The sun will come out tomorrow
Little Orphan Annie was right “Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there’ll be sun”. And that sun is being used more and more to produce electricity on the roofs of our homes.
Technological breakthroughs are making it easier. What has changed?
- Ever increasing watts per solar panel
- Longer life panels
So where does one start? Randy Skeie of Ecowise Power in Des Moines says “Take advantage of energy audits offered by your utility company to see if any energy efficiency upgrades can be made before installing a solar system. There is a saying in the industry …“The cheapest energy is the energy that you do not use in the first place.”
Once you have established your electrical need, you decide how much you want to produce. Typically a home uses about 11,000 kilowatts of energy per year. Rates in Des Moines are at 11¢ per kilowatt or a yearly cost of $1,300.
Randy says about 525 square feet of panels are required to produce 11,000 kilowatts. The cost is $31,200 but several tax credits lower the cost. Federal and state credits reduce the investment to about $17,000.
The payback is about 11 to 12 years when increases in electrical energy costs are assumed (and I am sure they will go up). Therefore, if the life of the system is 25 years the savings is approximately $75,000!!!
After the 12th year there is no electrical bill for your home.
The incredible news is for commercial projects there is an additional tax credit that in this case would have reduced the cost from $17,000 to $7,500.
If you want more details I would be happy to share. Contact me at rsmith@smithmetzger.com
Watts and kilowatts measure 'power', which is the rate of energy usage per unit of time. Accordingly, "a home uses about 11,000 kilowatts of energy per year" does not make sense. (It is like saying you drive your car 50 miles per hour per year.) Perhaps you meant to say "11000 kilowatt hours, which is a quantity of energy.
Posted by: Simon Rooke | November 17, 2014 at 06:34 PM