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Solar: Using Sunshine to Heat & Power Our Homes

Solar energy has a variety of practical and cost-effective applications in today's homes:

• Solar pool heating systems heat pool water to extend the swimming season and eliminate pool heating costs.
• Solar hot water heaters can replace existing conventional water heaters and can easily be paired with radiant panel flooring, thereby reducing utility bills.
• Photovoltaic cells (or PV cells) are solar panels that have no moving parts, yet they convert sunlight directly into electricity to be used to satisfy all of a home's electricity needs.

• Solar energy is used more for heating swimming pools than for any other single use, with over 300,000 pools heated by solar in the U.S
• Solar pool heating equipment is so reliable that warranty coverage for the products far exceed that of automobiles and household appliances.
• Solar pool heating payback can be as low as two years and it can extend the swimming season by several weeks without additional cost. Many homeowners have regretted the purchase of a conventional pool heating system after receiving their first utility bill.

• The U.S. spends more than $13 billion-a-year on energy for home water heating. That is the equivalent of 11.4 barrels of oil per household, more than the amount of oil burned by a medium-sized automobile driven 12,000 miles.
• Water heating accounts for approximately one-fourth of the total energy used in a typical single-family home. An electric water heater is the single biggest energy user of all appliances in the home.
• Of all of the major types of water heating systems, solar energy systems offer the biggest potential savings to homeowners- with owners saving 85 percent on their utility bills over the costs of electric water heating.
• When a solar hot water heating system is included in the financing for a new home, the typical cost of the system ranges from $13 to $20 month and because the system is included in the home's mortgage, the homeowner can take advantage of a federal income tax deduction.
• At least nine states now have lenders which offer "energy mortgages".
• Of the over 1.5 million Americans who have invested in solar hot water systems for their homes and businesses, over 94% consider the investment a wise decision.

There are more than 10,000 homes in the United States that are now entirely powered by solar energy.

200,000 homes in the U.S. use some type of photovoltaic solar technology.

Building-integrated PV products such as solar roof shingles for homes and opaque glass PV facades are now available on the market. These aesthetically pleasing products replace conventional building materials while generating electricity, effectively reducing the cost of PV installation. This building integration market for these products is growing at 30% a year.

Designers have begun incorporating photovoltaics and passive solar into factory-built modular homes. For instance, a factory-built, solar home in Massachusetts was built for $35,000 less than it would have cost to build a conventional custom home and the homeowners pay a total of $100 for heating, cooling and electricity a year.

The cost of installing a typical off-grid PV system in a home ranges from $15,000 to $20,000 per kilowatt (lower when installed during initial house construction). Because the cost to extend electric power lines from the electric grid averages from $20,000 to $80,000 per mile, this cost savings alone can pay for the PV system, with the homeowner never again having to pay another electric bill.

Consumers Have a Choice

Another option many Americans now have available to them is something called "net metering", where electricity derived from renewable energy such as solar, can be sold back to the utility- any excess electricity produced by the homeowner that is not used can be sold to the utility company on the grid. In addition, many customers will soon have the choice of receiving electricity from their utility that was produced from a non-polluting source (such as solar) by paying a slightly higher price for the clean power. This is called "Green Pricing". Home solar systems are now even being offered by utilities themselves- giving the customer the option of having their own solar photovoltaic system or solar water heater installed on their home. Another choice people have available to them is a "wireless living" lifestyle, where they use solar energy to live completely independent in their homes and do not have to rely on the electric grid for power at all.