Solar

Why Go Solar?

Going solar is one of the key steps to a net zero home. After reducing your energy use through energy efficiency work and switching to renewable heating, solar can provide 100% of your home’s energy. Did you know all of our fuel sources at some point got their energy from the sun? This includes fossil fuels, which are formed underground over a long period of time from organic matter such as prehistoric plants and animals. Unlike the burning of fossil fuels for home energy, energy production from solar panels produces no air pollutants or carbon dioxide.

Solar used to be very expensive and only a small amount of people were able to participate in this kind of energy. Now there are different ways to go solar that work even for renters. While most people think of photovoltaic cells that are mounted onto homes, there are actually options that are more affordable and available to renters! This accessibility and variability of solar energy makes it a financially feasible renewable energy choice for many residents.

To see how much solar energy is being produced and consumed by the PowerHouse, visit our monitoring system dashboard. For this off-grid system, production is regulated so that when the batteries are full, the panels produce just enough to cover consumption. This is why it may look like the PowerHouse panels aren’t producing much even on sunny days!

The Magic of Solar

The main components of a solar cells are the solar panels, a meter and an inverter. Each solar panel is comprised of a positive layer and a negative layer of semiconductors. When sunlight hits the solar panel, it knocks electrons loose from the atoms of the semiconductor material. An electric circuit provides a path for the electrons, creating direct current (DC) power. This form of power cannot be directly used for home energy, so the inverter makes the DC power alternating current (AC) power. This AC power is used for electricity, and the meter tracks energy use and demand.

Solar cells are also sometimes called photovoltaic cells, or PV cells for short. Photovoltaics is the conversion of electricity from light, the function of a solar cell. Another term you may have heard is solar thermal. Unlike solar electric which converts the sun’s energy directly into electricity, solar thermal technology uses the heat from the sun. This heat energy is usually used for heating homes. However, solar thermal is not widely used in our region because it requires a significant amount of direct year-round sunlight for this to be an effective heating method in all four seasons. Generally, solar thermal is much more common in the southwest United States.

This video from the U.S. Department of Energy provides a good overview of solar technology and its benefits.

three Ways to Go Solar!

This video from our partners at Smart Energy Choices presents an overview to the three main ways to go solar in New York State. More info on each option is provided below.

1. Installing Solar Panels on Your Property
This is often what first comes to mind when we think about residential solar power. Solar panels can be mounted on your roof or on a free standing structure.

Even homes in regions that have their share of clouds, such as ours, can get 100% of their electricity from solar panels because of the connection between their system and the electrical grid. When a home’s solar panels produce more power than the household needs, this extra power is sent into the electrical grid. This extra power is registered by your meter, and is credited to your account. The utilities then bank those credits for you, so that they can be used when your solar panels do not meet your immediate demand, for instance, in the evening or on cloudy days.

This system of banking extra solar production and drawing it down later on is called net metering, and is how a home in this part of the country can rely solely on solar energy.

If you install solar on your home, its value may increase. Studies show that installing solar panels may increase property value by 3-4%.

Community Solar: Purchase & Subscription Models

Even if you are unable or prefer not to install photovoltaic solar on your property, or are a renter, you can still power your home with solar energy. Perhaps you’ve heard of community solar, which consists of a company installing a large quantity of solar panels in a field to be used remotely. There are two ways that you can access the power produced by these solar panels: either by purchasing panels on that solar farm, or by subscribing to a farm and paying a monthly fee.

2. Community Solar Purchase

This form of community solar involves purchasing a set of solar panels on an offsite community solar farm. This means you don’t have to install solar panels on your property, but you still get the benefits of reducing your home’s carbon footprint and electricity bill. Your solar panels on the solar farm produce energy, which will be recorded by a meter on the farm, and will be credited to your account just like if they had been on your roof or property. This option can work for renters or homeowners whose property may be too shaded.

3. Community Subscription Solar

In contrast to purchasing a solar array on a community solar farm, Subscription solar involves entering into an agreement with a community solar farm in which you pay a monthly subscription fee and receive a proportional credit on your existing utility bill. This is an attractive option for many, including renters and people with limited income, as there is no up-front cost, and all local Subscription Solar farms offer a discount.

There are generally only three major steps in going solar through a community solar subscription:

1. You subscribe to the solar farm

2. You get credits on your existing utility bill

3. You pay the community solar farm a separate bill, usually five or ten percent less than the value of your credits.

There are many community solar purchase and subscription projects for utility service areas throughout New York that have been built in the last few years. In the image below, each sun symbol represents a community solar site:

Which Option is Best for You?

See the table below for a side-by-side comparison of each of these three solar energy options:

What are the next steps for solar?

Once you’ve figured out which option makes sense for you, we encourage you to get quotes from a variety of local contractors or offerings. The Get Your GreenBack website has a list of local contractors, community solar projects, and applicable incentives.

The process of going solar may seem a bit daunting at first. If you have any additional questions or would like free support, you can get in touch with an Energy Navigator or staff Energy Advisor.

Don’t Forget about that Energy Audit!

Of course, we also recommend getting an energy audit to talk to a professional about how to make your home more energy efficient. This will reduce your household’s energy demand, and may impact the size of the solar system that is best for your electricity needs. Learn more about audits at the Air Leaks exhibit and page.