Myth #1: “Solar is beyond my budget!”
Lyndon Rive: Solar has never been more affordable, and a solar roof can cut the typical household’s electric bill in half. Moreover, federal, state and city governments are offering unprecedented incentives for homeowners to go solar. Today an investment in solar typically delivers greater than 10 percent annual return over its 30-year lifetime. Now that’s a solid investment no matter what shape the economy is in!

Myth #2: “I will lose power when the sun goes down.”
Lyndon Rive: Because you’re still connected to the grid, you won’t have any problem keeping the lights on at night. A solar roof will dramatically reduce your electric bill by turning abundant sunlight into clean power during the day, when electricity rates are highest. When the sun goes down, you draw energy from the utility grid at low, night-time rates.

Myth #3: “It’s too much of a hassle.”
Lyndon Rive: Homeowners should look for an established solar installer that puts special emphasis on simplifying the process for going solar. A good solar installer will take care of all the red tape and guide you through the entire process.

Myth #4: “But these panels will look terrible on my beautiful roof!”
Lyndon Rive: Solar roofs have come a long way in both appearance and performance. The exposed steel frames and black checkerboard panels are out. These days it’s all about sleek, ultra-thin, reflective-black panels that lay flat against the roof surface.

Myth #5: “I’m only one person with one roof. How can I do anything to stop global climate change?”
Lyndon Rive: By going solar, you will be saving money while joining a broad movement fighting climate change. We estimate that over the next 15 years, each solar roof on a typical 3-bedroom home will remove approximately 82,000 lbs of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – equivalent to driving an average car 100,000 miles. And with the typical household saving thousands of dollars on the electric bill over the years, that’s money that can go into the bank, toward your kid’s college tuition, or toward that much-needed family vacation.

Interested in learning more about Solar?  Visit Sierra Club Green Home’s Solar Center or click to request a free home solar installation quote.

You probably have a dark secret. No, not the one you begged your friends to take to their grave. It’s the one in your kitchen, or bathroom or hallway. It’s that spot that always seems to be dark, even with the lights on. The place where no natural sunlight can reach and the place you just wish you could go without the need of a flashlight. Unless your home was optimally designed to take advantage of natural light, odds are you have a few dim spots that could use some brightening.

Not too long ago, your only option would have been to cut a large hole in your roof and insert a skylight – literally a window to the sky. Unfortunately, the skylight probably had too many disadvantages to ever become a popular option. They tended to be leaky, they let in too much heat and after a couple of months there was a thin layer of crud blocking the view and you had to risk serious injury or death by climbing up on your roof to clean it. They have improved since those early days, but there’s still no good option to keeping them nice and clear other than a ladder and a squeegee. Nowadays we have a few more options for bringing in natural light and you don’t have to risk life or limb as most are relatively maintenance free.

Obviously the best way to take advantage of the sun’s rays to light your home is with proper design, but for the vast majority the opportunity to design or even extensively remodel your own house doesn’t arise. Fortunately, for the rest of us, there’s light ducting. You’ve probably heard of it before, there are a lot of names for it: sun tunnels, light tubes, etc. The technology has been around for awhile, but commercial products are just now starting to gain some traction with the public. You may have even seen this type of lighting in a store and not realized what it was or what it was doing to your shopping habits. Studies have shown benefits to the bottom lines of retail operators and also to mental and physical health of those who work, learn and live with natural lighting.

Top Tips

Find the Best Fit. Most new technologies use some sort of ducting to go from your rooftop where the light is collected to the area you want to brighten up. Some products are better than others at transferring light over long distances, so do your homework on the right product for your situation. Some passive lighting fixtures have alternative sources of light installed in them so that at night you can still get usable light from the fixtures with a flip of a switch. Others will need to be supplemented with additional electric lighting.

Brighten Up a Dark Place. These types of daylighting systems work very well in areas that don’t have windows such as interior hallways, bathrooms and basements, but are also a good way to brighten up areas that don’t really capture enough light from existing windows.

A Bright Idea. Also, remember that this is natural sunlight being transferred inside so the lightmaybe a little too white or bright for some people’s tastes. Most manufacturers have diffusers that soften the light or allow you to control how much is coming in. It is best to check the products out in person if a nearby showroom offers demonstration models.

Keep Your Cool. Since the light from the sun is actually one of the coolest sources of light compared with electrical lighting, most of the daylighting systems mentioned here transfer very little heat and block out UV rays. So depending on how much electrical light you can replace with a daylighting system, you can actually reduce your cooling load during warm weather by reducing heat-emitting electric bulbs.

Benefits…

…to your health. According to a MIT study of natural daylighting and the effect on the body, researchers found that our bodies prefer natural sunlight to electrical light to keep circadian rhythms in balance. Sunlight has also been shown to improve productivity and a person’s feelings of well-being. This may explain why people at work are so grumpy in the morning. Considering that most people work under fluorescent lighting for about eight hours a day and are indoors the majority of the time not spent at work, bringing some sunlight in to your home might just improve your mood.

…to your wallet. Although the up-front costs of installing one of these systems may seem a little steep – anywhere from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars depending on the complexity, size and brand of the system – remember you’re getting free light from the point of installation on. The payoff period may be pretty long to be practical, but that’s not taking into consideration the health benefits that can be associated with natural light. A typical installation costs about $700 for a fixture that covers nearly 200 square feet. Factor in a 30% government rebate (on most models) and that brings the cost down to around $500. The California Public Utilities Commission estimates that daylighting can save between 23-32 cents per square foot per year. Given those numbers, you can roughly estimate that one of these will pay for itself in about 10 years.

…to the Earth. This is just one more way to reduce your carbon footprint by reducing electricity usage. If you estimate that it would take about five 11-watt compact fluorescent bulbs to light that same 200 square-foot space for 12 hours per day, you would be saving over 500 pounds of CO₂ emissions per year with passive lighting. Over the 10-year payoff period, you would also be reducing your carbon footprint by more than 2 ½ tons of CO_2.

Getting Started

Unless you’re really handy, you can check out our database to find a contractor in your area to install these systems. Most companies that you purchase from will also help with installation, but it still wouldn’t hurt to talk to someone who knows what’s involved.

Any company that installs solar electric systems (also known as photovoltaic, or PV, systems) can help you figure out if PV makes sense for your household. But as with any home improvement project, buyer beware. While reputable companies won’t try to talk you into a deal that doesn’t make sense, unscrupulous companies may overpromise on performance, overestimate how big a system you need, or underestimate potential problems at your site. Take the time to learn about the basics of PV, so that when you talk to the pros you can ask good questions, make sense of the answers, and know if you are getting the straight scoop.

It’s also wise to add up the cost of a solar electric installation in your area. In 2007, the average cost in the United States in 2007 was $7.62 per watt, after available state and federal incentives. That comes to roughly $15,000 to $30,000 for a typical 2 to 4 kilowatt system. But with a newly expanded federal tax credit and an increasing number of cities, states and utilities offering residents cash or loans to install photovoltaic (PV) systems, there’s never been a better time to go solar.

Even in areas with high electricity prices, it can take 10 years or more for a typical system to pay for itself. That’s still an excellent return on your investment-10% is much more than your bank pays you–but in most cases you must be willing to make the large up-front investment. As energy costs rise and the cost of renewables comes down, however, solar power will become even more cost competitive. And in remote areas where it would be exorbitantly expensive to hook up to the electricity grid, a photovoltaic (PV) system may be the most economical choice.

Before You Put a Power Plant on Your Roof

Even though rebates and incentives are bringing down the cost of solar electricity, it’s still a lot cheaper to save a watt of electricity than to produce one. Before ponying up for a PV system:

• Look for free ways to use the sun’s energy. A PV system is a big-ticket purchase, so before taking the plunge look for free ways to capture the sun’s energy, like passive solar design, daylighting, or a good old-fashioned clothesline. Read our “Free and Low-Cost Solar Energy” article to learn more.
• Invest in conservation. For starters, that means installing more insulation, swapping out energy-guzzling appliances for super-efficient models, sealing air leaks, and replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescents. It also may mean changing habits: turning off lights and gadgets when you’re not using them, lowering the heat, skipping the air conditioning except on the hottest days, or piling on an extra comforter instead of switching on an electric blanket. If you do all of that first, you won’t have to invest as much in PV to bring your energy bill under control.

Is Your Site Right?

Assess your site. PV modules need south-facing exposure that’s not shaded by trees, buildings, or other structures. They can be installed on sloped or flat roofs, as long as there’s unshaded south-facing exposure. In general, the smallest systems require at least 120 square feet of unobstructed space; larger systems may require 1,000 square feet or more. But it doesn’t have to be on the roof. PV modules can be mounted on the ground, on walls, on window overhangs, and even on trellises where they can do double duty by shading your patio table.

Check out your roof. If you’re thinking of installing the PV system on your roof (which is where most people put them), assess the roof’s age and condition. If your roof needs repairs or if you’re planning to reroof within the next few years, do it before installing the PV panels. For more about roof and PV system maintenance issues, read our “Buying and Maintaining a Solar Electric System” article.

Plan ahead. If you’re building a new house or planning an addition or major remodel, think solar. That means orienting a new house or an addition so there’s plenty of unshaded, south-facing roof space for PV. If you can’t squeeze a PV system into your construction budget, at least plan for where it can be installed in the future and run conduit (without the actual wiring) from that area to the utility meter. This will make it less expensive and less disruptive to install PV later.

What Size PV System Do You Need?

Size it right. Typical residential PV sizes are between 2 and 4 kilowatts. (One kW equals 1,000 watts-the amount of power needed to keep ten 100-watt light bulbs burning.) How large a system you need depends on how much electricity your household uses, what portion of that demand you want to offset with the PV system, how much unshaded south-facing space you have available, and how sunny it is in your part of the country.

Solar companies can usually estimate system size over the phone, after asking about your current electricity use and looking at your property on a satellite map to check out shading issues.

If your property looks feasible for solar, they’ll come to your house and do a detailed analysis. (Learn more about this process in our article “Buying and Maintaining a Solar Electric System.”)

Reach for the sky. Even if a PV system only offsets a portion of your electricity use, you’re doing something good for the Earth and bringing your energy costs under control. If you can’t afford a system big enough to supply all your energy, consider installing a smaller system now and expanding it later. But if you’re ready to set really high goals, shoot for a zero-energy home. That means generating as much energy as you use over the course of a year. To do that, you’ll first need to get your energy use as low as possible. (Hang out on this site and you’ll become an expert in doing that.) And then produce the rest with renewable energy systems.

Don’t supersize. While a zero-energy home is a terrific goal, it usually doesn’t make economic sense to buy a system that generates more electricity than you’ll use over the course of a year. That’s because many utility companies won’t give you any money back if you put excess electricity into the grid over and above what your household uses over a 12-month period.

Can You Afford It?

• Federal tax credit. Homeowners who install a solar electric system can take a tax credit on their federal income tax return of up to 30% of the installed system cost.
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  This credit applies to systems placed in service from January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2016 (for systems placed in service before 2009, the credit was capped at $2,000). So if your PV system costs $20,000 after state or local rebates, you can subtract $6,000 from the federal taxes you owe. If you can’t use the full credit in the year of the installation, you can carry it over to future years.

• State, local, and utility incentives. Depending on where you live, tax credits, rebates, and other incentives can help bring costs down. These incentives are typically offered by the state government or by the local electric utility; check the DSIRE database for incentive details by state. New York State, for example, offers homeowners a personal tax credit of 25% of the system cost, up to a maximum of $5,000. Even cities are starting to offer innovative programs to help their citizens defray the upfront cost of PV. San Francisco gives households a rebate of $3,000 to $5,000. The city of Berkeley, California, provides loans to homeowners who install PV systems; the homeowners pay no money upfront and pay off the loan over 20 years as part of their property tax bill.
• Loans. Taking out a loan for a renewable energy installation often makes good sense. If you’re building a new house, you can fold the cost into your construction loan. If you’re putting the PV system on an existing house, you might finance it with a home equity loan. Some banks now offer loans specifically for purchasing a PV system. Depending on the situation, your monthly loan payments for a solar system may be on par with or even lower than your old monthly electric bill. After the loan is paid off, the electricity generated by the system is free.
• Leases. Recently a few companies have been offering leasing arrangements. In these deals, the solar company installs a PV system on your home and retains ownership of it. You make monthly lease payments that should be lower (or at least no higher) than what you’re currently paying for electricity. When the lease ends, you may have the option to buy the system or have it removed. Since this is a relatively untested arrangement, make sure you understand all the fine print before making a commitment.

What If PV Doesn’t Make Sense for You?

PV has a lot going for it, but it’s not the solution for everyone. If your property gets too much shade, if you don’t own your home, or if a PV system is out of your price range, you can buy green power instead of generating it.

To do that, first check with your local electric company. They may offer a green power option from sources like solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas (such as methane), or low-impact hydro. When you buy green power you’re paying a small premium to support the utility’s renewable energy generation, but you’re not actually getting “green electrons” delivered to your home. Electrons are indistinguishable; those generated by renewable energy sources go into the grid and mix with electrons from all the utility’s other sources. Yet, if you are interesting in directly supplying clean energy to your residential or commercial area consider investing in fuel cell technology. To learn more visit ClearEdge Power.

If your utility company doesn’t offer green power, don’t despair. You can purchase “green tags” (they’re also called renewable energy certificates, RECs, or green energy certificates). It’s similar to buying green power from your local utility, except that when you buy a green tag, you may be supporting green power generation in other parts of the country, not necessarily in your region. When you buy a green tag, you’re rewarding power suppliers that offer green power, but you’re not necessarily funding the development of new renewable energy sources. To find out more about green power and green tags, check out the U.S. EPA’s green power website.

We know you have lots of questions about home solar electric and hot water installations. It’s one of the more perplexing issues facing somebody trying to have a green home. So, we’d like to help you. That’s why we’ve partnered with Cooler Planet, a leader in referring green-minded citizens to solar installers. With our partnership, it’s now possible to quickly and easily determine what a solar installation is likely to cost you and to get a free quote from an expert in your area.

The Solar Power Calculator makes it easy for you to estimate the costs of a solar installation in your neighbhorhood and it accounts for all the tax rebates for which you should qualify.

The Find A Solar Installer lets you work with Cooler Planet to find a local solar installer who can provide you with a quote, free of charge! If you’re serious about going solar, these tools will get you there.

Still not sure about going Solar? Read more about it. We have the entire solar world covered in our Solar Center. You can also jump straight to some of our more detailed articles below. And if solar electric panels or solar hot water aren’t for you right now, be sure to see our article on Free and Low Cost Solar Energy to get great tips on how to harness the sun without making a large investment.

Articles on Solar Electricity and Hot Water:

• Why Go Solar
• How Solar Electricity Work
• Is a Solar Electric System Right For You
• Buying and Maintaining a Solar Electric System
• Solar Hot Water For Your Home
• Solar Heating For Pools and Spas

Solar electric systems power a vast array of items, from credit card-sized calculators to communications satellites, highway traffic signs, and homes, schools, and warehouses. Also called photovoltaic (PV) systems, they work by converting light energy into electricity. “Photo” comes from the Greek word for light, while “voltaic” refers to the production of electricity.

The basic building blocks of this kind of solar system are PV cells. They are small, thin, square-shaped pieces of a semiconductor material, most often silicon. When light hits a cell, it generates a small amount of electricity, typically 1 or 2 watts. Linked together in modules, cells can produce large amounts of electricity.

Components of a Typical PV System

Most residential PV systems consist of these components:

• PV modules usually consist of lightweight panels with metal frames and a glass surface that protects the PV cells from rain, snow, and hail.Modules are typically about two to four feet wide and four to six feet long, and produce from 60 to 200 watts of electricity. In recent years, however, manufacturers have developed other configurations, like solar shingles that do double duty as roof shingles (more about that later).Modules are wired together to form a solar array. Arrays range in size from about 120 square feet for the smallest systems to 1,000 square feet or more for larger systems. The array’s size depends on a number of factors, including how much electricity you want to produce. For more about sizing a PV system, see the article “Is a Solar Electric System Right for You?“
• Mounting structures prevent the wind from carrying away the PV modules that are attached to them. They also hold the modules at an angle to receive the maximum amount of sunlight. Most mounting structures are simple steel racks bolted to the roof in a fixed position. Modules may also be mounted on poles or other types of structures on the ground. Tracking devices can be added that tilt the panels in response to the position of the sun. These trackers can increase output by as much as 25%. By adding moving parts with electronic controls, though, they also may increase the cost and decrease the reliability of the system. If you need more power, it may be more cost effective to add a few more panels instead of trackers.
• Inverters take the direct current (DC) electricity produces when light hits a solar cell and convert it to the alternating current (AC) needed by homes. Most residential systems wire all the modules to one boxlike inverter mounted on the side of the house or in the garage. At least one company has begun manufacturing micro-inverters that attach directly to individual modules; the company says their micro-inverters will increase the PV system’s overall efficiency. The additional benefit of micro-converters is that if something happens to one converter, the rest of your system will continue to function.
• Some systems include a bank of large batteries that store electricity. Most people who buy PV systems skip the batteries because they add thousands of dollars to the system’s cost. Read on to learn more about the pros and cons of battery backups.

On or Off the Grid?

In remote regions, an “off-the-grid” or independent PV system may be less costly than running wires to connect with the utility grid. With these off-the-grid systems, the home is powered entirely by PVs, with a bank of batteries storing excess electricity for use when the sun isn’t shining.

Most residential PV installations are connected to the local utility’s electricity grid. This gives them a source of backup electricity when the sun isn’t shining and, depending on state laws, allows them to feed any excess electricity into the grid. A home’s electricity meter tracks the outputs and inputs. In the more than 35 states with “net metering” laws, you pay only for the electricity you used above what your system produced over a 12-month period.

Unfortunately, in some states net metering laws also stipulate that the utility company need not pay you for surplus electricity you may have generated over the same period. For this reason, many people size their PV system so that it won’t produce more than their expected annual electricity use.

Another consideration for those on the grid is whether you want the security of having back-up power during grid outages. If so, you’ll need to add batteries to your system. When outages occur, utility companies require automatic shutdown of your power and everyone else’s-for the safety of utility line workers.

Building-Integrated Photovoltaics

In addition to the first-generation systems described above, other PV systems are now available that integrated into the building instead of something sitting on top of it; some even take the place of a building material like roof tiles or windows. These products, known as building-integrated photovoltaics or BIPV, haven’t been around as long as conventional PV modules, so if you go this route, it’s wise to do more homework to make sure you’re getting a quality product that meets your needs.

• Solar shingles. These look a lot like ordinary roof shingles and become a part of the roof. They cost more than regular PV panels but if you’re planning to reroof, solar shingles start to look more affordable.
• PV laminates. Designed to fit between the raised seams of metal roofs, these thin PV sheets have a “peel and stick” adhesive backing. You can also buy metal roofing material with the PV laminates pre-applied at the factory. PV laminates cost about the same as traditional PV panels, but installation is a lot less labor intensive if you have a metal roof.
• Solar glass. Used as skylights, windows, awnings, canopies, and even walls, solar glass (also known as solar or PV glazing) is made with semi-transparent PV cells laminated between panes of glass. It generates electricity while still allowing a limited amount of visibility and light transmission. Right now solar glass is very expensive compared to traditional solar panels but look for prices to come down as more products become available.