When we do a little word association with solar power, most people understand that they are helping the environment on some level, as well as adding extra electricity to their home. However, for many laymen, the understanding doesn’t go very far beyond that. This means that solar power is still surrounded by misinformation that keeps people from making the conversion, even if they would be good candidates. Before you pass on talking to a solar company in Erie, CO, here are some of the things that you should consider.

Confusion About Money

As a start, let’s dispel the notion that there is a large financial barrier to entry when it comes to adding solar panels to your home. On average, working with a solar company in Louisville, CO on panel installation will cost you in the range of $15,000 to $40,000 for a typical 3kW to 8kW setup. Some people have even more savings in this regard by buying the system then opting to install it themselves. If they do this, they will pay in the range of  $5,500 and $12,250 for the same setup. Just make sure to prioritize safety if you go that route.

For some, it’s still easy to be skeptical when it comes to hearing about that and thinking “that’s all the savings you get?” However, that’s quite far from the truth in practice. For example, there are a variety of different incentives available at the federal, state, and local levels. The point of these measures is to try and make it as easy as possible for homeowners of all kinds to try and set up their own solar panel systems. If you use them correctly and live in a certain area, you can halve the cost of your installation.

The thing about this is that those type of savings aren’t baseline. If you really want to maximize the financial benefits, you need to do research before you ever decide to get your installation done. Equally important is making sure that you have enough power produced to qualify for any of these incentives. Some of the incentives require you to take additional steps before you set up the panels.

However, in other cases, the financial myths surrounding solar power in Frederick are less about how much it costs to get in, but how much money you are getting out of it. For example, many people believe that you don’t start to see a proper ROI with solar panels until 25 years of using them. This is far from the truth, and in fact, you can start seeing benefits right away. How is this the case? Your first ROI with a solar system comes when the startup costs are paid back via energy savings. This is based on how much energy the system puts out, and you can pay that investment back as soon as in four to six years.

When we talk about solar panels and ROI, you also want to think about the long-term. HUD statistics show that if your home can save $1,000 on energy, the value of said home instantly increases by $20,000.

One thing that some people fear about solar panels is the notion that they raise the property value, and raise your property taxes by proxy. Yes, they will raise the value of your home, but many states understand this concern, and have a piece of protection in place to keep solar power from being factored into property taxes. In some cases, states will offer property tax credits to cover increases of property taxes if they do end up posing an issue.

Other Sources of Confusion

So far, we’ve talked about financial myths regarding solar energy in Firestone, but there are other areas of misunderstanding as well that keep people from using them, even if they could benefit. For example, when it comes to solar panels, most people think that they need to live in an area with a warm and bright climate to see any benefits at all. This isn’t the case though, because panels derive their power from the sun’s energy, not the temperature that it generates. As a result, homes in colder areas can make just as much use of solar panels. If you don’t believe this, the world leader in solar power consumption isn’t near the equator, but is Germany. Germany not only has a cooler climate, but regular cloudy weather.

In fact, a cooler area like Erie, CO may actually benefit more from implementing solar panels because they naturally tend to have higher costs for lighting and heating, and solar energy can help there. If snow is a concern, you can install them at a certain angle so snow won’t collect. Hand in hand with this, solar power doesn’t mean that you have no power at night. You may not be able to produce any, but remember, solar systems produce enough energy during the day time to create a surplus of energy that carries into the night. If you’re on a grid-tiered energy system, excess energy gets set back into the grid so homes can use it in times of need.

Finally, despite what you may hear, it doesn’t take a lot of additional maintenance to take care of your solar panels. In fact, they’re very easy to take care of. Best of all, your average solar panel has a baseline warranty of 25 years, and tends to go well beyond that timeframe. The only acts that you need to take during this timeframe is hosing them off every year and removing any large debris that falls on them. In addition, efficiency stays strong during this time frame, with only a 5% drop most of the time. Inverters will likely need to be replaced before the panels themselves, but their lifespan is pretty long, also.