Solar-Powered Homes

Posted by Blueviper on March 15, 200

Solar-powered home owners can sleep easy all summer. And its only simply because they can keep their houses cool without paying outrageously large electricity bills. Rather, by solar power systems, which rely on roof-top solar panels to convert sunlight directly into electricity, a homeowner can, depending on the time of year and the climate in which they live, cover their monthly energy bill and in some cases, even sell what energy they don't use back to the grid. his is due in large part to state and federal subsidies, which homeowners are increasingly embracing. Residential solar installations have tripled since !""!, according to the Solar #nergy $ndustries Association, a trade group for solar energyrelated businesses. $nstalling a solar energy system is cost effective and in some cases, capital costs e%ual &ust under a few years worth of household energy costs. Silicon, the primary material used in converting sunlight to energy, is not that e'pensive. (hats more, most utilities cap the amount of &uice theyll buy from residential suppliers at around two kilowatts. $n most areas, this is enough to power a !,"""-s%uare-foot home and sell a surplus back to the grid at peak energy points.

!nvironmentally "riendly !#tras

)any find going green pays off. *ne of the many benefits is the federal #nergy +olicy Act of !"",. $t grants a one-time -". of cost ta' credit to homeowners installing photovoltaic solar power panels. /ere are some related stories0 Additional incentives are available on the state level. 1ot a home in 2ew 3ersey, ennessee or 4alifornia5 6oure in luck. All offer hefty bonuses for homeowners using solar energy. he vast ma&ority of the solar +7 installations occurring in the 8.S. at present are in 4alifornia and 2ew 3ersey, )any other states also have aggressive programs to encourage solar photovoltaics, but the results in 4alifornia and 2ew 3ersey probably deserve particular note. 4alifornias !""9 Solar $nitiative provides :;"" million in rebates over << years to homeowners using +7 solar systems, and, upon its passing, called for ,"",""" new home solar systems to be included in the states net metering program, which allows homeowners to sell energy back to the grid. he results thus far5 Sunny 4alifornia is perhaps the perfect place to invest in solar power. he S#$A reports that =-. of new solar systems installed nationwide last year were in 4alifornia. 2ew 3erseys program offers rebates based on wattage capacity, meaning that the more &uice your system can generate, the more the subsidy is worth. here, the number of

residential solar power-generated systems accounted for <-. of those newly installed nationwide. 2ot bad for a small state. 2ew 3ersey added five times as much solar wattage last year as neighboring 2ew 6ork. >urther south, the ennessee 7alley Authority offers a one-time :,"" disbursement and <, cent per kilowatt payment for residences generating surplus power. As a point of reference, the retail outfits that buy from the 7A charge customers about =., cents for power, meaning that if its a sunny summer in the South, a solar-powered home can net a homeowner a decent profit in what effectively amounts to a subsidy. Another strategy states are implementing to increase solar energy use is to make attractive the building of solar systems directly. Austin #nergy, a community owned utility in Austin, e'as, offers low-interest, no-fee loans up to :!",""" for the purchase and installation of +7 solar systems, payable over <" years with no prepayment penalties.

!arth-"riendly !conomics
$t should be noted that most solar powered houses do not completely power a home through all seasons. $f one season and part of two have e'tremely cold weather and are usually only part of an energy generating system, which often includes geothermal energy systems. o achieve a net-?ero rating, a home must use less energy during energy generation months than the surplus it creates in peak months. his is a small challenge to do, if you live in e'tremely cold weather. $t is also difficult for residents in some areas to gain any kind of benefit from surplus solar power. en states do not re%uire utilities to offer net-metering to customers. )issouri and South 4arolina are among them. *thers, like 2evada, do not re%uire utilities to compensate customer generated energy. @ifferent organi?ations are working to change that at the present time.