Eliminate Your Electric Bill: Go solar and Be Secure

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Another excellent resource is www.renewables.com, a Web site written by sustainable-energy pioneer and solar designer Stephen Heckeroth. He estimates a typical home requires about two watts of PV power per square foot of floor area, but that amount can be cut in half, to about one watt per square foot, by using energy-saving appliances, such as compact fluorescent lightbulbs. So let's say you have a 2,000-square-foot home and you've taken full advantage of energy-conserving options. This means a 2,000-watt (two kw) PV roof should be able to satisfy your electricity needs (not counting heating, cooling or hot water - there are better nonelectric options for these functions; see www.renewables.com ). So what will it cost to install two kw of PV panels?

How Much Will Your Electricity Cost in 2026?

Nobody knows exactly how much utilities' electricity rates may increase over the 25-year life of a solar roof, but they will certainly increase in most regions, while costs for solar roofing are expected to decline. Here are a few numbers to help you estimate the probable cost benefits of a solar roof:

1. An energy-efficient, 2,000-square-foot home needs about two kilowatts of solar roofing.

2. The cost to install two kw of roof:
Current cost: $16,000
With rebate: $8,000 (in some areas)
With predicted cost reductions: $4,000 to $6,000

3. Amount of electricity the roof will produce during its 25-year life time: 100,375 kwh (2kw x 5.5 hours/day x 365 days x 25 years)

4. Value of 100,000 kwh from the grid, if average electricity rate for 25-year period was:
8 cents/kwh: $8,000
20 cents/kwh: $20,000
40* cents/kwh: $40,000

*Rates in some areas of California hit 35 cents/kwh in 2001.

About Net Metering

Net-metering is a "win-win" for the utility and the homeowner. The utility adds more clean power to its network from a power source located close to demand centers, reducing not only the need to build new plants to meet peak demands but also reducing the load on distribution lines. The process is a win for the homeowner, who doesn't need a bank of batteries to store electricity to power the household at night or during overcast days. Instead the system uses the utility grid as a storage battery.

When the solar-electric rooftop produces more electricity than the household needs (at midday when the family is away at work and school), electricity is sent to the utility grid and the home's meter runs backward. When the household needs more electricity than the system produces (at night), it is drawn from the utility grid and the electrical meter runs forward. The net difference between electricity exported to the grid and grid-electricity used forms the basis for the homeowner's electric bill. In many states, net metering is annualized. The utility credits solar electricity produced by the rooftop system during the summer against electricity needed from the grid during the winter.

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