According to supply and demand economics, as the demand for solar energy components goes up, mass production will increase and the prices will go down.
But…does it really make sense for you?
Whether you’re getting ready to build, or just want to know if you can “go solar”, here are three factors you’ll want to consider:
1. The first thing to know is the number of sunlight hours per day…what’s referred to as the insolation factor. At http://www.nrel.gov, you can find a solar map created by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that will help you determine the insolution factor for your building site. Then you’ll also need to know any specific additional obstructions the sun might have…like trees, other buildings, or a hillside.
2. What are you paying now for electricity? This will help you determine how many years, based on the per watt cost of electricity, it will take for you to save back the cost of your solar home installation. If you’re getting ready to build a new home in a new area, see if you can get some ideas from nearby homes of about the same square footage. If you’re only going to be in your home for 2 of 3 years, you may not recoup your costs from energy savings. However, if you plan to live in your new home for a long time, you’ll likely have a very large payback.
3. Be sure you know all of the available rebates and tax incentives. Since the government is encouraging solar energy installation, take advantage of every incentive you can find. You may find when you’ve calculated everything that’s available that you can reduce that installation cost from 10 to 60%. Since the average American home solar energy system runs between $40,000 and $60,000 right now, those savings can make a big difference in closing the gap between getting a conventional energy system, and a solar energy system.
Let’s face it. If you live in an area, or on a site, that really doesn’t get enough direct sunlight to generate much of a solar power system, it simply may not be worthwhile no matter how much you want to do it. Fortunately, most of the United States gets adequate direct sunlight, excluding specific site constraints, to support a solar power system. If solar really doesn’t work, though, look at all the other renewable energy possibilities.
Once you’ve past the phase of finding out solar powered energy will work at your home, there’s more good news. Photovoltaic cell cost is coming down drastically due to new mass production techniques. Reducing the cost of solar energy components means more available, more affordable options, making solar power more feasible every day.
New innovations and applications are being rapidly developed. A recent Princeton study shows how engineers have developed a new technique that “could slash the cost of solar panels.” In an article sited in nextbigfuture.com, researchers at Princeton state “By overcoming technical hurdles to producing plastics that are translucent, malleable and able to conduct electricity, the researchers have opened the door to broader use of the materials in a wide range of electrical devices. Plastics could represent a low-cost alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO), an expensive conducting material currently used in solar panels.”
With research and development bringing in new and better methods of capturing solar energy, and mass production increasing significantly, it will soon be unthinkable…and infeasible…for homeowners with good insolation factors for look at any other energy system to operate their homes.
And the experts agree…solar energy power is going to do nothing but grow. Says Everett Sizemore, consumer product review expert for Compare the Brands, “Out of all of the renewable energy alternatives we have today, solar power is still the most feasible for the majority of households in America. With federal, state, and local government incentives, the lowering cost of solar panels and improved efficiency, going solar is cheaper than ever.”
Like individual homeowners finding new and better ways to generate solar electricity on site, electrical power plants are also making huge strides. In one of the newest, most feasible designs, a molten salt storage loop enables power plants to store and generate electricity whether the sun is shining…or not…for fairly long periods. The goal is to get several molten salt storage loop plants over a fairly broad area, connected in a grid similar or identical to current utility grids, to take advantage of all solar opportunities, and always have enough stored electricity to constantly generate power.
And…at the end of the day…there’s simply no question, whether you’re on..or off the grid…home solar power is increasingly becoming more feasible.
Want to find out more about home solar power, then visit Timothy Peters’s site at: www.HomeSolarPowerExplained.com
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