Who sells the most economical solar panel systems for homes in southern California?
Answer:
I would look to see if Citizenre is available in your area. The Citizenrē REnU program gives you the chance to adopt green energy in your home without having to make a huge investment.
Instead of making you spring for $25,000 or more in gear, a new company, Citizenrē, will loan you a complete rooftop solar power system, install it for free and sell you back the power it generates at a fixed rate below what your utility charges. The company makes money off your system from those monthly payments, augmented by federal tax credits and rebates.
Its a pretty cool deal - you get a complete solar system & the ability to lock in your electric rates, guaranteed, for as many as 25 years (maybe more), and help reduce global warming/greenhouse gases!
I'm looking into it for my own house.
when you are talking about economical panels you can be either be talking about panel efficiency or panel cost.
Some panels take up larger areas but cost less and some panels arel more efficent for the size of them but c.
st more.
When looking for a solar hot water system I would look for evacuated tube collectors as they work a lot better in winter times and even snow, these are very popular in Europe.
I would also look at warranty's for panels so they stay economical and warranty's for panels 25+ years are not uncommon.
This looks like a nice website: http://www.solarelectricalsystems.com/ht...
The company claims their residential solar units are economical and give help with your California rebate info.
I would check out the following site as well...looks like Home Depot is getting into the business as well!
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/10/...
I hope these links help.
Cheers!
http://www.nabcep.org/map.cfm?state=ca...
This is a list of installers that are NABCEP certified (one of the few nationwide certifications for PV and Solar water heating installers) in California. Like the best way to find any good deal, shop around. Call a bunch of people on this list and ask for price quotes and opinions. Going with a NABCEP certified installer insures that these people know what they're doing and won't cause your roof to leak. Also, you may want to look at Solar-thermal panels (they have a faster payback). Good luck in getting some RE on your roof.
The price of solar panel systems varies, and would depend on how far you are willing to go to order the panels, as well as the configuration you would choose.
However, you are probably concerned more with the final homeowner cost, and in this case the greatest consideration in California will be the State and Federal incentives. These incentives can reduce the cost of a system by half or nearly that, and should be your primary focus. You can find a list of efficiency incentives (including solar) at the DSIRE site (linked below) as well as the California Solar Site. I would imagine California is similar to my state of Oregon, and that you can find workshops and non-profits that will share great experience on the process and how best to save money.
Also, keep in mind that installing a solar system is fairly challenging for the average person. You need the skills of an electrician, plus the strength (and friends) to move the panels around on your roof. I believe CA does allow you to install your own system and get tax credits (Oregon does not), but please check. My recommendation would be that you contact a number of solar installation experts in your area and ask them for cost estimates, as well as recommendations on the various systems they offer. You can then check the systems online (see the Florida certification site, which looks at national systems and certifies them) and decide which you like best (and perhaps install yourself). Experts recommend several bids, as prices vary for installation as well as equipment. I have linked to one installer that looked very experienced, as well as pages that list elegible systems and installers.
According to the California site, "Small systems funded through California's Energy Renewables Program, through the end of 2006, have been averaging $7.00 / watt, after rebates.". This does not include benefits such as home resale value.
You will also want to consider your roof. If it is due for replacement, now would be a good time to do it, so you avoid the costs of temporarily removing the solar cells during the next repair. (Not a big issue in California, just make sure the roofer has dealt with this before and will not damage the system).
Finally, consider a solar water heater, either instead of or in addition to a PV system. Solar water heaters do not use solar panels, instead using the sun to collect the sun's heat and heat water (not store it in a battery). The process is very efficient, and typically the same kwh reduction as a PV system can be obtained for a much lower initial investment (and thus, you will make profit on the system much sooner). Incentives at the Federal and State level apply as well, and I would again suggest several bids from installers. One interesting bit is that this requires installation by a certified plumber, so some companies do either PV or solar water heaters, some do both.
Best of luck, this is really worth pursuing (a solar water system is going on my Oregon home in the near future - I would later add PV, but I have too many trees for effective solar array collection).
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