Solar That Makes Cents
An editorial by co-editor Peter Smith
Recently my family installed solar panels on our roof to reduce our carbon footprint. Little did we know that we would also be saving money. Last year a solicitor from American Solar Direct (ASD), a prominent solar company, came to our door, and curious if we were a good house for solar we invited him in. We signed up with ASD for a twenty year lease to own solar deal, paying nothing up front. They installed our solar panels, and wired them into the grid for free a few months ago. Now we are starting to see the many benefits of solar energy. In December we received our first energy bill with solar from So-Cal Edison. They supply us with energy in case we don’t make enough with the panels, and we only had to pay 12 dollars and were in the lowest energy tier. On top of that we also had to pay 115 dollars to lease the solar panels, but our total bill, 127 dollars, was much less than the normal 170 dollar energy bill.
Granted, not everybody can save money off solar. If your energy bill is lower than 115 dollars, and your roof position will not allow the panels to generate much energy you won’t be saving money on day one. American Solar Direct, however, believes that you could still be saving money in the future if energy bills get more expensive.
Solar energy itself is much more complicated. The solar panels are made up of photovoltaic material which converts photons to energy. The physics behind it I can’t say I under-
stand, but basically some materials have photovoltaic properties which are utilized by the panels. That energy is collected by conductive material, and sent down the wire. The energy is then converted from DC to AC to be used in your house and run your appliances. Once the appliances have used what they need the extra solar energy is sent into the grid to power other houses.
Today it is more and more important to save energy, and switch from coal and crude oil to more renewable energy sources. Now with solar technology becoming cheaper and cheaper, I urge you to jump on the opportunity, and start saving the environment, and perhaps even some money.
The Solar panels on top of my house
© 2013 Peter Smith