For instance, property resale value improves by about $4,000 per kilowatt-hour produced. In addition, properties on the market that have solar installation sell faster by 20%. Twenty percent is a significant improvement on the amount of time you would wait to sell your property.
In short, installing solar in your home comes with other goodies apart from saving on cost. Actually, you can recoup the solar installation price because of the rise in the value of the property and the improvement in the time it takes to sell a home. So, coupled with the other incentives and rebates, the advantages of solar for your home outweigh whatever reason there is not to have solar.
Get Clean Energy
Just imagine, if you could capture the sun’s energy for an hour, you could power the entire world for a whole year. The potential that lies with solar as a form of clean, renewable energy is enormous. Today we enjoy all the convenience brought forth by the industrial revolution and the technological advancement it has to offer. But the energy we use is cutting down on earth’s life span.
So if you have an opportunity to help avert the doom that fossil fuels and other dirty energy sources are bringing closer, then take the chance with solar energy. Solar is your opportunity to contribute positively to the environment. It is your opportunity to make sure that your children will enjoy the growth and advancement that the world has made.
Low Installation and Maintenance Cost
It is understandable that when the installation cost is mentioned at first, it seems like a huge cost. It is not. First, the cost of installing solar has fallen by about 70 percent over the last decade. Many technologies have come into place, and the benefit of economies of scale has lowered solar prices.
Secondly, the initial cost is a one-off cost. Knowing the durability is well beyond 25 years, paying the initial cost and enjoying the benefits for the next 25 years does not seem so expensive then. There are also so many incentives and rebates at the federal, state, and city levels that significantly lower the cost of installation.
Thirdly, solar maintenance cost is almost non-existence. Solar does not have mechanical moving parts that suffer severe wear and tear. They just sit on your roof and power your house. The highest cost when it comes to solar maintenance might be cleaning off dust and dirt a few times a year. If they develop any electrical malfunction, that can be reasonably easy to rectify.
Remarkable Convenience
Something that sucks the life out of an active home is power outages. If you are connected to the traditional grid, you can be assured that an outage is always around the corner. Installing solar in your home assures that you never have to be out of power since you are producing your own power. When others are stuck in the dark during an outage, you will be microwaving your Pizza like it’s every other Tuesday.
Invest In The Future
Clean energy is the future. Solar is the most viable option for a homestead to be part of creating a cleaner, healthier future. Please do not wait until it is inevitable. It would be too late then. Take the step of courage and be counted among the advocates of a sustainable future.
Why Solar Power is the Top Choice For Your Home
With all the advantages of solar energy, installing solar panels is a no-brainer. But to make sure you install the solar without any friction and get the best deal out of your pocket commitment, you need professionals.Therefore, it would be best to work with a reliable professional on your solar project. ONIT Home is a company with the necessary experience and expertise to install your home with the best solar products. We’re only a phone call away!
Visit us online or give us a call right now at 1-833-433-0331 to get started.