Why Go Solar?

When you go solar with Real Goods Solar you immediately save on electricity, and you can do it with no out-of-pocket expense in some states. Most solar customers experience savings of 15-20% on their energy bills, which can add up to $35,000 or more over 20 years.

You’ll also protect yourself from utility rate increases (typically 6-7% a year – see some expected 2013 rate increases from major utilities).

In areas where time-of-use billing is used, you’ll save even more because electricity from solar panels is generated most efficiently at the same time electricity rates are highest.

One of the less-heralded advantages of solar power is that it proves again and again to be a great investment. Calculations will typically show a modest 3-4% return over the first year. But when projected utility rate hikes are applied to the equation, the 25-year forecasted pre-tax internal rate of return (IRR) in most cases averages 10-25%.

That’s far better than the stock, bond and money markets or long-term CDs. And far safer too, since no one expects utility rates to decrease.

Not sure you’re going to be in your home long enough to reap the long-term investment benefits of solar?

According to the National Appraisal Institute, for every $1 solar panels save you on your annual utility bills, your home’s value increases by $20. Plus your property tax won’t increase, and solar homes tend to sell faster on the real estate market.

Not long ago, the list of solar energy’s benefits began and ended here because it was just too expensive for residential use. But that’s no longer the case, and the environmental benefits of solar are just part of the story. The sun provides enough energy in one day to power the entire world for a year! We can’t harness all that power (and we certainly don’t need to), but utilizing some of it at home can help you save money and prepare for the future. Localized clean, renewable energy generation is a good solution to many of the problems from today’s national energy portfolio, like…

• Coal – The U.S. still has lots of coal, but it’s getting harder to get to, and its sourcing – especially in eastern states – is increasingly destructive. As it burns, pollution (like asthma-causing particulates and neurological disorder-causing mercury) is released into the air, and 200 billion gallons of water is used each day! After the “celebration,” coal waste is hauled off at the rate of nearly two railcars per minute.
• Natural gas – Natural gas is highly promoted for its cleaner-than-coal burn and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Less is good. Zero emissions is our goal. Natural gas extraction is not without its flaws, and has been linked to contaminated drinking water.
• Hydroelectricity – Hydroelectricity is indeed a clean energy source, but the costs of damming and flooding can be high, and include destroying human and wildlife habitats.
• Nuclear power – Nuclear energy brings with it the high costs of uranium extraction and the storage of the highly-toxic spent fuel waste that lasts 200,000 – 500,000 years.
• Wind – Yes, the answer just might be blowin’ in the wind. But we think it’s shining in the sun, too. We see wind as a key part of the grid that ties in with solar, creating large regional hybrid systems that get us away from fossil fuels. Wind provides free energy whenever it blows. The energy deficit created in the manufacture of these behemoth turbines – what’s called embodied energy – takes less than one year to pay back.
• Solar – There is embodied energy in solar equipment and there’s the environmental cost of deploying it (we do drive a truck to your house to install it, after all), but studies show that an average solar system will pay back its embodied energy in 3-4 years. And with some solar panels still producing electricity 60 years after installation, that’s a pretty good environmental ROI. Rooftop solar cannot solve our energy needs alone, but we see it as a key component in an integrated, fossil-fuel free, clean energy future!