After receiving bids on your new home, or the remodel project, are you thinking solar energy is just too expensive? Have you decided you’re just not going to be able to afford it?
Well, you may want to reconsider. There are currently a number of government incentives available to help offset the cost of installing a solar power system. The U. S. Department of Energy, shows the following under Consumer Energy Tax Incentives:
“RESIDENTIAL RENEWABLE ENERGY TAX CREDITS
Consumers who install solar energy systems (including solar water heating and solar electric systems), small wind systems, geothermal heat pumps, and residential fuel cell and microturbine systems can receive a 30% tax credit for systems placed in service before December 31, 2016; the previous tax credit cap no longer applies.”
While a tax credit won’t pay for the solar power installation for your home, it will certainly help offset the initial expense. A tax credit generally provides significantly more tax relief than a deduction, and can be used to offset your income even if you choose not to itemize.
Many states are also offering tax incentives…rebates, and or state income tax deductions…to help reduce the cost of solar energy purchase and installation. Using all of the available incentives, you may well be able to close the gap between the cost of a traditional (gas, coal or utility-provided electrical) system, and the cost of a solar power system for your home.
If you can follow directions to put things together, or consider yourself a fairly competent do-it-yourselfer, you will undoubtedly find you can cut solar power installation costs for your home by designing and building your own passive solar system, or by building your own solar panels. You can use them advantageously for smaller energy projects, like hot water heaters or battery recharging, or landscaping…or by building your own panels, and then your own larger array of solar energy panels for an off-the-grid system.
If you want to design a passive solar system, with or without an architect, there are a number of good books available. Among them, listed on amazon.com, you’ll find The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling by Daniel D Chiras, and Green From the Ground Up: Sustainable, Healthy and Energy-Efficient Home Construction (Builder’s Guide), written by David Johnston and Scott Gibson, that contains an large segment on passive solar design.
While it may take your time, energy, and commitment, building your own solar panels for both small projects and/or a full home solar energy system can be rewarding while providing a significant cost savings. There are many good books on the market to help guide you, including The Complete Idiots Guide to Solar Power for Your Home by Dan Ramsey and David Hughes, and Solar Power Your Home for Dummies by Rik DeGunther.
The next thing, of course, is to look at how large your solar energy system really needs to be. Do you use a lot of power now? Could it be reduced? It’s good to look at this aspect before you determine how large a solar energy system you need. What are your family’s energy habits? Do appliances and power strips that draw energy when not in use get unplugged? Do lights get turned out when everyone leaves a room? What about your HVAC system…any leaking ducts or filters blocked? Have you check your door seals? And are you using compact fluorescent (CFL) lights in all of your light fixtures? CFL’s consume less wattage. They also emit less heat because they burn cooler. By becoming energy efficient now, you can reduce your consumption estimate, and plan a smaller solar power system, which will cost you less.
There are two alternative options that could help on a more global level, to reduce the cost of solar power. The government could tax coal, gas, and oil. This is probably the best option, particularly from the taxpayer’s point of view. Or, the government, aka the taxpayer, could provide bigger subsidies for renewable energies. Either option, however, should drive up the demand for solar energy power, and, through the economies of scale, drive down the cost of solar energy power.
However, neither of those alternatives may be necessary in the near future. With fossil fuel energy costs rising rapidly, solar energy makes more sense for more homeowners and businesses. As more people select solar energy, mass production of solar power components is driven down. Nearing parity already, solar power will soon be the cheaper option in any event, whatever the government does.
Want to find out more about solar power costs, then visit Timothy Peters’s site at: www.HomeSolarPowerExplained.com
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