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Solar Electric Panels – What’s The Payback?
There’s many ways to answer this question, and some answers may slant the argument heavily one way or the other. I’ll try to give you an unbiased way of looking at the issue.
First, let’s assume you’re in your house for the next 25-30 years, so we can ‘put a pin’ in the question of how much does it add to the home’s resale value (quite a bit, by the way – that will be covered in another blog later).
So most panels today are guaranteed to perform at 80% or better for the first 25 years – in fact Mage are now guaranteeing 30 year performance.
Let’s look at an average example: Medium sized house with a $200/month light bill. A safe assumption is an increase in utility rates of 3% per year (most people will agree on the 5% to 10% range). This means that as the owner of this house you have agreed to hand over more than $27,500 to the utility company in the next 10 years, with no choice (unless you like sitting in the dark with no A/C or heat).
But a photo-voltaic system that would generate enough electricity to get your bill to a ‘net zero’ will cost in the $50,000 to $70,000 range – let’s assume $60,000 for this example. There may be local utility company rebates available to reduce this amount quite a bit. But if not, there’s still currently the Federal Government Tax Credit for 30% of this figure – $18,000, which means you’ll have spent $42,000 for 25 years+ of electricity. If the panels all stop working 1 day after the 25 years is up, you will have paid $42,000 for over $110,000 worth of electricity (what the utility company will take from you whether you like it or not over the next 25 years). If the panels last for their expected life of around 40 years, you’ll be getting a whopping $180,000+ value for your $42,000 spend.
So it’s a ‘no-brainer’ – of course it’s worth doing. Who doesn’t like the idea of pocketing an extra $70,000 or so?
And regarding the argument that it’s $60,000 now, not spread out over years to come? – Finance it! – you didn’t write a check out for your house did you? – Any big ticket item like this is probably going to be financed.
2 Responses to “Solar Electric Panels – What’s The Payback?”
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December 15th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
Okay, I don’t think anyone’s taken this ssroiuely yet, so How about, hydro-electric, geothermal steam, wind turbines, augmentative passive solar, such as water heating and daylighting (somwhat different then solar lighting, or skylighting, although skylights count.) Also let’s not forget rain harvesting, and gray-water usage.these save water, and energy from a treatment, billing, delivery standpoint.Now that I asnwered the name other part: challenges, what happens when there is no sun/wind/water-flowing, if you have all of these, it won’t happen that often, but when it does, are batteries a practical solution? Won’t they eventually wind up in land-fill off-gasing? If you only use one or two of the 3 majors, what about when any of those aren’t available? Availability is still a big concern, hopefully that will be the next stock-market bubble and drive a massive influx of green-products.The common challenges with non-renewables, rather than starting from an environmental standpoint, how about we start with what they’re called. NON-RENEWABLE, eventually we will run out. It’s theorized that we’ve found all oil on earth, and will start a downward turn on production by somtime in 2008 or 2009. Aside from that, there’s the obvious global warming issues.O hope this helps some.
December 17th, 2012 at 8:32 am
Often solar panels are plcaed on a roof. If it is on the main house it will also keep the house cooler and electrical wiring lines will be shorter. But if they are on the ground it will be easier to keep the panels clean. In either place it should not be shaded.A wind power system should be as high as possible and away from trees and buildings that might obstruct the flow of air, but you would not want to locate it so far away that electric lines pose too much resistance. A geothermal system can be built in many different ways. If there is a pond nearby that is deep enough using this for the ground loops is the cheapest method. Trenches can be dug and a long loop system installed or most commonly two wells can be drilled and water will be pumped from one go through the system and be deposited in another well. The equipment that uses the loop will be located within the house.