What is all this about the government paying for your solar panels?

We have all heard the pitch before. “Get free solar from the government!” or “The federal government will pay you to put solar panels on your house!”

There is a lot of truth to this statement, but the whole “free solar” thing is misleading at the very least.

The basis for this claim is that most solar programs require no money down and no out-of-pocket expenses upfront. The first bill or payment you will receive comes after your solar is installed and is typically less expensive than your current electric bill and will (at least mostly) replace your electric bill.

This does not mean the solar is free, but instead, it is less expensive than electricity through the utility company.

For those of you more familiar with financial lingo, this is called cash-flow positive. It means that there was no “hit’ on your finances or no money out of your pocket, but you will see immediate savings.

For instance, if your electric bill is $150, then with going solar, you would have a $0-20 electric bill and roughly A $110 solar payment. You would be saving at least $20 a month the very first month and more as electricity rates increase.

This is made possible by the solar federal investment tax credit. If you pay income taxes, then the federal government will effectively pay for 30% of your solar panel system. This makes solar power much cheaper than what you are currently paying to TEP/TRICO/APS/SSVEC/UNISOURCE.

The Arizona State government also pays a flat $1000 tax credit on the value of a solar panel system as well.

Most investors consider this a very lucrative financial decision, even a no-brainer.

Why have the electricity company middle-man your power and charge whatever they want? Take control of your electricity usage by making your own clean power for much less than the electric utility!

Give our solar experts a call at (520) 858-0220 to see how much you will save today!

What is all this about the government paying for your solar panels?

We have all heard the pitch before. “Get free solar from the government!” or “The federal government will pay you to put solar panels on your house!“

There is a lot of truth to this statement, but the whole “free solar” thing is misleading at the very least.

The basis for this claim is that most solar programs require no money down and no out of pocket expenses upfront. The first bill or payment you will receive comes after your solar is installed and is typically less expensive than your current electric bill and will (at least mostly) replace your electric bill.

This does not mean the solar is free, but instead, it is less expensive than electricity through the utility company.

For those of you more familiar with financial lingo, this is called cash-flow positive. It means that there was no “hit’ on your finances, or no money out of your pocket, but you will see immediate savings.

For instance, if your electric bill is $150, then with going solar, you would have a $0-10 electric bill and roughly A $120 solar payment. You would be saving at least $20 a month the very fist month and more as electricity rates increase.

This is made possible by the solar federal investment tax credit. If you pay income taxes, then the federal government will effectively pay for 30% of your solar panel system. This makes solar power much cheaper than what you are currently paying to TEP/TRICO/APS/SSVEC/UNISOURCE.

The Arizona State government also pays a flat $1000 tax credit on the value of a solar panel system as well.

Most investors consider this a very lucrative financial decision, even a no-brainer.

Why have the electricity company middle-man your power and charge whatever they want? Take control of your electricity usage by making your own clean power for much less than the electric utility!

Give our solar experts a call at (520) 858-0220 to see how much you will save today!

Living in the Southern part of Arizona has its advantages…consistent warm weather, proximity to California, some beautiful scenery, relevantly close vacation destination (Mexico), and about 286 days of sunshine per year. For those of us in solar energy, that’s like pennies from heaven, a never-ending supply of energy we can use for our homes. It’s important to remind ourselves of the main core reasons to go solar. So that withstanding, here are 5 reasons to go solar in no particular order..because they’re all important.

Reduce Your Electricity Bill

If this is news to you, you may have arrived here accidentally. It’s by far the number one reason people look at going solar for the home or business in the first place. Some homeowners can reduce their rates by more than 60 %, on average you will reduce your electricity bill by 40% or more.

Helping the Environment

It is true you can help protect the environment by adding solar panels to your home, but by how much? That’s an easy one for us. According to the most recent EPA study, the average American home emits about 20 metric tons of carbon a year. To put that into some perspective, this study claims that the average vehicle creates about 4-5 metric tons a year. So, 4 cars equal 1 home. Adding solar panels to your home reduces this carbon footprint by 4-5 tons annually, so it’s like getting rid of a car that runs on gas.

Improves Home Value

Never once have we heard, that having solar panels on the home I just bought was a real pain. It just doesn’t happen. Though it may be true that people sometimes wrestle with the decision to go solar, people seem to be excited when they look to buy a home that already has the functionality installed..who wouldn’t want lower electric bills.

Protecting Yourself From Rising Energy Cost

We’ll use that as our benchmark since about 60% of electricity is created by coal. So to keep this relative, the average home price in Arizona is about $175,000. In 1970, the average home price was $62,000. An increase of about 180%. Not really that bad…coal prices have increased about 1400%. That’s the equivalent of the average Arizona home costing close to $1,000,000.00. With solar, you can protect yourself over the long haul against rising energy costs.

Create Jobs Locally in a Growing Industry

Most solar companies, like Solar Solution Az, are locally owned and operated. The solar industry has led the way over the past decade in creating jobs faster than almost any other industry in the United States.

These are just a few of the many reasons people should go solar in their home or business, after reviewing our site, we’re sure you’ll find your own reasons.

Solar panels and LEDs: Peanut Butter and Jelly

Solar power and energy efficiency are generally touted as two alternative solutions to our energy and environmental crises. But in fact, rather than being in competition with one another, it is actually only the two of them working in tandem that has the ability to get us out of this mess. In other words, it is a case of both … and, rather than either … or.  Solar lighting and energy efficiency go together hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly. Read on below to find out why.

As the threat of resource depletion and human-induced climate change looms over us, many people and businesses are now piling solar panels atop their roofs in order to light up their houses. Unlike electricity sourced from fossil fuels, solar-powered lighting generates no carbon emissions or other harmful pollutants. It relies SOLELY on the free, clean energy supplied by the sun, which it effortlessly converts into a form that can be utilized as light by homes and businesses when it gets dark. Solar is certainly making major inroads into the energy market, and this is due in no small part to government initiatives designed to create a financial climate favorable to solar, for example, tax credits, installation discounts, feed-in tariff schemes, and the like. And as the supply of solar power continues to increase, this pushes the cost down even further, making it more and more affordable to households and businesses.

Better Together: Solar and Energy Efficiency

This may seem like great news for those of us who have the future and well-being of the planet at heart, but actually, many environmentalists are worried that the preoccupation with alternative lighting and energy is actually distracting attention away from energy efficiency and conservation, which to their minds is the REAL solution to our energy and environmental crises. Instead of increasing supply, as this school of thought holds, we should be reducing our overall demand for energy. We can do this by retooling our appliances to require less power or replacing energy-hungry devices with ones that are less energy-intensive and have higher efficiency ratings (for example, phasing out incandescent lights in favor of LEDs – the latter emit the same amount of light as the former, but consume far less energy). We can also turn devices off when not in us. Insulate and weatherstrip our windows, walls, attics, and doors to better retain warmth, reducing the need to have heaters running constantly. Redesign our buildings so that they can better capture the natural warmth of the sun (again reducing the need for heating), and the like. In addition, we can go the ‘conservation’ route, simply training ourselves to ‘go without’, thus putting on an extra layer of clothing when it is cold instead of running the heater, drinking a glass of iced water instead of turning on the air conditioner on hot summer days, or reading a book for entertainment instead of watching energy-guzzling television. These are all straightforward measures that can drastically reduce our energy usage.

Energy Efficiency Multiplies your Solar Savings!

The energy efficiency advocates claim that this is ultimately the far cheaper and more effective option than for example ramping up the supply of solar PV panels, even when you factor in the government incentives encouraging the uptake of solar. After all, the key issue here is that solar suffers from the very serious problem that it only works when the sun is shining! And our electricity requirements just happen to peak in the morning and evenings, whereas solar energy output peaks in the middle of the day! Whilst it is true that battery and storage options exist that enable us to utilize solar energy after dark, and when it is cloudy, they are still quite limited in their capacity. And so solar energy on its own is still quite limited in its potential. Energy efficiency measures are needed to smooth out the dips and peaks in the electricity demand and solar energy output cycles. Moreover, focusing on energy efficiency measures will actually make solar power more accessible and affordable to the majority of people: by reducing the overall amount of energy we require to meet our needs, this in turn will serve to minimize the required size and thus cost of solar lighting systems. At current, many people are dissuaded from going solar because they use their own excessive electricity usage as a benchmark for what they will need in the way of solar panels. Solar power is prohibitively expensive for many people because of their wasteful consumption patterns, not because of solar itself! So that is why the energy efficiency advocates favor conservation over expanding supply. The problem is, though, if the majority of government support goes to solar-powered lighting initiatives, as seems to be the case at the moment, energy efficiency will get neglected and fall by the wayside, and none of this will occur.

But then what does this have to do with our thesis outlined at the beginning of this post? Well, the point is that the arguments of the energy efficiency advocates prove – unknowingly, and despite their intention – that solar-powered lighting, like solar walkway lights for example, and energy efficiency are actually partners in crime! It is not a matter of choosing energy efficiency instead of solar-powered lighting: as we have just seen, energy efficiency measures make solar power more viable, and solar power in turn gives energy efficiency its meaning. After all, fossil fuels are a finite energy resource and will have to be replaced. All the energy efficiency measures in the world won’t make a lot of difference if we aren’t able to develop alternative energy sources – like solar-powered lighting. The two don’t actually stand in conflict with one another; in fact, they go together hand in hand.

Give us a call today and let our energy experts slash your electric bill (520) 858-0220!