Having a home custom built is obviously the easiest way to put yourself in the home of your dreams. Of course, building a custom home can also be more expensive, time-consuming, and stressful than simply buying an existing home off the market. This said, your choice of building contractor can often be the single biggest factor in determining not only how much you’ll end up paying, but also how easy or stressful the experience is. In light of this fact, here are a few basic tips to keep in mind that should help to ensure you choose a quality, experienced professional to build your custom home.
Welcome to the Green Home Systems blog. If you’re a homeowner, chances are you heard about solar power and the benefits it could provide. Perhaps you thought you couldn’t afford to go solar or didn’t quite understand it. The truth is solar power is more affordable than ever and a big game-changer in how American homeowners are producing electricity. In the third quarter of 2019 alone, the U.S. installed 2.6 gigawatts (GW) of solar PV capacity reaching over 71.3 SW, enough to power 13.5 million American homes. The rate of solar growth is expected to double by 2023 as more states commit to renewable energy alternatives. So what does all of this mean for you?
Solar Power As A Renewable Energy Alternative
If you’re like most homeowners, you are always looking for ways to preserve your home value and cut utility costs. With solar, you can easily accomplish both.
Not many realize that a typical residential solar power system actually increases property value by $15,000 – $30,000. So a solar panel installation will already produce a positive impact. Even before your first month’s payment is due. How’s that for return on investment? If you are leasing this solar power to tenants, you can factor it into their rental costs, which will half pay off the system faster.
Perhaps the most attractive feature of solar power is the money you will save each month on electricity costs. Unless you pay cash, you will select a finance option that will keep your monthly rate low and fixed throughout the duration of our term. Because your solar panels will be producing energy every day, your utility bill will be extremely low. Sometimes you will over-generate and qualify for solar renewable energy credits (SRECs). These credits calculated by a process called net metering in which your utility company keeps a tally of how much energy you use vs. how much you generate. When you receive SRECs, that surplus energy will often applied to the next billing month.
If you have net billing, the utility company will buy that excess energy from you. Just be careful about your monthly kWh usage. If you do not produce enough solar power to cover your consumption, you will draw from the grid and pay the difference to the utility company. But all in all, your utility bill will diminish with a 100% energy demand system. By the time your solar power system paid off, you will essentially be energy independent and producing energy for free. There will just be a small fee of a few dollars to remain connected to the grid.
Environmentally Conscious
If you’re environmentally conscious, solar power is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. Buildings make up for 38 percent of all carbon emissions in the U.S., and when you go solar you immediately help bring down that number. A typical residential solar power system will eliminate three to four tons of carbon emissions each year—the equivalent of planting over 100 trees annually. So you’re even helping to sustain a better future in this world we live in.
To see if you qualify for the outstanding benefits solar power can provide, contact us and one of our trained professionals will get you started with a free solar consultation and custom estimate.
