Solar Power

When people think of residential solar power, they tend to think "tremendous expense." You've heard the adage "you have to spend money to make money." So if residential solar power could-by putting money back in your pockets that would have been spent on utility bills-make you thousands of dollars annually, isn't it worth an initial investment?

Residential solar power works through a system of non-reflective glass panels typically installed on your roof that capture energy in the form of photons from sunlight. These residential solar power panels convert the photons into DC electrical power, which travels to an inverter. The inverter transfigures the DC energy into usable AC electrical power, putting it into use in your new solar power home.

Any excess solar energy collected with your residential solar power system is either stored in batteries for nighttime, cloudy day, and later excess use, or it's put right back into your utility meter and sent for use in your local utility plant-gaining you credit with any utility bills!

Yes, residential solar power can be expensive to install. Depending on the size of your house and your energy needs, a residential solar power system in your home could cost you anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 in installation fees.

However, as much as 20, 30, or even 50% of that cost could be refunded to you by your state government under programs to encourage homeowners to make environmentally-responsible decisions like residential solar power. The federal government also offers a tax credit of around $2000 to most homeowners who have installed a residential solar power system.

Residential solar power isn't as much of an investment as you might have thought! Take into account that you will no longer be paying utility bills-or at least they will be far cheaper each month-and you'll be saving thousands of dollars a year. A residential solar power system pays for itself!

It goes without saying that a residential power system will dramatically lessen your negative impact on the environment. There are no environmentally-damaging side effects of residential solar power! However, if you draw power from a utility company, you're either adding to coal-burning pollution or adding to the problem of how to dispose of nuclear-product toxic waste.

Even people who drive hybrid or battery-powered cars won't be as environmentally-responsible as you with your residential solar power! It's true that cars that cut back on (or eliminate) gas consumption are far better for the environment and cheaper for the car owners than typical cars.

However, you have to charge the batteries used in those cars at home and if you're drawing power from a utility company, you're paying for it and you're still adding to the pollution problem. If you have residential solar power, you'll be charging your car battery for free and without any side effect to the environment-which is why you wanted that kind of car in the first place!

Don't be afraid of investing in residential solar power. The environment and your pocketbook will thank you!