Green Living Library
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • The Sustainable Life Shop
    • 16 oz. Stainless Steel Insulated Drinking Cup
    • 4 Piece Silicone Bowl Covers
    • Silicone Storage Bags with Slide Closure
    • 10 piece set of bamboo handled toothbrushes with nylon bristles.
    • Dental Floss Holder with Compostable Dental Floss
    • 33 yards Eco-Friendly Dental Floss Refills
    • Stainless Steel Drinking Straws with Cleaning Brush
    • Plant Based Scrub Sponge 8 Pack
  • Green Living with a Kid
  • Lifestyle
    • All Natural Health
    • Books Worth Reading
    • Composting
    • Green Documentaries
    • Green Transportation
    • Green Landscaping
    • Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
  • Food
    • Organic Farming
    • Composting
    • Extra Resources
    • Food Storage and Preservation
    • Gardening >
      • Companion Planting
      • Seed Starting
      • Weed Control
    • Soil >
      • Soil Health
      • Soil Science
      • Soil Building
      • Soil Tests
  • Home Building
    • Adobe and Earthbag Building
    • Cob
    • Log
    • Rammed Earth
    • Straw Bales
    • Heating and Cooling >
      • Home Heating External Links
  • Frugal Living Library
  • Renewable Energy
    • Solar Power
  • About
  • Contact
  • Green Living Photo Gallery
  • Product
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • The Sustainable Life Shop
    • 16 oz. Stainless Steel Insulated Drinking Cup
    • 4 Piece Silicone Bowl Covers
    • Silicone Storage Bags with Slide Closure
    • 10 piece set of bamboo handled toothbrushes with nylon bristles.
    • Dental Floss Holder with Compostable Dental Floss
    • 33 yards Eco-Friendly Dental Floss Refills
    • Stainless Steel Drinking Straws with Cleaning Brush
    • Plant Based Scrub Sponge 8 Pack
  • Green Living with a Kid
  • Lifestyle
    • All Natural Health
    • Books Worth Reading
    • Composting
    • Green Documentaries
    • Green Transportation
    • Green Landscaping
    • Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
  • Food
    • Organic Farming
    • Composting
    • Extra Resources
    • Food Storage and Preservation
    • Gardening >
      • Companion Planting
      • Seed Starting
      • Weed Control
    • Soil >
      • Soil Health
      • Soil Science
      • Soil Building
      • Soil Tests
  • Home Building
    • Adobe and Earthbag Building
    • Cob
    • Log
    • Rammed Earth
    • Straw Bales
    • Heating and Cooling >
      • Home Heating External Links
  • Frugal Living Library
  • Renewable Energy
    • Solar Power
  • About
  • Contact
  • Green Living Photo Gallery
  • Product

​How soon do solar panels pay for themselves?

Picture
Well that depends….
As with most things in life this is dependent on your specific situation.  Factors like,
  • Location
  • Size of the system
  • Tax incentives
  • Net metering
  • Etc.
You also have to consider whether or not the system will be professionally installed or will you do most of it yourself.  If you install it yourself you can reduce the costs by half according to some estimates. You can figure out your payback time frame fairly simply using the following formula.
  

Cost of System ÷ Cost of your electricity locally ÷ How many kilowatt hours you use per year = Years till payback.

So for an example let's look at this with some numbers instead

$10,000 ÷ 12 cents kWh ÷ 10,000 kWh/year= 8.33 years.

That is just taking into account what you would save by not writing that check to the local electric company.  If you also live in a state that does net metering that means you can get paid by that electric company. While they will typically only pay you at the same rate that they buy the electricity at any little bit of income can reduce how long the panels take to pay for themselves.   

To learn more about solar energy and other green living topics check out other articles on the Green Living Library.       

Sources:
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy15osti/64746.pdf
https://www.wholesalesolar.com/solar-information/return-on-solar-investment#simple-solar-payback
https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/#/topic/7?agg=0,1&geo=g&endsec=vg&linechart=ELEC.PRICE.US-ALL.M~~ELEC.PRICE.US-COM.M~ELEC.PRICE.US-IND.M&columnchart=ELEC.PRICE.US-ALL.M~ELEC.PRICE.US-RES.M~ELEC.PRICE.US-COM.M~ELEC.PRICE.US-IND.M&map=ELEC.PRICE.US-ALL.M&freq=M&start=200101&end=201701&ctype=linechart&ltype=pin&rtype=s&maptype=0&rse=0&pin=


Further Reading

Click to set custom HTML
Click to set custom HTML
“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”
Photo used under Creative Commons from Walmart Corporate