Making Solar Easy — New Options for Homeowners

More Articles
- Green Computers Save Energy and Cut Waste
- Green Homes: A Bright Spot in the Housing Market
- Geoexchange Systems Provide Energy - Efficient Heating and Cooling
- Rebates - Free Money for Your Efficiency Projects
- Is Your Home Leaking Money?
- Don't Let Your Fireplace Burn a Hole in Your Wallet
- Families Compete to Save Energy in "Energy Smackdown"
- Making Solar Easy - New Options for Homeowners
- Recycle - Save Energy, Resources and the Environment
- Standby Power - The Silent Energy Drain
- The Fast and Easy Way to Cut Your CO2 Emissions
- The Fight Against Global Warming Comes Home
- Big Screens Mean Big Energy Bills
- Save Energy at the Tap
The appeal of a home solar system is clear: clean energy at a fixed price right from your rooftop. The one thing keeping everyone in sunny California from putting up panels is cost. While a system eventually pays for itself, and then some, the upfront cost of home solar is prohibitive. That’s all about to change as new options for power purchase agreements and solar leasing come online. These new options allow homeowners to have solar power for a fraction of the upfront cost and without having to worry about maintenance.
Before considering your solar power options be sure to take all possible steps to make your home as energy efficient as possible. The less power your home needs, the smaller and less expensive your solar system will need to be. Visit the Flex Your Power residential page for detailed information on home efficiency.
The Silicon Valley start-up Sun Run is the first company to offer residential power purchase agreements (PPAs). Sun Run covers the majority of the initial instillation costs for the system, provides performance monitoring and handles all maintenance. The customer enters into a long-term agreement to buy the power generated by the system at a low rate that will never increase. With traditional energy prices increasing an average of 6.7% per year this is a great deal for homeowners. The rate paid by the homeowner varies depending on how much they pay for initial installation.
Solar leasing is another option becoming available to California homeowners. SolarCity is one company offering this type of service. Under the program, SolarCity assesses a homeowner’s electricity consumption and recommends an appropriately-sized photovoltaic (PV) system. For example, the company says a homeowner with a $150 monthly electricity bill can install a 2.4-kilowatt PV system for $0 down that would lower his or her monthly electricity bill to $40. The homeowner’s monthly lease payments to Solar City of approximately $90 would be offset by the $110 monthly reduction in their electricity bill.
If you decide to purchase your solar system outright, make sure to find out about available rebate and incentive programs. There are valuable incentives available on the state, national and local levels.
With new options like these, residential solar power will continue to expand and help Californians save money and fight global warming.