Learn about the Solar Energy Advantage!

Why even mess with solar energy?

When we first start thinking about using solar energy in our own homes, the first question we need to answer is “why?”  Why go through the hassle of buying the equipment, or connecting more wires or plumbing to your house when you already have electricity and hot water without it? 

 
What with the heightened attention to the Earth’s climate today, many people never really ask the question; they’ve heard that solar is great and the energy is free, and that’s all they really need.  Right up to the point they start looking at price tags for professionally installed systems.  Then it hits them that it’s not REALLY free, and nothing happens after that. 

 
But when we dig into this question, “why solar”, just a little bit, we find that there really are sound reasons to figure out a way to make it part of our own home game-plan.  When you boil it down, there are 3 overarching reasons why solar is an important part of our energy future.  Covering them from the most macro-cosmic to micro, these reasons are:

 
First reason solar energy makes sense in homes:  Ecological. 

Regardless of whether you believe strongly in modern fears of man-made global warming, or not, there is little doubt that heavy reliance on fossil fuels does have an impact on the environment.  The U.S. has made lots of progress in cleaning up our air since the 1970s, but there is only so much ‘emission scrubbing’ (where power plants use various technologies to remove much of the damaging components of waste product when burning oil or coal) which can be done, and our energy needs are going to continue climbing for the foreseeable future.  Any move to energy sources which don’t depend on burning something can only be a good thing.

 
Second reason solar energy makes sense in homes: Political. 

Without diving deeply into a ‘blame game’ session, it is widely recognized that the Western world’s dependence on oil has made many countries much richer than they otherwise would have been.  We’re talking crazy rich, here.  And unfortunately, many of those countries don’t care for those of us living in Western Europe and North America.  Given almost limitless resources, some of these countries have hurt us in ways that were completely unexpected just a decade ago.  Since much of the money they have used to hurt us has come out of our own wallets, maybe it’s time to ask ourselves, “Do we really want to keep making them wealthier?”  If the answer is no, then a way to stop putting more money in the hands of despots who would love nothing more than to see us damaged is to invest in solar for our own homes.

 
Third reason solar energy makes sense in homes: Economic. 

This has been the show stopper for years.  Until recently, the cost to install a solar array which could power most of an average homes electrical needs has often been estimated at around 50thousand dollars!  In that kind of a case, your children would have to retire still living in your house to recoup the investment.  But in recent years the cost of producing photovoltaic cells – also called PV cells or solar cells, these are the chips which actually produce electrical current when sunlight shines on them – has come down, while at the same time the price of oil has been at historic highs.  Add to this mix the fact that local and federal governments have been offering various incentives to encourage people to install solar units, and you have the beginnings of a strong rationale for making this kind of investment. 

(If you’d like to discover how economical it can be to begin powering your home with the energy of the sun check out this ebook from Earth4Energy.com.)

Looking that the answers for these questions, it is certainly clear that the case for individuals like you and me using solar energy to power homes has never been better. 

 
But there is a lot more to know about solar energy for your home.  In other articles I’ll cover the early history of solar power: we can see how people have been interested in (mesmerized by, really) the idea of harnessing the rays from the sun to make our lives better.  I'll also cover some the improvements that have been made in solar technology, and how regular folks like you and me can use it without going broke.