There are multiple avenues of financial viability when it comes to switching your energy source to solar. Though the installation of a solar power system requires an investment up front, the return on that investment is nothing short of noteworthy. By supplying your home or business with your own store of electricity — and not that of your local utility grid — you will save a significant amount of money in the long term.
Fixed Electricity Costs
Depending on where you live, you may be paying higher electricity rates than someone in another state. For densely populated urban areas, electricity costs are often more expensive because of the constant demand. You may have even noticed a significant increase in your bill amounts in the recent past. Utility companies will only continue to raise prices to cover their operational needs. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you had a fixed and predictable electricity rate, even as time passes? Solar panels can eventually stabilize your electricity costs by allowing you to transition away from the larger grid. Your dependency on outside sources will go down as you learn to modify your consumption based on daily and seasonal changes in sunlight. While you may still pay some external electricity costs for the power you use at night (when your panels aren’t active), it will be far less than you’ve been charged historically. This allows you to plan ahead for electricity costs in the future by giving you a predictable rate based on the unique features of your property and the energy you typically use.
Appealing Tax Incentives
As you move forward with your decision making around switching to solar, be sure to investigate federal and state tax incentives for solar energy. The U.S. Department of Energy is actively supporting research and development related to solar power, seeking to enhance the technology and lower its overall costs. You may be able to gain a rebate for the expenditure of the panels themselves along with the contracted labor required to install them. Furthermore, you can apply for tax credits that reduce the amount of annual income tax you owe, just by choosing solar!
Enhanced Property Value
If you decide to invest in full ownership of a solar power system, you may be doing your home or business a huge favor by making it more attractive to potential buyers in the future. It is becoming commonly understood that a home or business with solar panels already installed will provide its occupants with significantly lower electricity costs than comparable structures without solar. In a competitive housing market, having solar energy included in your setting will give your assets a great advantage. Recent studies have demonstrated that in some areas, buyers may be willing to pay up to 4% more for homes with solar panels included. It is possible that this rate will only continue to increase as solar becomes a more popular energy source around the globe.
Reduced Carbon Emissions
Aside from financial savings, your use of solar panels provides another enticing feature: savings in overall consumption. Solar panels are highly efficient and operate in a passive manner by harnessing free energy from the sun. Meanwhile, your local electricity network is probably powered by coal or natural gas, which are non-renewable resources that are contributing to the warming of the atmosphere along with air and water pollution. Decreasing your reliance on fossil fuels means that you are leaving less of a detrimental impact on the environment around you, ensuring the sustainability of your lifestyle for years to come.
Whether you are motivated by the desire to save money, an interest in relevant trends, or the goal of making your property as efficient as possible, you will not be disappointed by the promising features of solar power. Take your time with this important investment, get advice from experts, and then sit back and watch as the system pays itself off in less than a decade.
