Maybe it's time I got serious about solar

 When my wife and I bought this house nearly 6 years ago, we made some upgrades.   We put on a metal roof, replacing the original shingles, replaced the floor in the kitchen, both bathrooms and the downstairs den. 

We ended up upgrading the pellet stove (twice!) and added some insulation; one of the jobs I want to do in the coming year is to insulate the garage, mostly to keep the freezers we have in the garage from becoming damaged. It's only in various home improvement shows that the work to improve your home is done all at once and somehow in 1 hour.  For most of us its an ongoing never ending project.

One of the important improvements that I've been wanting to make but have kept putting off for various reasons has been solar panels.  Now, I'm thinking that it may be time to least do something.

The main reason we have been putting off this improvement was cost and how long it would actually take us to pay off the panels.   I'm 60 years old now, and if it takes 10 years, then I'm 70.  Fifteen years?.   Then I'm 75 and questions about our future health, retirement savings and other issues come into play and that all has to be considered.

Frankly I'm not sure if we will still own the house in that time frame either, but it should increase the over all home value.  Generally speaking anywhere between an additional $15,000 to $30000, depending on other factors  

The average cost for installation is, well, the same cost.   Between 15K and up to $36,000, once again depending on factors like installation size, local ordinances, etc.  In the US, there used to be a few deductions and incentives that would reduce the cost by anywhere between $10,000 to $24,500.  You could, again in some cases, sell the power that you were not using back to the electric company, thus reducing your bill even more.   Thanks to the current political climate in this country, those incentives have either disappeared or greatly been reduced. Those incentives were largely in the form of national and state tax breaks and credits, at least they may still be available at the state level.  

It's for these reasons why I have either kept putting off solar panel installation or have managed to delay it.  Now, thanks to what is called "plug in" or "balcony" solar panels, I really don't have an excuse anymore.  However there are real limits, and some real advantages to such a system.   In this article, I hope to go over both.  

"Plug in Solar" panels are exactly that.   They are small panels that use an inverter to power the devices of a apartment or small home.   They have become increasing popular in England and Germany and the "boom" of popularity here in the states has largely been driven by the state of Utah. with other states now following suit.   

So called "plug in" panels are not designed to power the whole home and don't require expensive batteries, although that can be an option, but are designed to lower the power the power bill overall by adding power to the home.   Think of it this way, larger items such as your refrigerator, freezer and air conditioner would continue to be powered on the normal grid, but small items like household appliances, your computer, phones, routers, etc. would be powered by the plug in solar panel.   Once again, depending on various factors a 400 watt system will produce 300 - 600 KWH, which is enough to reduce the electric bill of an apartment by 10 to 30% annually.   It also lowers the carbon footprint of the user by roughly 400 to 600 pounds of CO2 emissions annually - think of that as being the equivalent to roughly planting 5 to 7 trees every year.  Over the expected lifespan of 25 years, it's a significant environmental benefit.  

There are some other benefits to this as well, the system can be portable, meaning that as you move it comes with you.  Basically, if you don't have a battery, in theory the panels are meeting some of, if not all, of your daytime electrical needs.   The solar panels can be connected to other solar panels over time as your power needs change.   Generally speaking a 400 Watt plug in system is going to run roughly $400 to $500 American dollars.   

In theory it should pay for itself in roughly 4 - 7 years.  Please keep in mind that without a power station, this system is only working during the day.  That is an additional expense and to learn more about them, I highly recommend reading this article.  

The question that I have is, would such a thing make sense to me.   I already unplug a lot of items that are not used on a regular basis, this prevents loss of "phantom or vampire" energy.  I know this saves me energy but no idea how much, although such "phantom" sources are estimated to be between 10 to 20% of your power bill.   If that number sounds familiar, that's because it is.   It's the same reduction that "plug in solar" is suppling to your home.

I also live in a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home that is roughly 1600 square feet (149 sq meters) at least.  Would a small system like this make a dent?

So in other words, more research is needed, but if this is something that can reduce my bills by 10%, then it may be worth looking into.   Even a savings of $20 a month is $240 dollars a year and in a time where every penny counts, that can be a major savings for a family.

So, it's time to get serious.   I'm hoping to meet up with a contractor later on in the year to discuss a rooftop system....and if that proves unworkable, then we shall explore the "plug in" options more in depth.