Solar

Installing a solar system is an excellent investment that allows you to earn returns. Returns are the benefits that you receive from purchasing an investment. Returns are great ways to gain money or save costs when purchasing solar systems. They offer many superior characteristics for buyers that are listed in this article. These characteristics are beneficial for both homeowners and businesses.

Solar systems are designed to last more than 25 years. IGS has a 25-year warranty to ensure our solar panels have a long-life span. With a long lifespan, our panels are not only durable but also require minimal maintenance. During the duration of a solar system’s lifespan, you can generate returns in savings. Since solar panels significantly reduce electricity bills, the savings will outweigh the cost you would have to pay for your utilities.

Owning a solar system increases the value of your property. You can increase the value of your property through upgrades with the savings you have earned from your solar system but also from the solar system itself. Properties equipped with solar systems increase the value significantly more than properties without solar. According to Energy.gov, when you decide to sell your property, you can sell your property faster. Buyers are also willing to pay a premium of about $15,000 for your property. Solar systems make homes more energy-efficient, which in turn lowers your electricity bills. Buyers are also interested in energy-efficient homes because it reduces their environmental impact. You can learn more about increasing your property value.

Solar Renewable Energy Certificates, or SRECs, are an incentive for electricity generation from renewable energy sources. You may be able to sell your system’s SRECs, depending on your state. Your state or even your utility may have a market for you to sell your SRECs. Purchasing and installing solar panels can be expensive to pay for upfront. Many buyers tend to get a loan and pay for their solar systems over time. SRECs can help you break even on your solar investment faster and even generate additional income!

Electricity rates vary per state. The higher your electricity rates, the more money you can save when transitioning into solar. Installing a solar system allows you to become energy independent to avoid extra costs. Because electricity is constantly increasing, you will be able to save more with solar. The graph below shows what you would save with solar.

Some states offer a solar tax credit for installing a solar panel system. The federal government also provides buyers with solar credits, otherwise known as the federal investment tax credit (ITC). ITC allows buyers to deduct solar costs from taxes by allowing you to apply 26 percent of your solar system’s value as a tax credit to your income tax bill as of 2020. Additionally, tax rebates encourage solar installation. Homeowners and businesses can receive a cash rebate from their state, their utility company, or from organizations that promote solar energy. Companies can take advantage of the depreciation tax benefits using accelerated depreciation, which reduces businesses’ tax burden and increases solar return. You can learn more about financial incentives in our cost-benefit section: When is the Right Time For Me to Go Solar?

Solar systems provide you with the benefit of solar investment, otherwise known as return on investment. Businesses who transition to solar will experience increased sales from customers who are attracted to the company’s sustainable values.

Solar incentives differ from area to area. Depending on their availability, they can make going solar more affordable and save you money!

A solar incentive is a government program that pays you money to switch to solar. There are many different types of solar incentives. They range from one-time tax credits or cash payments to continued payments over the life of your system. This article will cover the main types of solar incentives.

One of the most important solar incentives available in the U.S. is the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). The ITC is a federal program that offers tax credits to home and business owners who invest in solar projects for their properties. It was enacted in 2006 and will expire at the beginning of 2024. For 2022, 26% of the total purchase price of your solar system can be deducted from your income taxes owed to the federal government the following fiscal year. In 2023, the ITC is set to reduce to 22% and will expire in 2024.

Besides the ITC, many states have their own solar incentive programs. States such as California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Maryland have some of the best incentives in the nation, but incentives to go solar can be found anywhere. Common programs include:

• Property tax exemptions for the value of your solar system
• Sales tax exemption on the purchase of a solar system
• Low-interest loans
• Cash rebates to offset project costs
• Low-income incentives

These are just a few examples of solar incentives that can greatly reduce the cost of going solar. There are many different types of solar incentives, and not all of them will be available in every area. DSIRE manages a comprehensive database on the specific incentives available in each state. It is important to research your state’s policies to maximize your savings and enlighten.energy is happy to help! Reach out to us!

We reported some time ago – using California as an example – that it definitely makes sense to switch to solar energy in order to be independent of the electricity network, but that in the event of a blackout of the electricity network, a separate storage facility is also relevant. Please read: Solar Electric Keeps The Lights On With California's Blackouts.

If you want to save electricity costs and energy, a photovoltaic system is worth an investment. It is important to know that you can store the solar power you do not consume immediately. So it is available for you if the sun itself does not provide enough energy. Solar power is stored in a battery which is used to charge an electric vehicle.

The solar cells of a photovoltaic system absorb the light energy of the sun’s rays and convert it into electrical energy, i.e. electricity. Your solar power is stored in a rechargeable battery. The battery converts electrical energy into chemical energy. If some of the electricity is needed, it converts the chemical energy back into electrical energy and passes it on to the device that needs it.

Lately, lithium-ion technology has been gaining ground when it comes to storing solar power. Although it is more expensive than lead-acid technology, it offers various advantages. For example, you can use the stored solar energy almost completely thanks to an efficiency of 93 to 98 percent. In addition, the lithium-ion battery can withstand a discharge depth of 70 to 100 percent. So if the storage tank is occasionally completely emptied, this does not have such a negative effect on its service life. How long a lithium-ion battery can be used – there are currently only estimates based on laboratory tests. With optimum energy management, the service life can therefore be up to 20 years.

Energy storage thus works thanks to batteries. Accordingly, we now offer you a brief insight into the history of lithium-ion batteries, also in view of the fact that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded this year for the development of lithium-ion batteries.

A secured loan is a loan that requires the property owner to provide an asset (typically a house) as collateral for the money that is being borrowed. An asset is a form of ‘security’ to the lender if the money can’t be repaid by the borrower. The lender places a lien on the borrower’s property. In the case that the loan is not repaid, then the lender can take possession of the property. Secured loan lenders undertake less risk compared to unsecured lenders. Thus, many secured loans have lower credit score requirements, don’t impose prepayment penalties, and the interest paid is tax-deductible.

Secured solar loans are right for you if you are more concerned with long-term loan value than short-term cash flow. In addition, you should get a secured solar loan if you feel comfortable with using your home as collateral and have a tax liability big enough to benefit from the tax-deductible interest.

Unsecured solar loans do not require the borrower to use their house as collateral. This means that the lender cannot foreclose on the borrower’s home. Unsecured loans pose a higher risk for lenders and as a result have high-interest rates. The interest rates paid on these loans is most likely not tax-deductible.

Electricity costs for customers of New York State Electric & Gas Corp. could rise by up to 23.7% in the near future.

The increase is due to the company’s vegetation management program. According to NYSEG and RG&E President Carl Taylor, the company is investing heavily in its power infrastructure and vegetation management to increase the reliability of the system, especially in heavy storms. Both utilities will keep prices stable until May 2020 after an 11-month review by the PSC.

If the tariff request is approved as requested by the power company, NYSEG and RG&E will increase revenues by $200 million.

“NYSEG has 900,000 electric customers and 260,000 natural gas clients over a patchwork area of New York covering 20,000 square miles, about 40% of the upstate New York region. RG&E has 375,000 electric connections and 308,000 natural gas customers in a service territory covering 2,700 square miles in a nine-county region centered around Rochester,” says poughkeepsie journal article.

While blackouts in California becoming more often people switch to solar power. To reduce the risk of devastating fires in the wilderness of California, blackouts are becoming more common. Because of this, more and more residents are using solar energy and battery storage.

Sometimes the power supply is turned off for days – only the houses that are independent through solar energy and battery storage than still have electricity. This of course means that the system is not dependent on the grid connection, instead, battery storage is available. Before the power is switched off, there is a warning from the power supplier which ensures that the battery can be fully charged. While there is no external power supply, the system works independently and supplies the residents with energy from the solar system.

Apart from the personal benefit of having electricity available at all times, it also helps the community: the more people who use a battery storage system, the lower the risk of fires caused by the transport of electricity via cables that are no longer completely intact in forest areas.

What if the electricity generated by solar systems has to be wasted because the grid is not able to integrate it properly? This is unfortunately the case.

An example: Every eighth house in Hawaii has solar panels on its roof. Together they produce more energy the state needs on sunny days. However, this power is currently being wasted. Dave Davies of npr spoke with Gretchen Bakke about her new book “The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans And Our Energy Future” and her criticism and concerns about the possibilities of the current power grid.

Bakke criticizes that the USA, with its current electricity network, has no chance of achieving the targets for renewable power. Therefore, it would be a great advantage if the power was stored in batteries. There are currently no solutions that do justice to the quantity. However, solutions are already being worked on. Bakke reports about the so-called Sisyphus train in Utah. The idea is that this very heavy training will be transported up a mountain during the day by electricity – especially solar power. After sunset, it rolls it down again to generate electricity.

Just like it happens when you “store” energy. Because one cannot really store energy, instead it is used to initiate a process which then produces electricity in reverse. In addition to the step that each individual can take by switching to renewable energies, such as their own solar system, the entire electricity network must also be worked on and solutions for storing the energy need to be integrated. The problem is nothing new, for years there have been reports about wasted solar and wind energy. It is time to finally upgrade the grids and implement alternative solutions.

We’ve all heard that solar energy is better than fossil fuels, but do you know why and to what extent?

To capture the energy needed to power modern human existence, land is cleared, and habitats are destroyed to make way for the extraction of fossil fuels. The sheer amount of infrastructure that is needed to run this industry is daunting. However, when you compile the choices these companies make during their operations, it adds even more destruction to this already long list.

Infrastructures included in fossil fuel production include: the base location, pipelines and other distribution infrastructures, reservoirs, import and export terminals, office spaces and power plants. These new operations require land that once supported thriving ecosystems. An even bigger problem is that these locations can be depleted of the fossil fuels and the operation will find a new location – leaving a depressed ecosystem in its wake.

Besides the physical constructions of the fossil fuel industry, their practices are also wreaking havoc on the environment. Explosions, mine collapses, fires, deforestation, soil removal, irresponsible waste removal practices, landslides and flash floods are just some of the side effects of fossil fuel retrieval. Some may think that these are uncommon problems, but the fact is that these devastating incidents are occurring frequently. In 2016, for offshore drilling alone, there were 82 fires and 19 spills. These numbers do not include the various other methods of obtaining fossil fuels, only offshore drilling.

Waste products from these processes can also destroy habitats through pollution and habitat destruction and fragmentation. Beloved animal populations are facing extinction at the hands of the fossil fuel industry.

Coral reefs are negatively affected by the fossil fuel industry. Polar bears are negatively affected by the fossil fuel industry. Humans are negatively affected by the fossil fuel industry. Every living creature is affected by the fossil fuel industry.

Acquiring the raw materials for the fuel industry can lead to serious water concerns that impact many populations.

Water is taken from the local area where drilling is occurring. The process can take between 1.5 million gallons to 16 million gallons of water. Some of this water can be recycled, but it is costly, and the practice has not been utilized as much as possible. Only 10% of the produced water from drilling is recycled so water is continually taken from the community. And, even with recycling, the water needs to be combined with fresh water. This can be a serious problem for areas that are dealing with water resource strain.

Beyond drilling, fossil fuel power plants also pose a threat to the water system. Extreme amounts of water are taken from natural sources to aid in the cooling process during refining. This water is returned to ecosystems at a higher temperature and with a lower concentration of oxygen – a lethal combination for many species.

Solar figures on water usage can be difficult to ascertain and there is no clear answer. In short, solar PV cells (the kind you would find on a house) require minimal water to manufacture but there is water used for cleaning them. Concentrating solar thermal plants use much more water, but the consumption is still less than that of fossil fuels. Dry-cooling can limit this usage by 90%, but it is more expensive. However, there are technological innovations being developed that can reduce the price. Water is an invaluable resource and solar requires less.

Between carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates, the Earth’s air is gravely impacted by energy production. Acid rain, smog, acidic and unlivable ecosystems and the depletion of the ozone layer are all side effects of these harmful chemicals. These emissions are a significant impact to the discussion on climate change.

Some of the measurements used in the energy industry can be confusing. For this next part, think of “carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour (CO₂/kWh),” as all of the various types of emissions converted into how much they would equal in terms of carbon dioxide, then that number per amount of electricity generated per hour. Basically, a lower number means fewer emissions.

During a PV cell’s lifecycle, between 0.07 and 0.18 pounds of CO₂/kWh are emitted. For the larger scale CSP systems, between 0.08 and 2.00 pounds of CO₂/kWh are generated. Now, compare this to 0.6-2.0 pounds of CO₂/kWh for natural gas and 1.4-3.6 pounds of CO₂/kWh for coal. Referencing back to the abbreviated list of negative side effects in this section, lower emissions sounds like a much better option than unlivable ecosystems and climate change. Solar provides these lower emission rates.

Mining and drilling produce toxic waste that is difficult to store. There is a looming risk of a spill that can lead to death and destruction. Chemicals used within mines can be carried to valuable bodies of water by free-flowing water. This can pollute ecosystems as well as drinking water. Produced water, pushed from beneath the ground during drilling, can contain harmful substances such as heavy metals and radioactive materials. As this water is brought to the surface, there is a risk of polluting the water table.

Disposing of this waste is difficult and can lead to even more disasters. Storing the toxic water from mining and drilling is difficult. Reservoirs and overflow pits can malfunction and create a wastewater disaster for ecosystems and communities.

Deep well injections pose even more risks. There is seemingly unlimited debate when it comes to this topic. Toxic substances are injected deep into the ground where scientists thought they would be immobile for thousands of years. However, there have been many instances where the infrastructure involved in this practice has malfunctioned and wells began to ooze toxic substances. Deep well injection is supposed to be monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States, but many of the reports are haphazardly completed with missing information. It was a surprise to me when I discovered there are over 2 million of these abandoned wells in the United States. As humans who rely on drinkable water and crops, are we comfortable with allowing oil and gas companies to inject toxic substances into the ground when they have miscalculated the outcomes on numerous accounts?

The concern with solar as an energy source has to do with the solar panels’ life cycle. Disposing of the panels can be difficult and not cost-effective for many businesses. However, there have been solutions arising from this. Solar panel recycling is growing in popularity and efficiency. Most components of solar panels can be reused to create new solar panels. This incentivizes companies to recycle because 65%-70% of the materials by mass can be reclaimed.

As solar energy becomes more popular, increasingly cost-effective waste management technologies will be developed. This will also create more jobs in the fields of reusing and recycling solar panels.

Fossil fuel operations can be dangerous and have led to serious injuries and death. In 2016 there were one death and 174 injuries from offshore drilling alone. For coal mining, the facilities totalled 27 fatalities and 4,035 non-fatal injuries in 2017.

Because of the impaired air quality and other hazardous byproducts of mining and drilling, various health problems have also been tied to the fossil fuel industry. Respiratory diseases, cancer, neurological damage, birth defects, kidney disease, learning disabilities, cardiovascular ailments and endocrine diseases are all possible illnesses from exposure to the chemicals used and produced. It is estimated that 800,000 people die prematurely per year just from the global coal industry.

A study was conducted to compare the death rates between different forms of energy production from 1990 to 2013. From this study, it was concluded that solar accounted for 2019 deaths per terawatt-hour of production. Now, compare this to 32.72 for brown coal, 24.62 for coal, 18.43 for oil and 2.821 for gas. Death rates, in this case, accounted for accidents as well as air pollution. To reference the facts stated in the air quality section of this article, solar energy produces significantly fewer emissions which causes less air pollution and fewer respiratory and other illnesses.

Going solar is not going to disrupt your daily routine, but it will change your life. You’ll be amazed when your energy bill decreases, people will ask you about why you have solar panels on your house, and people may even ask in-depth questions about solar energy. The best part about all of this is that because you chose to prioritize the environment (and your energy bill!), you can now share your knowledge with other people. You have the opportunity to make your own impact AND encourage other people to make theirs. This communication grows exponentially. If you tell five people, and they each tell five people, 25 people will start to consider solar energy. To take it a step farther, if those 25 people then tell five people, 125 people will have the information and the chance to save the environment. If you are on this website right now, someone in your life probably told you about solar energy. You can be that person for countless others. It all starts with you.

If you have further questions about the solar industry, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

If you have to relocate due to job or family circumstances, don’t worry. Your solar panels will increase the resale value of your house and prepare you to install a system on your new home!

What if you heard that solar panels could increase the resale price of your home? In our solar learning center, we mention that going solar can save you money. We briefly explained in this FAQ that the addition of a solar energy system to your house can increase the resale value of the home by an average of $15,000. In the past, we only briefly touched on is why solar is desirable to potential buyers.

The past few decades have seen vast growth in electronic technology within households. There are refrigerators with screens, mirrors that display your notifications, and devices that control your lighting, heat and sound system. The trend shows that more and more people want these types of upgrades in their homes. With solar energy constantly improving, potential buyers may see the solar panels as a significant technological upgrade to a house.