Home solar power is more popular than ever in the United States. Buoyed by a dramatic drop in costs over the last decade, solar installations have enjoyed a 50 percent year-to-year average growth rate \u2013 and it shows no signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), solar currently produces enough electricity to power more than 12.3 million homes. In 2018, over 10,000 MW of solar was installed in the US \u2013 more than double the capacity installed just five years earlier.<\/p>\n
Over 1.9 million US homes now feature solar installations, with that number expected to cross the 2 million mark this year. (For perspective, in three short years, home solar has nearly doubled in size \u2013 up from 1 million installations in 2016.) It\u2019s expected to hit 4 million by 2023.<\/p>\n
And thank goodness.<\/p>\n
Solar now annually offsets more than 73 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. That\u2019s equivalent to planting nearly 1.2 billion trees or taking 15.6 million vehicles off the road. Now, imagine what those numbers will look like when we reach those 4 million home installations in 2023.<\/p>\n
The even better news is, we\u2019re only scratching the surface. To get a broader sense of solar\u2019s true potential, consider this: More energy from the sun strikes the Earth in one hour than all of humanity consumes in a year.<\/p>\n
Has all this awesomeness got you \u2013 like so many people across the country and around the world \u2013 thinking about getting in on the action?<\/p>\n
Good! But first, you need to do your research. Luckily, you\u2019ve come to the right place.<\/p>\n
WHAT IS HOME SOLAR?<\/strong><\/p>\n When we talk about \u201chome solar\u201d what we\u2019re talking about is distributed photovoltaic solar (or PV solar). The National Renewable Energy Laboratory explains the name comes \u201cfrom the process of converting light (photons) to electricity (voltage), which is called the PV effect.\u201d <\/p>\n More specifically, PV panels do so \u201cby allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons free from atoms, generating a flow of electricity,\u201d according to Live Science.<\/p>\n In a nutshell, if you have solar on your roof, the panels create electricity and the system\u2019s electrical panel sends power to your lights and appliances.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s never been a better time to think about making the leap: \u201cAn average-sized residential system has dropped from a pre-incentive price of $40,000 in 2010 to roughly $18,000 today,\u201d SEIA reports.<\/p>\n We\u2019re with you that $18,000 is no small chunk of change, perhaps especially to a homeowner balancing a mortgage, car payment, and kids\u2019 piano and karate lessons. But that number also doesn\u2019t take into account the many incentives available to solar customers or the multiple new forms of solar financing that have emerged in recent years.<\/p>\n Many of these financing options allow customers to put solar on their rooftops at little or no cost up front. (More on that in the next blog in our series.)<\/p>\n To say nothing of the long-term energy savings and increased property value a home solar system offers.<\/p>\n So, it\u2019s clear: Installing a home solar panel system is a fantastic, fiscally-smart clean energy option. But none of that matters all that much if your home itself just isn\u2019t a good or effective fit for the panels themselves.<\/p>\n SO, WHAT MAKES A HOME A GOOD FIT FOR SOLAR PANELS?<\/strong><\/p>\n The direction your roof faces.<\/p>\n The position of your house in relation to the sun will determine how much solar energy you can produce \u2013 and thus whether it\u2019s a worthwhile investment for you.<\/p>\n In the US, \u201csouth-facing roofs are the most productive for solar, followed by west-facing and then east-facing roofs. North-facing roofs are the least desirable for solar, and many people rule them out,\u201d according to the Washington Post.<\/p>\n Be mindful of the total amount of sunlight hours your home receives, in general. Even a south-facing roof will spend a fair amount of the late fall, wintertime, and very early spring in more darkness than light if it\u2019s located in a high northern latitude (think Alaska and perhaps even the most northern parts of states like Minnesota or North Dakota).<\/p>\n And while solar panels do still produce power on cloudy days, obviously the more direct sun they receive the better. If your local weather patterns tend to be truly dominated by very cloudy skies, solar panels will not be as productive for you as they might be for someone in the Great Plains, Sunshine State, or the Nevada desert.<\/p>\n The size and angle of the surface.<\/p>\n The average home solar system is five kilowatts, requiring 20 normal panels. To accommodate a system of this size, you\u2019ll need 500 square feet of space, or about 100 square feet of area per kilowatt of solar capacity.<\/p>\n As for the angle of your roof, 30 degrees is ideal \u2013 but solar panels will work on roofs ranging from flat (though they may need to be installed on tilted tracks) all the way up to 45 degrees.<\/p>\n The roof\u2019s construction.<\/p>\n What we really mean here is \u201cage and materials.\u201d How old your roof is and what it\u2019s made of are important to whether solar panels are a smart investment for a few reasons.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that solar panels are built to last \u2013 many come with warranties of 25 years or more. If your roof is older or you expect it will need to be fully replaced (versus more typical, piecemeal maintenance or repair) inside that window, adding panels to it now will mean additional expenses because you\u2019ll need to remove them before demolition of the old roof. Later, you\u2019ll have to reinstall the panels on the new one. Best to replace the roof first then install a solar system.<\/p>\n As for materials, asphalt shingles or corrugated metal roofing make for the easiest installation of solar panels.<\/p>\n How long will this be your home?<\/p>\n Like your home itself, a solar panel system should be looked at as an investment.<\/p>\n While you\u2019ll begin to experience energy savings as soon as your panels are up and running, it may take some time for your solar panels to \u201cpay for themselves,\u201d so to speak (for your energy savings to cover the cost of the system).<\/p>\n EnergySage reports that the average American family spends a little over $1,335 a year on electricity. And how much your solar panels will save you annually in any given place is likely to vary substantially because utility electricity prices differ from state to state and can be volatile in nature.<\/p>\n Average sunlight in your region and the scale of the system you install are other factors that will impact the amount of electricity your system produces and your attendant annual energy savings.<\/p>\n The final cost of a system is also likely to vary from place to place based on your state and local incentives.<\/p>\n All of which is to say, the length of time it will take for you to see a return on your investment is highly variable. There\u2019s no one answer as to when your system will have paid for itself in energy savings. It could be as little as six or eight years \u2013 the \u201ctypical solar payback period in the US.\u201d It could be several more than that.<\/p>\n You should keep this in mind before investing in a home solar system. If you do not expect to remain in your home long enough to enjoy the savings solar can offer, you should think hard on whether it\u2019s the best option for you at this time.<\/p>\n Regardless of whether you have solar panels installed on your home or not, you can partake in the green revolution for free by searching with GoShares and donating your share toward solar projects around the globe. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Home solar power is more popular than ever in the United States. Buoyed by a dramatic drop in costs over the last decade, solar installations have enjoyed a 50 percent year-to-year average growth rate \u2013 and it shows no signs of slowing down. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), solar currently produces enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n