Sunroof lets you search for your house, suggests how large a solar array you might consider putting on your roof, and estimates how much energy it will generate—as well as how much it would cost to lease or buy the panels.
It’s a handy tool, and comes at a good time. Solar has been growing quickly in the U.S., with installations nearly doubling over the course of 2016. But most of that is on the utility scale—residential installations grew just 19 percent last year, mostly because demand is drying up in big state markets like California.
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The website linked estimated 18 years for my house just to break even.
Yeah I checked mine and it was nineteen years to break even and a saving of one thousand after twenty years and that's assuming not maintenance/replacement cost within that period of time.
To net a thousand dollar "savings" after 20 years and then have an old system probably in need of being updated is a horrible return on a 25k "investment"
A few reasons:
1) People want power when the sun isn't shining.
2) Power demand fluctuates and thus a power source that can be ramped up and down on demand is required. Sunshine isn't controllable.
3) Your costs don't include costs that a utility must bear, in particular maintaining s large distribution system. The price your utility charges includes a lot more than the cost to generate power.
That said, as noted above many utilities are installing large scale solar arrays. It won't be the bulk of their power source, but it can be a nice slice of the pie.
Costs 3.80 per watt for example
5000w * 3.80 =$19000
Fed ITC - $5700
State Tax Credit - $4750
NYC Prop Tax Abatement - $3800
Net Cost = $5050
This system will produce approximately 6000kwhs
Current NYC Coned rates are $.25/kwh
So you'd save $1500/year.
Insane payback. With systems that can last 30+ years you'd be crazy not to do it.
No upfront cash means you can still finance it, the best part? The loan payment is still less than your utility bill! If you qualify for solar and you live in NYC, the time is now. Fed ITC is stepping down. The Property tax abatement goes away in 2019.
You still get the state and tax abatement with leased systems too.
Let me know if you have any questions.
SRECS can be volatile, but you can contract for 5 year blocks.
5kw system @ $3.40/w
5000w * $3.40 = $17000
Fed ITc - $5100
Net Cost = $11900
Kentucky's kwh rate is likely around $.10/kwh
6000kwhs * .10 = $600/year savings
Thats a 19.8 year payback - makes no sense.
The website linked estimated 18 years for my house just to break even.
Exactly... surprised yours is an 18yr payback because on average it is 7 which is still too long. The government provides some subsidies but the solar companies inflate the costs even with the subsidies so that the payback is 7 years.
As far as I am concerned, the gov't has not taken solar seriously yet. All you need to do is look at florida. No solar allowed.... in the fucking sunshine state because the utility companies are in the pockets of the politicians.
Off grid is really for people in the woods that don't have a power cable getting to them.
There is battery tech coming out, but its still too expensive for most. Especially if you are talking about powering your entire home and not just emergency loads.
If you are thinking of replacing your roof and you live in NYC, then yes its worth it. Other areas, depends.
Costs 3.80 per watt for example
5000w * 3.80 =$19000
Fed ITC - $5700
State Tax Credit - $4750
NYC Prop Tax Abatement - $3800
Net Cost = $5050
This system will produce approximately 6000kwhs
Current NYC Coned rates are $.25/kwh
So you'd save $1500/year.
Insane payback. With systems that can last 30+ years you'd be crazy not to do it.
No upfront cash means you can still finance it, the best part? The loan payment is still less than your utility bill! If you qualify for solar and you live in NYC, the time is now. Fed ITC is stepping down. The Property tax abatement goes away in 2019.
You still get the state and tax abatement with leased systems too.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Jim - for NYC, any idea what the best way to go about engaging a company is? I would rather buy than lease. Do I work through Con Ed, call Solar City, is there some other way that makes more sense?
Insulate, weatherstrip, switch to high efficiency lights, turn the heat down, etc etc can all bring immediate, yet incremental savings.
That being said, the government has done a spectacular job of making solar energy so crazy and convoluted that it takes a genius to figure out if it's a good or bad investment.
Too much greed and too many bad actors in the industry right now. It is a shame.
This has been eliminated with the adoption of universal fire setbacks put into place in 2016 in NY state.
And think twice about paying lease pAyyments in advance. I saw one deal tank because the seller wanted to be reimbursed for thousands in lease payments to Solar City they had made in advance and the buyer felt they had paid for the system in the purchase price.
While the conflict was obvious (to me - though no one else noticed or looked up the author), but I could find zero inaccuracies with his statement, which I mentioned was op-ed. And 100% consistent with my experience. There is a big solar push here in MA, you can't walk in to Lowe's or HD without being hit up by a couple aggressive solar sales reps and they literally walk the streets knocking on doors (which is illegal in my town) and cold call people. So, I've been down the solar road a couple times. Same story at the end.
It's just not a good investment and isn't even that "green" yet.
I do like the Tesla solar tiles, those are bad ass, and I believe once those hit the market for the masses we might see something more consumer based.
If I lived in MA, I;d go with a loan to purchase solar since theoretically the SRECs would offset a huge % of the loan payments every year making you cash flow positive right away.
Eventually the loan paymenst stop but the SRECs do not. Nor will the savings. Again, Im not an expert in MA, but anywhere with SRECs in their market should look at the math on a loan.
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check with your insurance about it before you do anything. Certain towns won't put out roof fires which causes your premiums to go up substantially.
This has been eliminated with the adoption of universal fire setbacks put into place in 2016 in NY state.
Good to know. I think he built his house in 2015 so I guess it was still an issue then.
For me in CT I'm around $2,000 per year in electricity so getting my money back in anything more than 5 years makes it hard to get serious about going through everything. I'd have to look into the CT rebates again but there aren't as aggressive the last time I checked. Am I wrong about that?
The only product that would interest me is a 0 escalator lease in CT. Meaning if they fixed your rate for 10 years and it never moved. It would be low savings now, but would hedge against price increases over 20 years (well your price would never rise).
Solar Tiles aka Tesla tiles are new, so questions abound. It looks better, but we've only heard estimations on cost and efficiency. Will they be via string inverter? What will manage the power?
Right now the only answer is that it will cost roughly the same amount as a tile or slate roof which is 3X more than comp shingle (which is 90% of non flat roofs).
My personal opinion - it was rolled out to increase buzz, so that the merger could hapen. SC is not in great financial shape, so that was the shiny news before merging.
I think its a year or two away from being viable for non spanish tile/slate roofs.
And remember, for homeowners who already own spanish tile or slate roofs, those roofs last forever with just spot repair.
IMO, creating an envelope around your living space with closed cell spray foam may be the way to go.
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Or they can install on new house. I'm not moving so not a concern for me.
i am sure they do but that is not the point. The buyer now has a new payment obligation that must be figured into their ratios to qualify for their Mortgage.
And think twice about paying lease pAyyments in advance. I saw one deal tank because the seller wanted to be reimbursed for thousands in lease payments to Solar City they had made in advance and the buyer felt they had paid for the system in the purchase price.
I have a realtor friend that told me she is having a difficult time selling houses with solar panels. Apparently they are not good for resale value. Too many people don't want to buy a house with those on the roof.
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I'm familiar with him. I make an effort to be "green" but I don't use solar. I don't want it on my house. My focus is on energy conservation.
IMO, creating an envelope around your living space with closed cell spray foam may be the way to go.
I was looking into that as well, but seems like a real pain in the ass to open up every wall in the house (and expensive). Have you done it before?
I have a realtor friend that told me she is having a difficult time selling houses with solar panels. Apparently they are not good for resale value. Too many people don't want to buy a house with those on the roof.
I am sure there are a lot of factors. If the panels are on the front of the house vs the rear it may be an eye sore. If this is a wealthy community where the potential buyers would rather not look at panels and pay the extra $$ for their electric bill. I would think that in other areas where the dollar is harder to come by, the idea of having panels to significantly reduce monthly costs would be a good thing.
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In comment 13399601 Ron Johnson 30 said:
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I'm familiar with him. I make an effort to be "green" but I don't use solar. I don't want it on my house. My focus is on energy conservation.
IMO, creating an envelope around your living space with closed cell spray foam may be the way to go.
I was looking into that as well, but seems like a real pain in the ass to open up every wall in the house (and expensive). Have you done it before?
Im interested in this as well, I need insulation, especially in the front of my home. But I don't want to take all my walls down or punch holes, is there a less intrusive way?
Literally no cost to mass residents, they come to your house - replace all your bulbs with high efficiency LED bulbs - no cost for the bulbs and if you qualify will spray foam insulate your attic. They'll also give you rebates and discounts on furnace/boiler replacements after they come to your house and do an assessment.
I haven't looked into getting the foam sprayed anywhere else, they only recommend it in the attic with this program (if it's the same stuff)
What about the existing insulation, is it just sprayed over it or is it removed?
Ever heard of them, Jim?
Ok. They are comjng by in a couple of weeks. I ll keep you posted. Honestly Im interested in replacing my roof before installing any solar equipments. So solar tiles interest me