Jonathan Marsh joined Microsoft in 1997, in the years that the company developed from a major player to the dominant force in home computing. Working with a company like Microsoft, Jonathan Marsh was used to being on the leading edge of technology, but even he found it difficult to invest in solar power in the early years. Between inefficient solar panels and unreliable installers, Marsh's early encounters with the technology proved disappointing. With these early negative experiences, Jonathan was surprised when he came across a friend years later talking glowingly of a new solar installation.
Jonathan visited Horton Iris Farm outside of Sacramento, California, in 2006 where the Hortons had installed a solar installation with a capacity of more than 3 kilowatts and had nothing but good things to say about both the system itself and the company that installed it, California solar installer South Face Solar Power.
The company's founder, Coy Ware, worked directly with Jonathan to work around the difficulties of installing a grid-tied residential solar installation out in rural California. Finding ways to get the panels out to and around the site, Ware helped install a 47-panel solar installation on the hill out behind the Marshs' home. With that many panels, the family's home boasted an impressive maximum capacity of 7.6 kilowatts, more than enough to power many homes given the sunny climate.
The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency notes that California in particular offers substantial solar incentives that can help bring down the costs of these systems. Though the popular federal tax rebate program had yet to be passed at that point, the combined local, state and federal incentives were able to bring the payback period for the solar installation into the range of 4.5 years to 9 years. After the first month and a half of operation, in September and the latter half of August when production is lower than the peak months of summer, the system had easily fallen within that range, saving the family $519.75 in only 47 days and reaching a payback period of 8 years.
Jonathan noted that, the production of the solar installation aside, the payback period is bound to depend heavily on the rising costs of electricity in California. By 2006, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that California's residential electricity rates had reached a sizable 14.33 cents per kilowatt-hour, a more than one-third increase from 1999. By 2009, that number had grown to 14.74 cents per kilowatt-hour, up 3 percent after a small drop in 2008. Through July of 2011, however, the EIA reports that California's residential electricity rates had risen as high as 15.21 cents per kilowatt-hour, up more than 6 percent from 2006.
These rising rates put the success of Jonathan's first year producing solar power into even better perspective. By August of 2007, the installation had produced more than 13,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, well more than the average American household uses in a year, according to the EIA. Jonathan's energy needs were somewhat higher, still requiring roughly 3,360 kilowatt-hours costing $348, but the solar installation saved the family saved more than $3,200 in just one year. That resulted in a slightly longer payback period of 11.2 years, but Jonathan was hardly disappointed. With the standard warranty for solar installations lasting for at least 25 years, that amounts to more than a decade of free electricity equaling more than the average family's annual usage each year.
An East Sacramento Catholic high school recently received green energy updates that will make the school more efficient and teach students the importance of using renewable energy. ...
Sacramento solar installers could be busy in coming months, as the University of California Davis starts its new housing development. The school has joined with local business part ...
California has consistently led the nation over the past decade in its adoption of clean energy technologies. The Golden State ranked first in 2010 amongst all states in solar pane ...
With Governor Schwarzenegger's term coming to an end in California, its newly-elected governor, Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr. was sworn in this week. In his inaugural a ...
Subscribe
