Solar Info
Mar 5th, 2008 by solarbill
Solar is one of the most ecologically friendly means of producing energy for human consumption. It is clean, reliable and renewable. The energy used to produce the solar panels is usually offset in the first year of production by the solar system. After that it is a pure energy saving technology.
A 10kW system will offset about 300 tons of carbon dioxide emissions over a 25 year period (the warranty on most PV panels). This is equal to the typical car driving one million miles!
The investment rate of return is often as high as 20% paying for itself in 9 years (calculated at 6%/yr increase in electricity costs). When you install a solar electric system you are locking in your cost of electricity. Natural gas has been going up at about 7% per year over the last 20 years. The cost of electricity has not started to rise at that rate yet. Most of our electricity in this area is generated by natural gas. There is little doubt that the price of electricity will be rising at a greater rate than that to catch up to the cost of production. With deregulation it could easily double in the next few years.
Electric cars can be charged by solar. The “well to wheel” efficiency of electric cars is greater than any other technology. This is true for producing the electricity with natural gas. Producing the electricity with solar gives you a truly non polluting vehicle.
See “Types of Solar” at right below header photo.