The Advantages of Solar Energy

Why go solar? It frees yourself from a utility company and their unfair tiers.

These companies are designed to make money and do it in a manipulative ways by raising your yearly rate by 5-15%.

These are not government owned facilities, they are private and often do not even generate electricity. They make money purchasing energy from other utility companies and up charging you!

You can have an electric bill reduced to a few dollars by switching to solar, locking in future savings for decades. Solar increases your property value too. Think of all the years you payed your bill with no end! Month by month you pay the bill and it does not stop!

With solar, you remove your electric cost, and replace it with a financing bill that it equal to or close to what you were paying on electricity. This locks your payments, so that you don’t face the rising costs imposed by utility companies.

Installing solar panels is one of the best investments you can make in your home. In case you don’t know, there are many advantages of solar. In recent years, the price of solar panels and installation have decreased to a point where the return on investment is relatively high.

By installing solar on your home, you are decreasing your reliance on utility companies, and the high energy costs that they charge.

Here are 7 advantages of solar energy:

1. Solar Energy is Cheaper

According to Energy Informative, the savings from the average solar system can be used to pay it off within 6 to 9 years. That’s a return on investment of approximately 12% – 15%. On average, the utility companies increase the cost of energy by 4% per year.

When you consider that along with the 30% tax credit, known as the investment tax credit, you are looking at even more potential savings. By installing solar, you can begin to save tens of thousands of dollars over the next 20 years.

2. Increases the Value of your Home

According to research, each additional $1 in energy bill savings adds $20 to your home’s total value. This means that the cost of solar is immediately offset by the newfound equity in your home.

As electricity costs go up, the value of the system will rise as well. There have been studies showing that homes with solar usually sell 20% faster. This is probably due to people generally knowing the advantages of solar.

3. Protects you from Rising Energy Costs

The average increase in energy costs is 4% per year. In the next 10-20 years, you could be paying double in energy costs if you don’t switch to solar energy. At the moment, you are completely reliant on the whim of the utility companies.

They can increase your bill at any time. To make matters worse, you can’t choose your utility company. One of the best advantages of solar is independence. When you have solar, you are in charge of your energy source.

4. Tax Incentives

The government wants you to participate in the advantages of solar. At the moment, the federal government is offering a 30% tax credit, known as the Investment Tax Credit, to anyone who installs solar on their home or place of business. This tax credit can be applied to your personal income tax statement.

5. Protects the Environment

Another advantage of solar is that we are protecting the environment. Solar Panels reduce our reliance on non-renewable resources such as coal. We are also decreasing the amount of pollution that we emit since solar doesn’t produce carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, or sulphur oxide. 

Non-renewable resources are limited and they are on the decline. By making the switch to solar energy right now, we are making a major impact on the quality of life in the future.

6. Consistent Energy Supply

The sun is one of the few consistent parts of our lives. The sun rises and sets around the same time every day. This is a much more reliable source of energy than the non-renewable ones that we rely on at the moment.

7. Low Maintenance Costs

There isn’t a lot of maintenance that is involved with solar energy. Typically, solar panel manufacturers usually give a 20-25 year warranty on their products.

Since there are no moving parts, solar panels rarely have issues outside of the typical wear and tear. The inverter, which converts the solar energy into usable energy, usually needs to be replaced every 5-10 years.

8. The Price of Solar has Gone Down

The price of solar has decreased dramatically over the past 10 years. It has decreased to the point where it has become an excellent investment for homeowners. In my article The 7 Advantages of Solar Energy, I mention how the current average return on investment is 6 to 9 years.

But what is not usually taken into consideration is the immediate increase in property value that occurs following installation. Typically, the full cost of the solar system will be added to your property value as an improvement. This mean that you are essentially taking money from one pocket and putting it into the other.

9. You Don’t Need to Pay all Cash

Even if you were to finance your solar system, you’d still be making a great investment. Utility companies are constantly raising their prices an average of 4% a year. When you attain financing, you can lock in a payment that’s similar to your current bill.

Now, you won’t be victim to your utility company when they raise prices. After installation, your home just went up considerably in value, and as you make payments on your solar system, the money is just going right back into your home’s equity.

In Conclusion

There are many advantages of going solar. The world is constantly changing, and this change is essential to our growth. Our technology is evolving, and alternative sources of energy are now becoming cheaper than the traditional forms.

By taking advantage of solar and other alternative energies, we will not only save money, we will also save the planet from other destructive energy sources.

Please feel free to comment below if you have anything to add or if any information I’ve included is wrong!