There are some common asked questions that many homeowners ask in regards to residential solar panels. The #1 frequently asked question is what are some of the pros and cons of having solar panels? Yes, indeed there are some pros and cons of having solar panels that will help you determine if they will truly be beneficial to you and your home. Lets begin by explaining each one.
What are the advantages of going solar? The pros of solar energy.
1. Reduce or eliminate your electric bills
Yes, you read that correctly! This is one of the top benefits of going solar. Installing a solar system for your home can be understood as you producing your own electricity which means you then become less reliant on your electric utility and the most exciting part which is reducing your monthly electric bill. We are not only talking a few months of electric bill reduction, investing in such project can scratch off your electricity costs for quite some years, even decades. Typically, a solar panel system has a 25-35 year lifespan guarantee if its done correctly with right specialized experts.
2. Solar can pay you money while you’re earning back your investment
To make this more clear, due to a number of awesome solar incentives in the U.S., solar panels can actually build you a profit in addition of saving you from the utility bill costs. SRECs or better known as solar renewable energy credits allow the homeowner to earn bill credits as their solar system produces electricity. In other words, the homeowner is being compensated for the electricity that their solar panels are generating. Each state has their own jurisdiction so the rules and regulations can be different.
Be sure to know if your state offers these incentives because you could highly benefit from them in your solar investment.
3. Solar reduces carbon emissions
Solar is the best in being a more environmentally friendly solution. Undeniably, its a fact that solar is a clean, renewable source of energy that can help reduce carbon dioxide toxics and lower our negative impact on the natural environment. Solar energy could never be the cause of pollutants being released into our atmosphere and water supply, that’s good news! Why not be part of something great for a positive outcome towards our planet earth?
4. Solar improves the value of your home
Going solar can be a bit confusing to some homeowners and that’s totally ok! Realistically speaking there’s so much more information on solar panels than just saving the planet and cutting your electric bill of your home. Not everyone will comprehend these additional details, or even be interested in understanding them. One thing that is clear though is that within the benefits of solar comes the increase of property value when such solar panel system is installed. Lets set for an example if a homeowner installs solar panels to their home, and then later on thinks about moving in the near future.
There is no doubt that the homeowner will earn back their solar panel investment and then some when it comes time to sell the home meaning the investment would be worth while living in the home and after re-sale. You get a win outcome in both situations.
What are the disadvantages of going solar? The cons of solar energy.
1. Solar panels don’t work for every roof type
This might be the first time you hear about this and its somewhat true. The term “racking” is the standard usage of rails attached to the roof of any residential home to support rows of solar panels.
A type of bolt is used to secure these rails to the roof and flashing is then installed all around the hole for a watertight seal. When we talk about older or historic homes we then have to take into account the different type of material that will need to be used such as slate or cedar tiles which can be difficult for solar installers to work with in this time of era. If your home doesn’t qualify for a rooftop solar installation, that doesn’t mean you aren’t able to go solar because you still have some options available such as ground-mounted solar panels or buying a share in a solar garden which are now available in most communities.
2. If your electricity costs are low, so are your solar savings
As you may have now understood the whole point in going solar is to reduce your use of utility-provided electricity and save you money each month as a result, its pretty straight forward. In the majority of the cases this would be only ideal if the homeowner has significant electric bills to begin with. Each state has different electric rates. What does that mean? Well, an example would be for a homeowner that resides in the state of Louisiana where the cost of electricity is 25+ percent lower than the national average, compared to someone who lives in Hawaii who pays more than double the average electric rate. This goes to show that not everyone will benefit from going solar simply based off the electrical monthly costs.
3. If you can’t access solar financing, up-front solar costs can be intimidating
How much will it cost me to have solar panels installed? You might be asking this exact same question yourself. Well, the truth is that every case is different meaning that the cost of every project is different. Specifically speaking, the total out-of-pocket cost for a solar panel system depends on tax credits, rebates, and the financing option you choose. In reality there’s still an on-going debate on about how much homeowners have to pay out-of-pocket for solar. Of course everyone desires a reasonable price with a great outcome, that’s the main goal. Now the disadvantage here is realistically not everyone has the cash out-of-pocket ready to go to make the up-front payment. There’s no need to feel discouraged if this is the case because there are solar financing options that exists to help you become a part of solar energy.
4. Finding quality, local solar installers and easily comparing quotes can be difficult
There’s this common situation that many homeowners have to deal with when it comes down to finding the correct solar company. The solar business keeps on expanding each year which means the competition will increase as well. The sad truth is that there are plenty of companies that use aggressive and even manipulative sales tactics to get clients hooked only so that they could get their profit of the market. This is completely unprofessional and as a result, it can become stressful and confusing to many homeowners who are interested in going solar. Fortunately, there are specialized experts whos main priority is to truly help individuals understand where their money is being invested in and how solar will benefit them in the future. CGH Solutions® is among those companies that are willing with great pleasure to take some time, to sit down with the client and provide a detailed presentation on what it means to go solar.
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