January, the first month of the year, is a time for looking ahead with intention. But as the month goes on, life gets in the way and we can lose momentum. Luckily, here at Ipsun, we think that changing your energy can move you forward on many of your goals. Here are five ways going solar connects to your biggest New Years Resolutions.
1. Home improvement
Working on your home: It can feel like a never-ending labor, and can be one of the major sources of satisfaction that comes with home ownership. But what’s the next project? Something that boosts resale value, or an enhancement that you and your family can enjoy right away? Something aesthetic, or a substantial investment in your home’s structure?
Solar can be both, and more. Today’s solar panel systems not only boast the best on-average efficiency ever, and lowest prices before incentives like tax credits, they also feature excellent looks like all-black panel and clean, polished skirting.
Independent reports show that solar lifts home value and can shorten resale timeframe.
And by paying for itself in a matter of 11 to 15 years in the Metro DC region, according to our estimates, and thereafter continuing to provide energy for a warrantied life of 25 years and a useful life of over 40 years, photovoltaic solar panels are the rooftop improvement that keeps on giving. Why not make 2020 the year that the space on top of your home starts earning its keep?
2. Backup power in unexpected outages
It’s no fun when it happens. A summer thundershower, or a winter weather situation, or a random snafu like a grid congestion issue or even a blackout from human error, strikes and out go the lights.
Maybe you thought of getting a generator ages ago, but there’s the racket and exhaust smell it would make, enough to bother the neighbors, and the ongoing cost of fuel and upkeep.
Resolve to choose the sustainable solution for weathering a blackout: solar plus storage. Ipsun has installed dozens of Tesla Powerwalls in 2019 alone, for customers that are choosing backup electric systems for all kinds of reasons. Whether seeking perpetual power for chilling refrigerated medications, or running fans for keeping seniors or infants in your family members comfortably cool, or allowing your solar to charge your electric car in the midst of an outage, solar plus storage can be beneficial beyond what’s quantifiable in dollars and cents.
Warrantied for 10 years and with no moving parts, Tesla Powerwall takes your surplus solar energy produced during the day and saves it for later, such as an outage. It even allows you to keep your solar producing during a blackout, for a potentially indefinite way of powering your essentials in an extended outage.
3. Go green with sustainable energy
2020 is going to be a huge year for new opportunities to get into the movement for sustainable lifestyles.
We’re seeing the proliferation of meatless sandwiches in restaurants, stores that help burger fans reduce their environmental impact, significantly more options for electric vehicles (tip for Virginians: you may need to visit dealers in Maryland to find the new EV you’re looking for, where fuel efficiency standards are in place) and more tasty beers packaged in lightweight and easy-to-recycle cans, saving on shipping costs by economizing fuel.
Even as all these paths open to live more sustainably, going solar continues to be one of the best ways homeowners can advance sustainability. Here’s a real snapshot of one of our customers solar energy data from their app, showing how in less than a year of operation their system has already cut as much carbon as 94 trees.
4. Saving Money
Money-saving resolutions are popular year after year. Brewing coffee at home or in the office is a classic! So what about brewing up your own electricity? It works just about the same way – think of how your kitchen coffee maker has paid for itself, versus having to buy coffee by the cup. Rooftop solar panels are like your countertop coffee machine. But with solar energy, the “beans” come down from the sky every day for free.
The sooner you start, the more times over your solar system will ultimately pay you back for your investment. We can’t help you with baking your own pizzas or cutting your own hair, but we bet you’ll like the results of creating your own energy to reduce your utility bill in 2020!
5. Building a stronger community
Are you working on choosing local businesses more often this year? By going solar, you can move your energy dollars away from the big monopoly utility and toward energy that helps make air cleaner in your community while supporting jobs near you.
As more buildings across the Metro DC area get retrofitted with solar, we’ll all be producing more of our power closer to where it’s consumed. Instead of relying only on large, dirty power stations, we’ll be seeing clean, renewable solar energy around our neighborhoods and commercial areas, and in the long-run it will help relieve congestion on our energy infrastructure and build a more secure electric system.
We hope you’ll consider going solar as a strategy to help you reach more than one of your 2020 New Years Resolutions and spread the word to encourage others to enjoy the benefits of owning your energy.
