The sun is the purest and most abundant form of renewable energy in the world. Ecoworld (2010) calculates that, "In full sun, you can safely assume about 100 watts of solar energy per square foot. If you assume 12 hours of sun per day, this equates to 438,000 watt-hours per square foot per year. Based on 27,878,400 square feet per square mile, sunlight bestows a whopping 12.2 trillion watt-hours per square mile per year." Whether that energy can be efficiently captured in a financially realistic way is the big question.
Although the power of the sun can be unreliable such as during overcast days, it is free, abundant and clean. It can provide unlimited home heating, limited domestic water heating and can be converted to DC electricity through solar electric panels to be used to run some or all of your homes AC electrical needs. The placement, size and type of solar electric/hot water system is a complicated one that takes into account latitude, sun angle, system cost, and electric demand of your home. Homebuilders can now justify building a home with solar electric and hot water as current federal and state tax incentives have never been better and prices for solar systems are consistently dropping (DSIRE). A typical system can now be paid off in as little as 8-12 years depending on the size and complexity of your system. Maine offers a up to $2K tax credit and a whopping 30% from the feds until 2016.
Electric solar generation can be utilized in two ways; grid-tied or off-grid applications. Being attached to the grid continues to be the least expensive and simplest system when using the sun for electricity generation. One avoids costly and still inefficient battery storage that also takes up considerable space in your home. One positive from off-grid systems is that if the power goes out, your batteries can provide you with electricity to run portions of your home. Most utility company's net metering cycle is yearly, allowing for a solar electric system to reverse your electric meter in the warm spring, summer and fall months when the electric load is small and the sun is "strong" (higher altitude), to offset and credit your bill from the electricity used in the winter months. Depending on your electric load and the size of your photovoltaic system, you could conceivably end the year not paying anything. With our utility company, our electric generation that is sold back to the grid only reverses your bill to zero, unable to receive money back in the form of credit or a check from your system's contribution.
Electric solar generation can be utilized in two ways; grid-tied or off-grid applications. Being attached to the grid continues to be the least expensive and simplest system when using the sun for electricity generation. One avoids costly and still inefficient battery storage that also takes up considerable space in your home. One positive from off-grid systems is that if the power goes out, your batteries can provide you with electricity to run portions of your home. Most utility company's net metering cycle is yearly, allowing for a solar electric system to reverse your electric meter in the warm spring, summer and fall months when the electric load is small and the sun is "strong" (higher altitude), to offset and credit your bill from the electricity used in the winter months. Depending on your electric load and the size of your photovoltaic system, you could conceivably end the year not paying anything. With our utility company, our electric generation that is sold back to the grid only reverses your bill to zero, unable to receive money back in the form of credit or a check from your system's contribution.
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