Solar Power – It sounds good?

June 2, 2009

Yesterday I had a consultant for solar power come by here to take measurements. I wanted to see if solar energy was cost effective for our house. I will find out maybe today or tomorrow. It’s pretty costly, but right now there is a federal credit of up to $30,000 and a state credit of about $2.20 or $1.90. I live in California and their rebate program for solar energy is quickly being depleted.

I had done some preliminary calculations on how much of a solar power system I needed and was surprised to see that they were very close to the figures the consultant got from his computer program.

I am hoping the system will be cost effective. There are several plans available that make it easy and less costly that just paying some $30,000 – $50,000 for an outright system. I don’t have that and if I did I would not be willing to spend so much for solar energy (electricity).

However over the long term it may cost a lot over the years, but the electricity bill won’t be going up for at least 18 years and should go down to a very low amount if the system is optimized properly.

The big problem that I see regarding solar power or using solar energy, aside from the long term commitment for paying for it, is that solar may become much cheaper over that long time period.

Also there may become other sources of power available that are also green and they would be cheaper and more efficient. I’d hate to get locked in to an older technology and not able to get out because of a long term payment plan.

More to come on solar energy…
Continued in Part 2