solar panels residential

solar panels residential

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Is installing residential solar panels in your home a smart long-term investment, or a money pit? If it really will pay for itself, how long will that take? What will be the return on your investment?

This question is hard to answer because there are so many different factors to consider, and no two people's situation are alike. The number of residential solar panels, how much power your house uses, the cost of electricity, geographic location, and even time of year can all affect your return on investment. You'll have to do the calculations yourself for your individual situation, and this article will explain how.

Step One: Cost of Residential Solar Panels

First, get a quote on how much your panels will cost (including installation). If you plan to build your own panels, this can be a bit harder to calculate. However, it's safer to over estimate the costs to build the panels than to under estimate.

For example, let's say you pay $3000 for a solar power system, however, with a complete solar power system blueprint, such as from Earth4Energy, they've proven it's possible to build your own cheap solar panels for less than $200. This is how much money the panels will have to save you before you break even. Money you save after that point is pure profit, a return on your investment.

Step Two: Subtract Tax Credit

The federal government grants home owners a tax credit for installing residential solar panels that is equal to 30% of the cost of the solar power system. If you build your own cheap solar panels, keep the receipts and keep careful records, just in case of an audit.

Subtract the tax credit from the cost of your panels. This is your new break even point. For example, if your panels cost you $3000, then 30% of that would be $900. If you subtract $900 from $3000, you get $2100-and that's how much money you'd have to save to break even on your investment.

Step Three: Estimate Daily Solar Electricity Generated

Next, you need to know how much electricity your residential solar panels can generate per day. This number can vary from day to day depending on cloud cover, daylight hours, and geographic location, so you'll have to get an average number from the manufacturer or distributor. If you build your own Cheap Solar Panels, you'll have to estimate it yourself. For the sake of example, let's just say your home-built solar panels generate an average of 5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per day.

Step Four: Cost of Electricity

Check your power bill and see how much you pay per kWh of electricity. For example, let's say its $0.15 per kWh.

Step Five: Do the Math

Find out how much you are saving on your power bill per day by multiplying the amount of solar electricity generated by the cost per kWh. For example, if your cheap solar panels generate 5 kWh per day, and one kWh costs $0.15, then you save $0.75 on your power bill per day. This may not sound like much, but it adds up quickly to $23.25 per month and $273.75 per year.

Finally, to see how long it will take for your solar power home to pay for themselves, divide the cost of the cheap solar panels (minus the tax credit), and divide it by the amount of money you save per month. For example, that would be $2100 divided by $23.25. The result is 90 months, or seven and a half years. Or if you built your own with Earth4Energy your break even point will be considerably less and well worth looking into. Any money saved after that is pure return on investment.

Installing residential solar power by building your own cheap solar panels is definitely a great financial investment and an excellent contribution to the environment for a greener world.

Are you looking for ways to implement a solar power home at low cost, get quick ROI by building your own cheap solar panels and save even more money off? If so visit Cheap-Solar-Panels.biz.

Residential Solar Panels - Build Residential Solar Power Energy