Beyond Lower Bills: The Economics of Solar

by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08.22.07
 

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Anyone reading yesterday's post on the latest challenges to attempts to support the UK renewable energy market would be forgiven for feeling pessimistic. Nevertheless, there is still an increasing amount of attention being paid to renewable energies within the mainstream press. Back in May, Guardian columnist Ashley Seager did some interesting math to determine whether investing in solar power was a better option, purely financially speaking, than putting money in the bank. Now a rival British newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, is also looking at the numbers, and profiling some very happy owners of solar PV systems. While the Telegraph doesn’t specifically compare solar ownership to other investments, it does highlight some important benefits of solar arrays that go way beyond the reduction in heating bills:
 

“Martyn Williams has already made more than a paper profit after installing PV on the roof of his Victorian home in Hackney, east London, through PV Systems: ‘I sold it for the full asking price within three days of putting it on the market in 2004, partially because it stood out from the crowd and newspapers wanted to feature it as their property of the week. When we moved in four years before we needed to fit a new roof anyway, so it didn't add that much to the cost.’”

The article also points out the need for more joined-up thinking from Government in terms of making grants, and other incentives such as Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs), more consumer friendly. ::The Daily Telegraph::via SolarCentury::
 

This article originally published at:  http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/beyond_lower_bills_economics_of_solar.php

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