Extracting fossil fuels is damaging to the environment, and it’s very expensive for consumers. Solar energy is an environmentally healthy and free alternative. So, it’s not surprising that states and cities throughout the country are in the process of converting to solar along with other renewable resources.
When you start gathering information about solar panels for your home or business, it can be a big help to learn some of the terminology. In your research, you’ll notice that residential solar panel systems are always described in terms of kilowatts. To understand what kilowatts are, it helps to understand megawatts.
Solar panel benefits are enormous. Utility cost savings, energy security for homeowners, and environmental preservation offer great value to the world. There’s little reason to wonder why solar technology has ballooned into the fastest-growing industry in the energy production subsector. Solar panels are very convenient, economically feasible for most homeowners, virtually maintenance-free, and rarely require repairs. Solar panel technology is much more efficient than the public grid. But what happens when the panels are past their lifespan? Can you recycle solar panels?
Solar panels and electric cars are a perfect pair. Installing your own solar energy system for your home can give you all the electricity you need to supply your house and a solar car charger. That means you can meet all your household electricity needs with clean, emission-free, renewable energy by using solar for your home and electric vehicle (EV).
During your research on investing in solar panels for home electricity production, you are sure to learn about net metering. It is one of the significant advantages over remaining fully dependent on the public power grid. Net metering bridges the gap between complete reliance on your local public utility company and home solar production. It enables you to sell any electricity your system produces but that you do not use right away back to the public grid. This can further cut your energy costs and help reduce the public use of fossil fuels. Below is helpful information for homeowners about net metering.
Among the year-end assessments of multitudinous products as the best of their kind this year, the reviews of the 2022 best electric vehicles (EVs) stand out in importance. U.S. News and World Report offers a comprehensively considered analysis and reports its rankings of the top EV models in cars and SUVs and for luxury models as well.
A wonderful feature of the holiday season is the beautiful decorative lights everywhere. Countless strands of light adorn shrubs, trees, doors, patios, and even entire houses. Not to mention the vast number of lighted plastic Santas, reindeer, elves, snowmen, and other festive characters decorating lawns and rooftops in neighborhoods from coast to coast. Inside homes are dreamy illuminated window motifs and a mesmerizing tree of lights and ornaments. Cities and towns throughout the country are transformed for weeks. It’s a stunning spectacle. But, it takes a staggering amount of electricity — reportedly about 6.63 billion kW hours.
You can hear and read about the current transition of U.S. cities and states to renewable energy sources, many with goals of complete conversion by 2030. You can also see the change happening in the ever-increasing number of homes and businesses with solar panels on their roofs. The solar adoption rate has grown by 33 percent over just the past ten years. Clearly, people want freedom from the public power grid and want to help save the environment by going solar. But what are the environmental benefits of reducing carbon emissions by switching to solar at home?
In June 2022, President Joe Biden announced a pair of executive actions meant to accelerate U.S. solar installation and shift more solar parts manufacturing from Asia to the United States. One action is designed to remedy the shortage of solar panels currently coming into the U.S., and the second was to increase domestic manufacturing of solar panels. The two orders are expected to bolster solar manufacturing in the U.S. to double the current level and add up to 100 GW of solar generation within the next 10 years compared to projections without the executive actions.
The two Executive Orders issued by Joe Biden a few months ago were partly designed to postpone solar tariffs against Asian companies and accelerate solar energy products in the U.S. The two orders the president signed are the following:
A U.S. investigation seeks to discover whether Chinese companies used Southeast Asian solar parts manufacturers to avoid anti-dumping tariffs. The case has caused several gigawatts (GW) of solar development projects to be postponed. Concerned overseas manufacturers stopped shipping to the U.S. in early 2022. The potential tariffs would cause solar installations to drop by half. The Biden order delays the start of tariffs for two years to motivate the Asian solar equipment companies to restart their production lines.
Biden also ordered the Defense Production Act (DPA) to help ensure that the U.S. has sufficient solar equipment manufacturing to supply the demand for solar energy systems after the two-year delay on the tariffs expires. The U.S. government will contract with the makers for quantities of solar panels made with an agreed percentage of materials and labor sourced in the United States.
Biden’s executive actions will bring many large solar projects that were on hold during the investigation back online. By one estimate, a third to half of the 6 GW of solar projects currently stalled due to the investigation can now be resumed. Per the administration’s strategy, by 2023, U.S. solar manufacturing should increase due to the DPA, which commits the government to buy the manufacturers’ products if conditions are met.
If the investigation determines that Chinese companies are side-stepping tariffs, any new resulting tariffs could take effect in 2024, giving the U.S. makers time to gain the 15 GW of new solar manufacturing capacity needed, or more, by 2024, per Biden's estimate.
Even U.S. solar panel manufacturers use solar cells and wafers made in the countries under investigation. So, with the threat of future tariffs, the U.S companies must retool to begin manufacturing silicon wafers and solar cells themselves or sourcing those parts from domestic suppliers.
In the short term, the conversion will cause price increases by U.S. manufacturers. But, eventually, the increase in U.S. production will offer many substantial benefits to the U.S. in terms of solar industry job creation, U.S. energy security, and building a thriving solar industry.
The Biden administration has committed the federal government to buy 10 GW of solar panels made in the U.S.A in the next 10 years and is urging state and local governments to follow suit. That may ultimately translate into reduced prices if you’re looking to install solar panels for your home at that time.
It’s important to note here, however, that the amount you can expect to save on solar panels and accompanying equipment at this point is likely to be less than you can save on electricity bills by switching to solar earlier.
That’s because solar panel prices have plummeted year after year over the past two decades as adoption rates have increased. So, prices are already low enough that manufacturers’ profit margins are limited in allowance for deeper price cuts. In other words, the best savings and overall value are likely to be an investment sooner rather than later at this stage of solar development in the United States.
Congress just passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022. It extends the federal solar tax credit for homeowners from the current 26% back up to 30% through 2032! After 2032, the credit will decrease to 26% in 2033 and 22% in 2034. The Act also provides new federal tax credits for U.S. solar panel manufacturers. But, of course, new mining and manufacturing operations startups are costly, which means solar product pricing will continue to reflect that.
On the other hand, the new domestic solar manufacturing generated by the combined executive actions can be expected to increase the gigawatts of solar energy output in the US. That could contribute to eventually reduced solar prices for consumers.
A solar engineer from Solarise will assess your property’s appropriateness for solar panel installation and help you determine the practicality of switching to solar panels for home use.
Your home provides ideal evidence of its suitability for solar panels. If you’re thinking about investing in solar panels, you should find out what you can expect from a solar energy system at your property. Several particular indicators are especially important in determining whether your home will be an adequately productive solar home. Below are the five most essential criteria for identifying a home that is a promising candidate for improvement by investing in home roof solar panels.
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