Going green is the best thing we all could do to help our planet maintain its natural resources. But, I have to ask myself, when does it make sense to go solar and when does it make sense to do the simple, but important things to save energy? This may be a difficult question to answer. Due to the fact that the answer is not the same for everyone, it needs to be considered on an individual or household basis even though we are experiencing higher electric bills throughout the states. That means I have to take the responsibility to research and discover what does make sense.
I did find out that, yes, a solar system on my home will lower my electric bill. However, there is a cost factor to fund the solar system, which might be high.
I started to compare costs where I live in California. The cost per kilowatt hour for a solar system over its life can be as low as $0.11 per kilowatt hour. Plus, my state has government incentives that help pay for the initial costs to install a system, which I need to research a little further.
But still, I feel it is important to think and live in futures to save money and the planet. I am willing to save money over the life of the solar system because, I feel, in order to be green you need to think in futures – not live just for today.
So, I did the math. My electric rates are as high as $0.21 per kilowatt hour. So, for the life of the system I would be paying the power company more than $0.11 per kilowatt hour. For my family, a solar system makes sense because the system will pay for itself in five years, five years goes by fast.
Now, I don’t think just installing a solar system is a save all. At my home we are doing some simple things to cut down on the amount of power that we use. We use energy efficient light bulbs, energy efficient appliances and so forth.