Hey everyone, this is David again with more information on how we can all become more sustainable by taking advantage of solar energy. This time I wanted to provide more specifics on exactly how much a solar system would cost for your home and actual numerical benefits that you can see. Every state has different laws on incentives, but here in Hawaii, we have great benefits for homeowners.
So as I said last time, the cost of an actual PV system will vary based on how much energy you are trying to offset, the size of your house, how many people live there, and how energy efficient those members are. In general though, I think I safe rough estimate for a PV system would run about $35,000. I know, this seems crazy and completely unaffordable, but wait! There are many benefits to offset this. First, for single-family homes, you can receive $5,000 back via a state of Hawaii tax credit. The federal government also provides incentive, i.e. an additional $10,500 in federal tax credit. This amount is 30% of our estimated cost of $35,000 for the system. This leaves us with a net cost $19,500. There is also something called a feed-in Tariff. I'm a little confused on this one myself, but from what I gather, your energy provider (eg. HELCO) pays you for the solar energy your system is producing. I don't know exact numbers on this, but this will subtract form the cost even more. Lets now also estimate that the average electricity bill is $120/mo. With a system this size, we can assume an electricity bill will go down from $120/mo to roughly $22/mo, a savings of $100/mo and $1200/yr.
This is just one example of a "typical" house. Hopefully this helped make the idea a little more real. Also, check out this link for more info.
http://solarpowerrocks.com/hawaii/
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