Is Residential Solar Power Financially Feasible?

The rumors about alternative energy tend to be more pervasive and better-understood than the facts about alternative energy – and its residential applications. Take residential solar power for instance. For whatever reason, there are rumors circulating that it takes more energy to build a solar panel than it will generate in its lifetime. This is plainly false. A solar panel will usually generate around twenty times the amount of energy over the span of its lifetime than it will take to build it.

Another common fallacious argument against solar power is that it isn't cost-effective – that either gas or diesel is far cheaper, both in the short and long run. This is far from true, too. While gas and diesel are less expensive in the short run (usually – but not always if you have to purchase a generator), residential solar power is far cheaper in the long run. While residential solar power only requires one initial, large investment – to purchase all of the panels, the battery block, and the control panel -- a generator will require you to make a large investment and then continue to invest more in gasoline or diesel whenever you use it again.

In addition to being more environmentally friendly, residential solar power has other perks over gas-powered alternatives. One advantage is that residential solar power uses no moving parts, unlike generators, which have dozens of moving parts. This means that you wont have to perform maintenance regularly; and you wont have to worry about semi-regular mechanic visits.

This means that residential solar power is not only better in the long run from a cost-benefit perspective, but from an environmentalist perspective – and from a time saving perspective – it also is superior, as it gives off no emissions and requires almost no maintenance at all.