What are some of the benefits of using solar energy?

“How Can Solar Energy Benefit You & Our Planet?”

Having been a part of the growth of the solar energy industry, I have gained some different perspectives of its true benefits, and have compiled into what I like to call “The 7 Benefits of Solar Energy”.

Although some may argue with these benefits, these hold true based on my experience and the experience of my company, ProFusion Solar.

“The 7 Benefits of Solar Energy”

1) Can My Home or Business be Self-Sustained?

Their exists 4 major solar programs available all around the world, all benefiting property owners differently based on government decisions, your financial situations, property location, and climate/weather conditions.

Here are the 4…

a) MicroFIT/FIT — The ‘Feed-in-Tariff’ program is only available in certain countries and areas whereby your local utility pays you monthly revenue based on the energy your solar panels produce at a specific electricity rate.
(See Example Below)

b) Net-Metering — The net-metering program is what most of the world runs on when it comes to solar energy, and it is the idea that we can reduce or eliminate our electricity costs based on the number of panels we install on our property. Generally, the cost to pay of the system is less than your monthly electricity costs so you are never at a loss. Any amount of excess energy produced can either be credited towards month’s that do not receive a lot of sunlight, or your local utility can also pay you based on that excess energy.

c) Off-Grid — For property owners who are in the wilderness or far from their local utility company such as a cottage, are given the option to install solar panels on their property to fuel their home while being completely disconnected from the grid. Normally a battery back-up system is installed for energy storage.

d) Community Solar — The community solar program requires the largest investment and legal authority when it comes to powering a whole city or region. The reason for this is because if we are too reduce electricity costs through solar energy, local utilities will need to remain as a middle man and the property owner will still be connected to the grid but at a lesser electricity rate. The benefits of this is we will still gain the benefits of solar energy, and we do not have to go through the objections from those who are still skeptical towards solar energy.

2) Do Solar Panels Increase the Value of My Property?

There’s a lot of controversy when it comes to the question “do solar panels actually increase the value of my property?”. Some will say no, but based on my experience and having been a part of selling properties with solar panels the majority agree that it does. Here’s why…

Depending on the solar program your property is under will greatly determine how much it will go up in value, but generally we have seen a trend of properties going up by any where between 5–25% depending on the location, business, energy consumption and the current market value.

Some realtors will argue that this isn’t the case, but the only objection I have heard as to why properties with solar panels are not being sold for a higher value is because “they don’t like the way it looks”. If the real estate agent can persuade the new home buyer as to how the solar panels can directly benefit them, I can guarantee they will start to change their perspective. The problem is some real estate agents are trying to sell a property with solar panels, with a negative perspective of it which reduces his ability to educate his clients.

But my only response to why “they don’t like the way it looks” is that unless you are using your roof for something else, it really isn’t interfering with anything related to your property except providing you positive benefits. To be honest I think it personally increases the aesthetic value of a property considering how it portrays a message of being “environmentally friendly”.

At the end of the day, you will need to go through an appraiser to evaluate your properties new appraised value to determine how much the property has increased from installing solar panels. From my business experience there has always been a positive return on investment from investing in solar.

3) Do Solar Panels Provide Any Financial Benefits or Incentives?

All the additional financial benefits and government incentives will greatly depend on what your government is offering. Here’s an example…

Here in Ontario (Canada) the Government is offering rebates for anyone who decides to invest in solar by offering both tax refunds as well as rebates which will depend on how much you’ve invested. There’s a lot of small financial benefits for being energy friendly, but this is something you will need to research yourself depending on where you live.

4) How Does Solar Energy Change My Energy Needs?

The beauty about investing in solar energy is that you are guaranteed to be locked in within a 20-year term on average depending on what your government is offering. What is amazing about this is even with the constant fluctuation and increase in electricity rates, you are guaranteed a fixed rate depending on when you decided to install your solar panels. An example is the Ontario microFIT program that was offering an electricity rate of $0.288/kWh for which you were locked in a 20-year term. Now if you choose to go off-grid, you will never have to worry about fluctuating electricity rates assuming your solar panels run as smoothly as expected.

5) How Does Solar Energy Affect the Environment?

Also, a very controversial topic but generally the whole idea behind investing in solar technology, and the reason Universities and governments are backing up the promotion of solar energy, is because it helps our environment and economy. Now this is not too say solar panels don’t cause pollution, because generally the chemicals used to make solar panels can be quite harmful, but we are moving in the right direction, and we are working towards manufacturing solar panels with less harmful materials while increasing the efficiency of it.

Another problem lies in the battery systems which we use to store excess solar energy. If we expect to go off-grid or invest in community solar we will require a lot of battery systems. And the problem with battery systems is how much fossil fuels are used to manufacture them. Sure, there are less harmful battery systems available in the market but are they as efficient? We are moving in the right direction, but it will take a number of years before we can 100% rely on solar energy as a source of clean energy without any traces of harmful by-products.

6) How Does Solar Energy Compare to Wind Energy or Nuclear Energy?

Both wind energy and nuclear energy are amazing ways of producing energy, but they too have their own disadvantages.

• Wind Energy: Wind energy is normally compared to that of solar, but lacks in it’s ability to produce consistent energy.

Advantages: Wind energy is very useful for areas that are not exposed to a lot of sunlight but are exposed to huge winds. While windmills are relatively cheap, they also offer the lowest amount of pollution compared to any renewable energy source.

Disadvantages: Wind energy can be a very useful form of method to generate electricity, but is it really that reliable? The issue with wind energy is how inconsistent it is compared to solar or nuclear, where we get a more consistent, and reliable flow.

In a small scale, wind mills are not very useful considering how much more energy you need, plus how important the location is because if there is any blockage or obstacles this could also inhibit the amount of electricity produced.

• Nuclear Energy: If we look at nuclear energy, we can conclude that it is the biggest competition towards solar because of how cheap, and energy friendly it is.

Advantages: With low operation costs and how little it takes to maintain nuclear energy, the only expensive part that comes into play is when we are actually building a nuclear power planet. Lasting anywhere from 50–60 years, we can provide a consistent flow of energy no matter the weather conditions, or time of day.

Disadvantages: The disadvantages that start to appear is when we begin talking about how uranium “the bread-and-butter” of nuclear power plants, can be quite harmful. The actual process of refining uranium can be detrimental to our environment due to its radioactivity. Also disposing of uranium can also be environmentally harmful as well. Now although uranium is quite cheap, there will come a point that uranium will become a scarce resource and if we compare it to that of the sun which is likely to last for billions of years, it is unsure as to how long nuclear power plants will last in the long run unless we start to utilize other radioactive elements.

7) How Does Solar Panels Affect Our Economy?

The solar energy industry is the largest and fastest growing renewable energy sector in the world, and is completely changing the economy for some countries. Not only has the solar industry provided 10’s of 1000’s of jobs, but because solar energy is so convenient since everyone is exposed to it everyday this reduces the affects of transporting, mining, and utilizing inefficient sources of energy such as oil and fossil fuel. Not only that but with the amount of damage fossil fuels cause to our planet it can be very expensive to fix these problems directly.

The one amazing part about solar that is really affecting our economy in a positive way is how much safer, less expensive, and lucrative it is compared to many other forms of non-renewable and renewable methods.

Conclusion:

Although I could go into more detail with each of these 7 points, if you truly would like to know more about the solar industry, and how it can help benefit you. Click here and book a call with me. and I would love to answer any questions you may have.

Sachin Kaushal

(Co-Founder of ProFusion Solar)