Solar Energy Cost - Ways to Reduce the Cost of Your Solar Energy Project

When the whole concept of harnessing the heat and light from the sun for the purposes of generating solar energy was born, it was treated more as an idealistic, overly costly, and uncertain concept. It was relegated as a fad that was promoted by bleeding heart liberals set on saving the global environment and the solar energy cost was considered to be a luxury and a major deterrent for people who didn't have the budget for it. Suffice it to say, that is no longer the case and the need to employ renewable and sustainable energy sources is now a key issue in the global society.
Initially, building and installing a solar energy system can be costly. Depending on the size of the home, you could be looking at an outlay of $25,000 in solar energy costs or more. Some of these costs can be offset in the long run based on incentives that the federal government and local utility companies are now offering. Just remember that once the initial investment has been recovered, it is literally cost-free to use the sun as an energy source for generating your home's electricity.
The bottom line is that installing and using a solar power system to generate electricity for your home or business accomplishes three things where solar power cost factors are concerned:

• It saves you money in the long run
• It enables you to stop relying on your utility company
• It is beneficial to the environment

Additionally, the cost of using a solar energy system continues to decline as the demand for these systems continues to grow. Advanced and innovative technologies have also been a factor where the declining cost is concerned. Another cost saving issue that needs to be considered is the concept known as "net metering" which is the building of a credit on your electric bill based on producing more energy than what you use. This greatly reduces solar energy cost as well. Regardless of cost and savings factors, installing a solar energy system could be one of the wisest decisions that you ever make.
Solar energy cost factors cease to be a deterrent when you consider the fact that you will not have to rely on your utility company as much in the future. In the long run, that solar energy system is going to save you more money than you spent on building it and installing it, so keep that in mind. When you combine that with how the environment benefits from less fossil fuel emissions, it just makes good sense to pursue this if your budget will allow it.
Here's a formula for arriving at an estimate of solar energy cost factors. If you divide the number of kilowatt hours (KWH) on your electric bills by 30, the average number of days in a month, this will give you an idea of your daily usage. Take this daily KWH usage factor and divide that by the number of hours of full sun that you receive per day (arbitrary of course). Multiply that figure by a factor of 1.15. This will help you estimate the number of watts that a solar panel needs to generate in order to supply you with the amount of electricity that you have been used to using

Josh Howard is a Going Green enthusiast. For more great tips and advice on solar energy cost, visit http://www.GoingGreenDIY.com