Homeowners – are you interested to see how many solar panels you’d have to add to your roof to offset X% (up to 100%) of your electricity usage from your local utility? Here is a calculator that will estimate how much wattage via solar panels you’d need to add and about how much it would cost in your area. You’ll need your electricity usage to make good use of it – this should be on your bill. Locals, if you have an online ComEd account, two years worth of data is available on their site. The calculator’s results are about on par with my research for my own zip code, so I think it’s pretty accurate.
I know what you’re going to say – that it’s really expensive. It is, isn’t it? Who has $10,000 – $40,000 in liquid cash? Certainly some people do, but the average person or family does not. However, there are ways to mitigate and finance the cost. I hope to know more about this process soon, and I’ll share what I learn, but in the meantime, here are some thoughts about the cost of solar panels for both electricity and hot water/heat applications, based on my research of late.
1. If you’re interested in leasing, check out SolarCity. They have a program that allows you to lease the panels, and any money you’d get from your utility for electricity that you send back to the grid belongs to SolarCity. They aren’t operating in very many states yet, but it might be worth checking out. They don’t operate in or near Chicago yet, unfortunately, but hopefully they will someday and that will be a lower-cost option for local folks.
2. Don’t forget, your state may have a rebate program, and the federal government has tax rebate money set aside until 2016 for solar panels. Illinois has a 30% rebate program to match the federal rebate of 30%, so that’s 60% of the cost right there for those of us in the area. The Illinois program is limited and is first come, first served, however.
3. Banks may be willing to give you a loan for something that adds value to your house. Again, I hope to know more about this soon.
4. The cheapest option is solar hot water. Panels – which are different from the photovoltaic panels that generate electricity – collect heat from the sun and use a special tank to augment what your current hot water heater already does. The same sorts of panels can also augment your furnace for heat in the winter. With gas-forced air, this is done with a heating coil in a duct.
If anyone has done this in whole or in part, I would love to hear about it in the comments.
