While they once seemed hard to attain and expensive, solar panels are becoming more and more popular. In fact, you can see them everywhere – at many common businesses and homes. Indeed, it’s easier than ever to attain solar panels to heat and power your home. And that’s a good thing because solar panels not only help the environment, they help your wallet too.
Solar panels and solar panel systems will save you money and pay for themselves in a short period of time. The upfront expenses of installing solar panels are reduced by rising property prices, decreasing electricity bills, and the federal tax credit. Because energy prices aren’t going down, investing in solar energy is a sensible way to save money while also reducing your carbon impact.
But how do they work? What is the science behind solar panels and why are they such miracles of science?
It’s all rather simple and straightforward. Essentially, solar panels can convert up to 22% of their available energy into electricity. When you consider that we pay a large portion of our power bills each month, this is a very remarkable figure. Solar cells are used to make the solar panels. A cell is a tiny disk of silicon or another semiconductor. They are connected to a circuit through a wire. When light strikes a semiconductor, it is transformed to electricity, which then travels through the circuit. The solar cell ceases producing electricity as soon as the light is turned off.
Do Solar Panels Save You Money?
If you want to know how much money solar panels may save you on your energy bills, you must first figure out how much you spend on electricity each year. The typical yearly power use in a US home, for example, is 11,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh). If you multiply it by the national average electricity rate ($0.1301), you get a total of $0.1301. You’d be able to see how much money you spend on power each year. The average American home spends approximately $1,430 on power each year.
If your average monthly power cost is high and you live in a high-energy-rate area, it may be advantageous to put solar panels in your house while the 26 percent tax benefit is still in effect. It is not only beneficial to your pocketbook, but it is also beneficial to the environment. There are a number of reasons to invest in solar panels. Some of these reasons include the price of energy going up and down and costing you and your family more and more money every year, the dropping costs of installing solar panels, the growing number of subsidies to install solar panels, and more. All of these reasons will add up and should encourage you to look into using solar panels.
While the upfront costs of installing solar panels might be steep, it will soon be saving you money and – more importantly – will deliver consistent costs. Unlike electric bills, which fluctuate wildly based on the season and other facts, solar panel prices will stay steady throughout the year. In short order, you will be saving a lot of money while other people using general electricity will be paying more and more.
How Many Solar Panels Do You Need?
A typical home would require between 20 and 25 solar panels to meet 100 percent of its power demands. The exact quantity you’ll need varies on a variety of criteria, including your location, panel efficiency, rated power, and personal energy usage patterns. Importantly, the quantity of solar panels you require for your home has a direct bearing on the cost of solar.
Examine previous utility bills to estimate your home’s usual energy consumption. You can figure out how many solar panels you’ll need by calculating your household’s hourly energy demand by your area’s peak sunshine hours and dividing by the wattage of each panel. To define a range, use a low-wattage (150 W) and a high-wattage (370 W) example (17-42 panels to create 11,000 kWh/year). It’s important to keep in mind that the size of your roof and the amount of sunshine it receives are both important considerations.
Thankfully, if you use a professional solar panel company, they will handle all of these calculations for you and you can rest assured they will do it right.
How Much Do Solar Panels Cost?
How much does it cost to put solar panels in? A solar system costs an average of $13,00 to install. The cost of installing solar panels is determined by the number of panels required to generate electricity for your house. The good news is that the upfront cost of solar panels is compensated by the savings and return on investment they generate.
The federal government tax credit, which is presently at 26%, can balance the average cost of solar panels and their upfront cost. The tax benefit will be reduced to 22% from 2020. As a result, the sooner you use the whole credit, the better. The federal tax credit was established to promote investment in solar and renewable energy systems, and claiming it is as simple as filling out the appropriate IRS Form.
Solar panels improve property values and decrease electricity expenses, in addition to the federal tax credit. Solar panels save you far more money over time than gas or electric heating systems. In just three years, your solar panel installation will be paid for.
Conclusion
Solar panels do much more than simply make your home green and good healthy for the planet. Solar panels also help you save a lot of money. In fact, when you look at the numbers and hard data, you will see that solar panels will quickly start helping your bank account in no time at all. Installation might be costly but it will all be worth it in no time at all. In just a few short months, your electricity bill will be a thing of the past and your home will be totally solar-powered and totally cheaper too.
Contact Sunlight Solar to speak with professional solar installers. We have offices in Bend, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, Colorado Springs, Colorado, New Haven, Connecticut, and Marlborough, Massachusetts.
One Comment on “How Solar Panels Save You Money”
With solar panels being a more and more popular option for how to get your electricity, many people are wondering how they can install these on their homes. There are a lot of steps to installing solar panels, so it is important to have a step-by-step guide handy before starting the process. This post will walk you through how to go about getting everything set up so that you can start saving money!