Summary
The clip discusses the analogy of owning a home to owning solar panels, where paying for electricity is like paying rent and owning solar panels is like having a mortgage. Financing solar panels is an investment in future savings and ownership of energy, and it is a practical investment that adds value to one’s property. The clips also highlights how solar energy has become more mainstream and accessible through low-interest loans and reamortization, and investing in solar energy benefits the local community, job growth, and the environment.
I actually think one of the things that you taught me early on when I first came to work at Solar States was kind of comparing solar to owning a home. For a long time you’re paying rent, just flushing money down the toilet – that’s like paying your electric bill, just giving that money away to the utility.
Then you transition to a mortgage, you’re paying the same, maybe even paying a little bit more than what your rent was, but you’re building equity, you’re investing in the future. And that’s the same with the solar if you’re financing it you’re kind of putting that money down towards the future savings, the future ownership of your energy.
And I think something that’s funny about that is we don’t think that we have a contract with the utility, but in a kind of weird way we do. It’s not like we’re signing up for 20 years, but we’re locked in for 20 years. We’re not gonna stop having electricity, hopefully. And one of the things that I always thought was a really powerful way to look at it was take your average monthly bill and do the math – times that by 12 months a year, times that by eight years living in the home, see the tens of thousands of dollars that homeowners will spend. And I think, actually you taught me that Thea.
Well, thank you Jared. In your assessment that when we look at things differently and we actually realize how much we’re paying and realize that we could have been investing that money. You know solar has come a long way. You were chat, I know we’ve chatted briefly outside a podcast about how PPAs and Leases, they were a great option for a lot of people at a time, and it allowed solar to become a lot more mainstream in the residential sphere.
And then banks were then trusting the system and trusting that filler is being paid for and is a safe investment for them and it’s a low risk investment. And then they started offering really low interest loans with no money down. And what’s so cool about it is that you can reamortize these loans to take in the Federal Tax Credit, bringing your monthly bills to be about the same, maybe a little more or even less than your current electric bill.
Solar’s not a luxurious expense for the greenies, right? It’s for the practical investor who instead of just paying a monthly expense without any return or any end in sight, you’re switching that and investing it diverting into a monthly fixed investment that has an end and in addition adding value to your property.
It’s investing in your local community and local job growth and clean energy. It’s truly one of the few examples in this world, that’s a win-win, win for everyone and makes environmental, social, and economic success.
Solar and Home Value – Full Report
“A multi-institutional research team of scientists led by Berkeley Lab, in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, universities, and appraisers found that home buyers consistently have been willing to pay more for homes with host-owned solar photovoltaic (PV) energy systems . The team analyzed almost 22,000 sales of homes, almost 4,000 of which contained PV systems in eight states from 1999 to 2013—producing the most authoritative estimates to date of price premiums for U.S. homes with PV systems.”
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About Solar States
Solar States is a solar installer and educator based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We are a certified B-Corp and Best for the World Nominee in both 2018 and 2019. We can install solar on any roof – residential or commercial – in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Maryland. If you have any questions about a transition to a sustainable energy system for your property, we can answer them.
Founded with a dual mission to install solar and educate the next generation.
