Should You Go Solar? by Gavin Bowlby and Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
Who wouldn’t want free, eco-friendly energy for the home? But who can afford it?
Solar
power technology is ingenious. It converts sunlight to electricity that
we use while washing clothes, vacuuming floors, cooking meals, and
watching television.
The sun shines for free, but harnessing it requires significant bucks.
In some cases, that initial investment might make financial sense. In others, it might not.
Should you put the sun to work for your home?
Consider the options
Among
the wide range of residential solar energy systems, two are the most
common, and usually the most economical. Both use glass panels mounted
on the roof or in the yard to capture sunshine. Homeowners may choose
either or both of them.
1. A grid-tied photovoltaic (PV)
system generates electric current and pipes it into your dwelling for
general use. Connected to the public power grid, it sends any
electricity you don’t use out to help meet your community’s
power needs while your own meter runs backward. In turn, on days when
you require more power than you’ve generated, the public grid
automatically provides it to you.
(Properties with no public power access will need an off-grid photovoltaic system that operates independently, and is often more costly.)
2.
A solar water heater pipes pre-heated water into your conventional
water heater. The goal is to reduce the conventional water
heater’s workload and energy consumption.
Do the research
Do
you live in an area of the country with sufficient year-round
sunlight? For nationwide solar maps and more, visit these
links: Find Solar Go Solar
Do
you have an area on your roof or in your yard that receives year-round
sunlight unobstructed by the shade of trees, neighboring buildings, and
even chimneys that can decrease your system’s cost-effectiveness?
If
your system will be roof-mounted, does the roof have a large enough
area (about 300 to1000 square feet for a whole-house system; about 20
to 30 square feet for a water heater), with a 30-degree incline that
faces south? If not, you’ll pay more to build a structure
that creates an incline with the right exposure.
Can your
current roof support the weight of a solar water heater tank and
panels? If not, extra framing can be added but will increase the cost.
Is
your energy consumption high enough? If not, your system could
take a very long time to earn back the money you paid for it.
Examine your electric bills and go to http://www.findsolar.com/index.php?page=rightforme http://www.go-solar-hot-water.com/solar-energy-calculator.html for solar energy cost calculation spreadsheets.
Can
you invest $10,000 to $50,000 for a whole-house system, or about $1,500
to $3,500 for a solar water heater, then wait several years for the
accrued payoff in reduced energy bills?
Do you live in a state with solar subsidies, rebates, or other programs to help fund your system?
Prepared
with answers to these questions, you can interview local solar
installation contractors to pinpoint the sizes and costs of systems
that might fit your needs and your pocketbook.
Gavin Bowlby
is a computer engineer with an interest in renewable energy systems,
energy policy, and energy distribution. He has researched photovoltaic
home systems, and set up an "Energy Fair" where participants learned
about solar water heaters, pool heaters, and photovoltaic home systems
from a variety of vendors in southern California.
Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
is the author of 17 novels for publishers including Avon, E.P. Dutton,
and Simon & Schuster, and hundreds of articles for publications
such as National Geographic Traveler, San Francisco Chronicle, and
Veggie Life. She wrote a teleplay for CBS and short fiction for The
Bark magazine. With coauthor Shelley Frost, she wrote Your Adopted Dog
(The Lyons Press). Holding a B.A. in Environmental Science Studies and
a lifelong interest in animal issues, she spends a lot of her time
battling a severe addiction to dogs.
