This question is best answered by asking a series of questions.  How large is your electric bill? Have you done everything possible to make your home efficient?  Solar power is one of the most expensive measures to reduce an inefficient business or home electric bill.  The short answer is, solar is right for you and will give you the absolute best return, if you have made your home or business as efficient as possible and you are at a point where a smaller economical system can be installed.  Otherwise, you are wasting your money.  See question and answers on “Can I eliminate my electric bill?”

The short answer is probably not.  A planned or strategic approach will be the best way to reduce your utility bill.  I recommend a comprehensive approach.  Often you can cut your bill by 50% or more for under $500.00, just by understanding where your power is going.  Solar will not fix high utility bills without spending a lot of money.  See “Can I eliminate my electric bill?”

Planning and sizing your new solar PV system is very important.  If you have a high utility bill and a solar rebate or tax incentive is going to expire, I recommend a comprehensive energy analysis.  Figure out a game plan, what will my optimum solar PV system size be once I do all the efficiency work that must be done that will be much less costly than installing a larger solar PV system?  You will be very surprised that what you actually will need is half or less of what your present bill is.  I explain that it is my ultimate goal to help all my customers reach net zero over time.  If you have a plan, you can do it.  (See the Johnston residence).  It is actually not that difficult.  See “Can I eliminate my electric bill?” for an in-depth explanation.  See Which system is best for me? to determine whether ground mount or roof mount is best for you.

If you are not in a hurry to do a solar PV system (due to a solar incentive deadline or a tax deferment issue), I recommend to do all your efficiency work first.  See examples of several cases in “examples of making my home efficient first”.

I have spoken to hundreds of people during my 35+ years of doing solar work who were sold oversized solar PV systems when they really needed to spend the money on repairing and updating their homes, appliances, etc.  Ultimately, they had to upgrade their equipment and remodel their homes.  Their solar PV systems are over producing and the utility only pays 3-4¢ per KWH.  This was a big waste of solar PV investment.  We have helped a lot of people pare down their system to half and sell off panels to buy new appliances, AC systems, etc. especially when re-roofing.  (see roof mount versus ground mount in these questions and answers).

Can my home or business be “net zero” electrically?  What about eliminating the gas and water bills, too?  The short answer is “yes”! 
            Isn’t this going to be very expensive?  You may have to take out a loan, but you can pay for it with what you are paying on your current electric, gas and water bills and have a positive cash flow.  How is this possible?  Normally, unless you have a really old and inefficient house, we can find a solution for you.  Even if the house is old and inefficient, there may still be a solution.
            The recommended first steps are to make your home more efficient, both the building envelope and the equipment in it.  It is important to come up with a plan.  It is far less expensive to replace inefficient equipment and improve your building envelope than  it is to try to affect it with solar electric power.  We call this “choosing the path of creating smart electrons™.  Ultimately this path will create a much smaller requirement for a leaner solar electric system.  A very important point to keep in mind is solar production for San Diego County and Coastal Southern California is five hours a day on average; it is much less in northern latitudes and heavy fog areas.  Energy efficiency pays you back 24/7 for an efficient building envelope and 24/7 whenever your refrigerator, furnace or AC unit is running.
            The plan:  Do you have a deadline ticking on a solar rebate or federal rebate?  If the answer is yes, then don’t panic or get strong-armed into buying an oversized solar PV system.  Take a little time and figure out where your power is going.  Make a list of all your appliances.  Answer a few simple questions.  Are the appliances energy star?  The typical big consumers are refrigerator, dishwasher, washer, pool, Jacuzzi.  How often do you use the dishwasher?  Not often?  Don’t replace it.  Focus on the high use equipment first.  If you use your furnace a lot or air condition a lot and your home is cold and drafty in the winter and hot and uncomfortable in the summer, windows, weatherizing and insulation come first.  An infrared scan and a pressure test will tell you where the problem is.  There are HERS raters and contractors that specialize in envelope analysis.  When the envelope is figured out, you also need to take a hard look at how does my passive heating and cooling work?  Do you have exposed south facing windows?  Do you have south, east or west facing skylights or a large exposed wall? … a dark roof or unvented attic?  The simple principle of summer shade and winter sun will cut your air conditioning and heating bills by 50% when combined with a tight building envelope.  Your plan should include patio covers, covering skylights with sun block, green shade strategically placed to not affect your future solar electric production.  Exploring alternative heating and cooling strategies, moving toward net zero.  If you want to move toward net zero and go all electric, a solar thermal system for domestic hot water (a tanked system with storage capacity) is a really great idea, with a tankless electric backup (I recommend Seisco).  We are a distributor for an excellent solar thermal company, SolarRoofs.com.  Check out their web site; they have do-it-yourself kits also.  For solar space heating, a solar thermal system that is 25 to 30% larger with your improved envelope and passive solar with an electric tankless for backup for really cold periods will do the trick.  This will eliminate natural gas or propane.  Unless you are in Northern Arizona or Colorado, you won’t need a lot more solar thermal 80% of the year.  If you have warm winter days and cold nights and hot summer days and cool 65°F or less nights like coastal California, mountain areas of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico or Nevada, consider compressorless air conditioning.  See the SilentAire™ Summer Cooling (cut your summer cooling costs by 80 to 90%) and Winter Warming System.  See the Johnston Residence You-Tube video and give us a call for a consultation.  This system works all over the world wherever the humidity is less than 35% and your summer temperatures cool down at night.  If you have mild winters with warm days like most of the desert areas of the southwest and cold nights, our SilentAire with winter warming will cut your gas heating by 50% or reduce your solar thermal, if you are all electric, net zero.  How does this work?  The short explanation is you strategically and properly pressure ventilate your home during warm 70°F plus days to 75°F during the day.  Your improved building envelope retains this warming influence like a flywheel overnight.  The ventilation reduces indoor pollution and germs also increasing clean fresh air promoting better health and a cleaner indoor environment.  We have systems in Iraq, Mexico, Canada and across the Southwestern U.S.
            Another very effective strategy for daytime space heating in cold climates is solar hot air panels, see SolarAire™.  As long as you have sunny days even with below freezing temps we can warm your home to 70°F or higher during the daytime.
            If you cook with a magnetic glass top range and ceramic oven, you have no need for natural gas.  You can size your solar PV system appropriately.  You have eliminated your gas and electric bill.
            If you live in a small town on a 1/3 acre or sometimes ½ acre, you can drill a well and get off city water.  This will get you to a point where you can size your solar PV system appropriately and work toward your net zero plan.  If you want to help your solar PV system pay off even better, invest in an electric or hybrid electric plug-in vehicle with extra batteries.  Sized properly, you can drive most of the time on EV-mode, off your solar PV system power.   See link to PlugInConversions.com.  This company adds extra batteries to Hybrids, greatly extending their range.
            Now we have gone through the whole plan for net zero. See energy efficiency page for more information or give us a call for a free consultation.  If you are out of our area, we offer consulting services and training to install your own system.  We can work with local contractors, nationally and internationally.  If you are downsizing or wish to purchase or explore living in a modular or manufactured home, see our GreenRibbon™ line of net zero manufactured and modular homes offered by Hallmark Southwest.  See HallmarkSouthwest.com.
            If you are interested in becoming a dealer or distributor for our unique line of products, contact us today.  We believe in creating local jobs and manufacturing.  Talk to us about licensing opportunities.

Net zero is defined as not consuming more power than you produce yourself from your own power production system.  Whatever that may be… solar PV, wind, micro hydro, geothermal… whatever is your best resource.

If you have a very high utility bill because you over air condition or over heat, because you have a black or dark roof, south facing or west facing windows or other dysfunctional aspect of your home, and that is the cause of your high utility bill, then yes you do have to fix your house first.  (See efficiency section on alternative air conditioning questions).

This is one of the most often asked questions to me over the years.  I will give you the short, then the more in-depth answer.  Roof mount is generally the cheapest initial installation for solar if the roof orientation is correct, and if it is done properly.  This is where the problems begin.  I do not recommend installing a solar PV system on a roof that is over 7 or 8 years old.  I reason the roof should last the life of the PV system, which should be at least 20-25 years.  I have systems 35 years old now.  I prefer if at all possible, ground mount high efficiency systems, passive trackers.  If this is not practical, ground mount rack systems are next in line.  If this is not practical, then roof mount systems.  The first cost of roof mount systems is cheaper but if you count the second cost of pulling the modules and reroofing, it is much more expensive.  If you are planning on keeping your home, which many people now are, after the real estate crash, do not skimp on doing the job right.  Install the smallest roof top system possible to meet your needs and have a licensed and bonded roofer do the work to the roofing manufacturer’s specifications.  The modules must have at least 5” clearance to the roof to breathe properly.  It is very important to keep your roof warranty intact.  Roofs are like living, breathing creatures that die prematurely if they are not properly vented and if heat is trapped below the modules.  Do not have the solar contractor do the roofing work.  Solar contractors have a horrible track record at this.  Take a look at some of the sad problems that some of our customers have had with solar contractors.  See solar repair questions and customer case histories.

Absolutely not.  The best investment is a high quality module that has a long warranty and a long history of customer service.  I like Day4Energy from Canada.  They make a poly-crystalline module that performs like a cross between an amphorous and mono crystalline module, providing more overall power in a solar day.  I like Solar World, they have a very good module and they are made in California.  I like Sharp, they have a very good module.  I like Kyocera; they make good modules and have very good customer care.  I like BP and I have used their modules.  I have installed UniSolar laminates and standard modules and they are good when properly installed.  I recommend staying away from the Chinese modules; they do not have enough history.  Some of the other new modules I am reserving judgement on until they have some installed history behind them.

If you are concerned about rolling blackouts or brownouts, then you should first check and see if you are part of a critical branch power system, an electric distribution circuit that also powers a hospital, school or governmental offices.  These power circuits are NOT shut off during rolling blackouts.  You can find out if you are on one of these designated circuits by calling your local utility.  This will not keep your power on in the case of a complete emergency blackout, but it covers 98% of the time.  If you are on a critical circuit, chances are your power won’t be out long.
            For everyone else in the city, or if you want to be independent, just in case, my recommendation is have enough batteries to run your refrigerator and a microwave, some lights and your computer.  If you want to live normally, then you have to get a generator and a large enough one with a large enough fuel supply - natural gas or propane - to manage 8 hours to 24 hours.
            Case Study:  Back country farm.
            In the city, if you are on a critical grid, you probably do not need a battery backup.  If you are not on a critical grid, can you manage battery maintenance for a small amount of power versus a gasoline, propane or natural gas generator, which is a lot less work.  You should test a generator at least quarterly and you will have to use a gasoline preservative or go with bottled gas or propane.  If you are in the back country, you will probably want both batteries and a generator.
If you are in the back country, like I am, five miles back on a dirt road after the Cedar and Witch Creek fires, my power was out for three months.  For cases like this, I have 36 batteries and a 20 KW standby propane generator.  I have a lot of wells and refrigeration for crops on a 20 acre farm.  A power outage in the middle of harvest season with a half ton of fruit under refrigeration can be devastating financially, so I do not take chances.  The same goes for having water to fight fires.  We have to be self-sufficient.  Most of the fire departments are overwhelmed when we have wild fires; we hardly ever see them in the back country.
Battery maintenance:  Ask any off the gridder who has been living off the grid for 10 years or longer, batteries, especially lead acid, are not perfect.  They are dangerous, and can be unforgiving when you occasionally screw up and leave that pump on or a float or relay gets stuck and you arrive home after a trip or long day out at midnight and find the refrigerator and freezer contents thawed on the floor… oops.  I advise everyone if the grid comes close by, connect to it, minimize those batteries and net meter as much as you can.  Have enough batteries so you can last overnight in case of an emergency, so you can keep the peace with the neighbors but lower your work load and minimize those batteries.  If you have batteries, size your PV system and loads so you do all your work during the day (pumping, clothes washing, cooking), while floating your batteries and only draw down your batteries 20% at night with light loads such as lighting, computer, TV, small motors.  I pump during the day to a storage tank at the top of my property and gravity feed automatically in the early a.m. from 12-4 a.m. when the plants and trees absorb the water the best.  If you have minimal drawdown on your batteries, you will get 10-15 years out of them.  I like Rolls Batteries, unfortunately shipping is a big problem.  I have used DEKA, Crown and US Battery all with good results.  I equalize religiously every 6 months and check water levels monthly.  I like Outback Charge Controllers and I really like the new Midnite Solar Classic. It is going to take a little debugging to make it perfect, but I really like a lot of its features.  The PV learn is working great and the monitoring is very helpful.

Solar PV systems are pretty robust.  If you want complete hands-off no-attention on your system, have it monitored with the new Smart Meter.  There should be a way to set up an alarm system to send you an email if the PV system or the inverter is not producing properly or at all.  I am exploring this with some of the Smart Meter manufacturers now.  There are some low cost monitoring companies but this only makes sense if you have a large system, unless your solar company monitors at no charge for you, as part of your sales package.

I do not think I have a real secret.  I tell everyone that will listen, design your home or building to heat and cool itself as much as possible.  Solar PV is not a panacea.  It won’t solve all your problems.  In sunny climate zones, use it in combination with solar thermal for domestic hot water, solar thermal for space heating at night, solar hot air and other focused solar heating like the Zomeworks Sun Bender to focus heat on a rock wall, slab in a warehouse, barn, traumwall, etc.
            Steve and Holly Baer are long time friends and business associates. They have a lot of great low energy or no energy passive solar heating aids.  (see Zomeworks.com.)  CoolCell is one of their underutilized technologies.  Ground source heating, geothermal, is great in cold northern climates that do not have good solar insolation.  A really tight building envelope with some make up air is ideal.  I wanted to create a template for a net zero modular and manufactured home that is affordable so in 2007, in collaboration with Hallmark Southwest, a quality manufactured home company, and my HVAC partner, Barry Brooks, we created the Green Ribbon™ Manufactured Net Zero Home made by Hallmark Southwest.  I used Hallmark’s already very efficient platform and added all of our energy efficiency technologies that I had been using on my off-grid and on-grid customers in an affordable housing platform.  One of the key ingredients to our success is the addition of the SilentAire™ – see Johnston residence – this is an early generation system in a conventional application.  This home was net zero electrically when we did the home in 2003, even with the addition of a pool and development (trees and landscaping) of the property.  The home remains at or close to net zero (electrically and waterwise – they have a well) with all the comforts of life with six KW of tracking Zomeworks solar (36 modules on 3 trackers).
            The general contractor, subcontractors and the Johnstons all cooperated to fulfill our vision of an extremely efficient home in harmony with and harvesting nature to keep utility bills low.
            Can everyone duplicate what we have done at the Johnston residence and our netzero manufactured homes?  The short answer is yes.  We just have to figure out the path to the goal.  This requires that my team puts our forensic caps on and we dissect from A to Z where all the electricity, gas and water are going and see if we can add you to the growing club of Americans that can say they are net zero energy consumers.  Give us a call at Mark Snyder Electric to start on the road to eliminating your utility bills.