If you live in a rural area, it may cost you more to draw energy from the nearest power grid than to have your own home solar panel system. That, as well as the need to have an emergency power source during utility outages is why more and more households in all types of areas are turning to alternative energy providing systems such as a home solar panel system.

The monetary cost of home solar panel power per kilowatt hour, though more expensive that wind or micro-hydroelectric power, is still considerably cheaper than paying a power company. But ONLY if you do it right.

If you plan on installing a home solar panel system for your household, keep in mind that if you want to obtain solar power for all your home's energy needs, the cost of a home solar panel may be a significant up-front investment.

Thinking that a home solar panel alone costs up to $600, and one of them provides somewhere between 50 and 200 watts of power in one day, it's not always cost-effective to power your entire home by exclusively using a home solar panel system.

On the other hand, you have the possibility of substantially reducing your home utility costs by supplementation of your existing power system with a home solar panel system.

The first thing to do if you want to invest in a home solar panel system is to assess how much power you want your solar panels to generate per day. This is achieved by looking at the wattage of each and every one of your electrical items that might run at any moment during the day and must be powered by the home solar panel system - A/C, computer, microwave, TV, lights, vacuum, refrigerator, fans, etc., and sum them up.

Got your list compiled? Now calculate the cumulative wattage you'd use for all of them in a 24 hour period. Then you know how many panels are needed in your home solar panel system and thus the cost of the investment.

If you are living in a house that is not currently connected to any grid and are trying to figure out cost effectiveness of your energy options, keep this in mind. If a local utility company has to lay down more than a half-mile of equipment in order to bring electrical energy to your home, then the cost of a home solar panel system is cheaper straightaway.

But if it's less than a half-mile, then it may be worth connecting to the local power grid. Mind you, after a few years of growing rates you will probably end up wishing you had made the investment in a home solar panel system. But all is not lost. Even If you contract the local utility company to supply you with power, remember you can still invest in a smaller home solar panel system, to act as backup and cut down the cost of your expenses, obviously at a lower cost.

Besides benefiting from solar power, you also benefit from a cleaner environment. If you think it through, using solar power avoids pollution and the depletion of natural resources, and that would be a far greater cost than any.

Finally, owning a home solar panel can actually help cut down on the utility bill by having your excess energy sold to your local power company. If you're fortunate enough to have any excess generated energy, it can put money back into your pocket.

Back to Articles