Solar PV — Why to do it this month!

My biggest concern when decided to purchase solar for my home was the seemingly impossible to quantity risk of selling my home with the solar panels installed. This is our first home and there was no way we could be certain it would be our last or even that we would stay here for very long. So what would installing solar do to the value of our home? Would we lose much money? Would it actually increase the value of our home and by how much? I tried to find research to answer these questions but not much seemed to be available.

Now, two years later, an article published by “Renewable Energy World” cites research done by Laurence Berkeley Labs that showed a positive return on investment for solar. In the study it was determined that a home in which a 5,000 watt solar system was purchased for $14,000, the value of the home went up to $20,000.

Why aren’t more people adopting solar?

Good question. My experience has told me that the first big dividing line is between people who spend $100 or more on their electricity bill vs those who spend less. Folks who spend less will have a harder time making the numbers work but simple changes such as switching to an electric heat pump water heater (something that we did) or adopting an electric car (fuel with cheap electricity and spend no money on gasoline! — we did this too) will tip the scale.

The second dividing line and the one I want to draw most attention to is the idea that “solar is still too expensive” and it will get cheaper in the future. If I offered you an investment opportunity that offered a better than 40% return on investment, you would be interested, wouldn’t you? I sure would be! That sure beats the barely more than 0% I can get on my savings account or the 1% for a short term CD. What if I told you that not only would you get that return but you would save money every month and would help the environment at the same time? Sounds too good to be true, but it is. Would you still want to wait for the investment to be cheaper?

Making this even more compelling, you can save $1,000 during the remainder of the month by using a referral code that I’m happy to share with you: 159195 or go directly to Sungevity for a free quote. Perhaps even more important the current 30% tax credit is going to be phased out next year so solar may get more expensive before it gets cheaper!

Why am I promoting this? Well, I’m very happy with my Sungevity system, am a firm believer in renewable energy and saving money. I also get a referral fee from Sungevity if you join and that helps pay for my son’s preschool so we all benefit! Please check out Sungevity and work the numbers. And I’m happy to earn my referral fee so if you have any problems with Sungevity in the process feel free to reach out to me here and I’ll call one of the good folks I know who work there (I know a lot of them, many from my grad school program) and I’ll make sure the issue gets addressed. ok? What do you have to lose — give them a try!