Solar Energy for Your Home

Advantages and Disadvantages of

In the past few years solar power is being seen as the solution to our Energy needs. On average during the middle of the day the sun provides about 1,000 watts of Energy per hour per square meter. That translates to 1000 watt per hour per square meter or 1 kWh/m2. To put it another way, according to the United States Department of Energy, in a 100 square mile area in the desert southwest of the United States receives enough Energy from the sun to meet the entire US daily Energy needs. Now, here is the challenge: how to effectively convert all of the sun’s Energy in this 100 square mile area into usable electricity.

Advantages of Solar Energy

Solar power for homes via photovoltaic power systems is the most commonly thought of method. There are many advantages of owning and operating a residential solar power system.

• Solar panels have a long operational life. Most manufactures warrantee their solar panels for 20 years.
• Producing electricity from solar panels is completely silent process. No noisy diesel or gas motor running to produce the electricity.
• The solar panels provide some shade for your roof. The area that the photovoltaic panels are covering on your roof is not being heated by the sun which will result in a slightly cooler attic.
• Once you have reached the pay off point, the amount of time it takes to pay for the residential solar power system's installation cost, from there on the system is earning you money. Money you did not have to spend buying electricity from the power company.
• Once the solar power system is installed and configured it is pretty much a maintenance free electricity production system. If your system includes a battery pack you will need service the batteries periodically.

With all of these advantages why isn’t everyone using solar power for the home?

There are some disadvantages to solar Energy that you need to be aware of. These need to be taken into account as you consider installing a residential solar power system in your house.

• A residential solar power system once installed becomes part of the house. When you move, the system stays with the house.
• Solar power does not work well for large devices that use an electric heat element. Devices like electric hot water heater, electric whole house furnace, electric oven and range.
• During the night and on cloudy days the solar power system does not produce any electricity.
• Replacing your composition roofing will require extra work and cost because the solar panels and related mounting hardware will have to be removed from the roof. After the roofer has completed the reproofing work, the solar panels will have to be reinstalled and reconnected by a qualified electrician.
• The cost per peak watt to have a residential solar power system installed is still much higher than what the electric utility company charges per kilowatt hour.
• Depending on where you live, hail can be a real problem for the photovoltaic panels. Before purchasing a residential solar power system, find out from the manufacture how durable the panels are with respect to hail.
• Check with your home owner's insurance agent if your insurance policy covers replacing residential solar power system in the event of a covered event such as fire or weather related damage.

To have a 3.6 kW photovoltaic power system costs about $9 per peak watt on average. The installation cost would be around $32,000. Now, there are some tax incentives and rebates to help off set the installation cost, but there is a sizable investment that still needs to be made out of your own pocket. The 3.6 kW solar power system will provide about half of the power needs of the average home. You will still need to purchase electricity from the electric company, just not as much.

The advantages and disadvantages of solar power are many and these are a few of the major ones that you need to be aware of, especially if you are considering having a residential solar power system installed.

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