10 Reasons To Go Solar In North Carolina
So, you live in North Carolina and you’ve thought about going solar? But, have you actually put that much thought into it?
You might’ve seen them on your neighbor’s house, or on the large mansions you drive by to get to work and you wonder how they can afford to have them.
But, like you’ll explore later down the list, you might be surprised that there’s a cost-effective option for everyone!
Even though you’ve seen them, and maybe even your best friend has recommended them to you, there can still be things holding you back like-
- Do I get enough sun where I live?
- Can I afford this?
- Will it actually work?
While those are all very reasonable questions to ask, we’re here to tell you that you have nothing to worry about because the answer to all of those questions is, yes!
Lower Utility Bill Costs
This is something everyone wants to see. Maybe each month you get excited to see if you can get your utility bill a little bit lower than the last, which is totally understandable!
But if you decide you want to go solar in North Carolina, you can be guaranteed a lower bill.
When you invest in high-quality solar panels for your home, they’ll be much better at trapping the sunlight during the day and converting it into efficient solar energy. This means you won’t have to rely on your house’s electricity supply as much.
North Carolina Has Lots Of Sun
If you’re thinking about going solar in North Carolina, we’ve got some good news for you: North Carolina gets lots of sun.
The amount of PHS (Peak hours of sun) that North Carolina gets in a day is between 4.6-4.8. Solar panels need at least 4 hours of PHS to perform at their best, and North Carolina is definitely able to provide that.
Increase Your Home Value
“On average, solar panels raise a home’s value by 4.1% across the U.S., according to a new Zillow analysis of homes across the country— that’s a boost of $9,274 on a $226,300 home, according to the study.” An article from money.com states.
While some people might think about updating their kitchens, or putting a nicer coat of paint on the walls, others might look for other things when moving into a new home.
If you’ve been thinking about wanting to go solar in North Carolina, it can be a great thing to go ahead and add to your home, especially if you may move in the future.
As mentioned above, people like having a lower utility bill and if they come across a house that offers them that, they’ll pay a bit of a premium to get that.
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons people want to go solar is to reduce their carbon footprint. Since you’re not producing harmful emissions that conventional power can emit, you’re helping the environment right from your own home.
Solar panels produce clean energy that can be used for everything you would typically use, plus they help in other ways like reducing both water and air pollution.
“Today’s biomass-burning power plants actually produce more global warming CO2 than fossil fuel plants: 65 percent more CO2 per megawatt hour than modern coal plants and 285 percent more CO2 than natural gas combined cycle plants (which use both a gas and steam turbine together)” State of the Planet states in their article about Biomass.
If you’d like to read the rest of their article, you can find it here.
Options For Everyone
Even though going solar may be intimidating, it doesn’t have to be. While your neighbor may have just installed panels to cover their entire roof, it doesn’t mean you have to.
[Text Wrapping Break]Going for something that big might not be in your budget at the moment, but just putting on a couple of panels may be!
Though having just a few panels may not actually get rid of your entire electric bill, they’ll help and you’ll be able to see the benefits without going all-in at the start.
Most of the time, if you’re getting the same panels that you already have, it shouldn’t be an issue to add them on.
North Carolina Solar Incentives
What does this mean exactly?
While when you add things to your home that makes its value higher, that typically means paying more in property tax as well. If you go solar in North Carolina, that won’t happen.
You’re exempt from having your state property tax rise because of the value that solar panels add to your home, which is a huge win!
North Carolina also offers things like credit for extra electricity, and building permit rebates depending on where you live.
Before you go solar in North Carolina, be sure to search for all the incentives your state has to offer so you can get the most out of it.
“North Carolina is a leader in utility-sized solar farms and corporate sponsors like Apple building renewable energy sources of energy to power their data centers.” Clean Energy Authority has a list of all of the different solar incentives in your area. If you’d like to check them out you can find it here.
Solar Panels Are Built To Last
It can be intimidating when you see that people will typically pay off their solar panels in 8 years or less, but when you realize that they’re built to last up to 20-30 years, that number suddenly seems small.
Also, as mentioned above, if you’ve been wanting to go solar and you want to give it a shot, you can typically add on more panels later when you’re ready.
You Save A Lot Of Money In The Long Run
While the cost can be expensive upfront, in the long run, it won’t be. With electric bills on the rise each year, it’s a great time to invest in some solar panels for your home so you can start saving money as well.
While how much you save on your bill will depend on how much of your electric bill the panels will be covering, in some states people have shown to save as much as $45k on their electric bill fees over the course of 20 years.
While others have smaller savings of around $12k in 20 years, you’d still be saving $600 a year on your electrical bill.
The Price Of Solar Panels Is Going Down
There’s no better time than now to go out and get some solar panels for your home.
Since 2010, prices have dropped a significant 89% for the costs of solar panels! Panel prices are predicted to drop another 34% by 2030, but let’s not focus on that right now, that’s almost 10 years away.
Just seeing how much the price has dropped is a good sign. People are doing their best to start reducing their carbon footprint and trying to save money on utility bills as well. This is a great time for you to join in as well.
Here’s an example of how much panels cost per watt back in 2010 compared to what they cost now
No More Power Outages
Has your power ever gone out and you’re wandering around your home trying to find flashlights so you can see things?
You go over your mental checklist like-
- Don’t open the fridge
- Don’t run the water
- Don’t use all the flashlight battery
- Don’t let your phone die
We’ve all been there before, and even if you don’t plan on using solar power for your main source of power, it can be a great peace of mind when your power goes out and you have an alternate power source.
You won’t have to worry about how much battery your phone has left or the fact that you forgot to refill your water-bottle.
All of those things are now a worry of the past.
Conclusion
Are you convinced that you should go solar in North Carolina?
With everything mentioned above, you can see that there are many great benefits to adding solar panels to your home.
Getting high-quality solar panels aren’t just a purchase, they’re a great investment for you, the Earth, and your wallet.
If you’re interested in having solar panels installed in your home, or have any sort of questions about going solar you can contact us and we’ll be happy to help you out!
More Information
https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/solar-can-help-survive-power-outage
https://www.homeselfe.com/4-ways-solar-panels-help-lower-monthly-bills/