INITIAL COST
Unless you are an expert in solar power, then installing a solar power system in your home on your own may not be a good idea after all. To maximize your system’s effectiveness and your overall savings, you really need to have the system professionally designed and installed for your building. Have a company specializing in solar installation assess your structure and customize a system for you. They will determine where solar panels can be placed to maximize your productivity, and safely wire your system into the power grid. It might cost more up front, but if you’re willing to invest more at this stage, you’ll greatly improve your savings (and safety) over the long run. Moreover, tax incentives are now being offered by the government to those individuals who make use of solar power systems, which greatly reduces the initial cost.
HOW IT CAN HELP YOU SAVE
You get to save more money in several ways by installing solar power systems. Here are a couple of the ways you will save:
1. You’ll save by making your own electricity. Every day (even on most cloudy days), your solar panels will absorb energy from the sun, and your power system will convert that into usable electricity. Every kilowatt hour you use of your own solar-generated electricity is a kilowatt hour you don’t draw from your local power grid. The simple analogy is an obvious illustration of how it helps decrease your expenses. Moreover, in cases you run short on your solar energy supply, you can still draw electricity from the local power grid, so you do not have to worry of ending up in darkness.
2. Saving is possible by returning any excess electrical power to the local power grid. On many days, you’ll actually generate more electricity than you can use. What is great about the solar energy that you have today is your ability to send back extra energy to the local power grid which then reverses your electric meter. The local electric company credits you at the same rate it would charge you for using their electricity. In other words, what you are doing is tantamount to selling your excess solar power to the local power grid or you can store it and turn it into a form of payment for the electricity that you draw from the local power grid in days when you need power supply from them. This helps you save more since your excess solar energy does go to waste.
As you can see, solar power systems are a great way to save money, and it doesn’t take long for the savings to add up. When you consider you’re also helping the environment, it’s a win-win situation.
