Is Now The Right Time For Solar Power?

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If you live in Massachusetts, the answer is a resounding yes!

Due to the variety of incentives at both the state and national level for solar panels, there really has never been a more rewarding time to go green with solar panels. Almost all residential units will pay for themselves in about five years.

Currently the asking price on a 5 kilowatt solar panel system is around $25,000. This system will give off almost 6,000 kWh of electricity every twelve months here in Massachusetts and provide about 60 percent of the standard residential household’s electricity needs.

There is a Commonwealth Rebate which will subtract $2,000 off the price. In addition to that, for those who live in a modest home or have a moderate wage, you should be given an additional $2,000 off. Or if you happen to have been unfortunate enough to have your residence damaged in last year’s tornadoes, you will be given an additional $5,000 reduction.

There are also both federal as well as Massachusetts state tax credits. The federal tax credit is currently a massive 30% and the state credit is for $1,000. Following the rebates coupled with the tax credits, you will be able to purchase a 5 kilowatt solar panel array for $16,000, even less should you receive the moderate income or moderate home value adders.

A system of that size here in Massachusetts ought to provide an average of close to $80 worth of electrical energy monthly to get a yearly cost savings of $1,000.

But the long-term profits come from selling your system’s SRECs. One megawatt hour (1,000 kWh) is equivalent to 1 SREC and a 5 kilowatt solar panel array ought to generate just about 6,000 kWh yearly. Since the state has compelled the electricity companies to produce a certain portion of their total electricity via renewable techniques, they will give you about four hundred dollars for every one of those 6 SRECs so they can say that you are generating electrical energy on their behalf. Thus that’s a further $2,400 in tax-free income straight into your wallet each year.

So now you can have an understanding of how a $16,000 solar panel array can easily be paid off in less than five short years considering that it nets $3,400 annually including electricity savings and SREC compensation.

Solar panels can also be among the best home improvement possibilities available to the Mass. home owner. With a selling price of $16,000, it should increase the value of your house by $20,000. Now that is a 125% return on investment. Most home improvement projects never pay for themselves totally. Solar panels not only raise the value of your house more than they cost you, they are able to bring in revenue every year on top of everything else. They are also exempt from property taxes for the next 20 years.

And additionally let us keep in mind the primary reason each of these incentives exist to begin with – to save our planet. A 5 kilowatt solar panel array would lessen your carbon footprint by about one-hundred tons of carbon dioxide over 25 years, the equivalent of growing eight hundred trees. Every year, it will stop the equivalent of about 3 tons of coal or 20,000 cubic feet of natural gas from being used to create electrical energy.

As you can see from all of the stimuli presently in existence that now truly is the right time for solar energy. The Commonwealth Rebate along with the federal and state tax credits cut down on your startup expenditures. And the electric bill savings as well as the SREC program add significant income and also bolster your home’s resale value.

Furthermore there is no way to know just how much longer these stimuli will be available. The Commonwealth Rebate has already been lowered recently and the federal tax credit is endangered annually.

Additionally, as this industry matures, a growing number of financing options are becoming available to homeowners, making solar panels economical for anyone. If you’ve always desired to purchase solar panels, there’s never been a more rewarding time than the present!

Gary S. Best resides in Massachusetts and spent months investigating the various incentives and financing options prior to deciding to purchase a five kW solar panel system in 2011. He has since created a website, www.MassSolarInfo.com, educating residents about solar energy in Massachusetts and providing them with a way to easily get free estimates and save as much as $500 off their own installation.

Arranging Carbon Offsets

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Carbon Offsetting

Carbon offsetting is a system by which individuals and organisations can negate some of their impact on the climate by purchasing carbon credits.

Carbon credits are created by the replacement of projects that save greenhouse gas emissions and replace common, polluting alternatives. Some examples of these include methan capture projects, energy efficiency installations, and power plants which create renewable energy.

Each tonne of greenhouse gas that these projects save can then be registered through a third party and be sold as a carbon credit. Companies can then purchase these credits, offsetting their own emissions. This can allow the footprint of the company to be zero or carbon neutral.

By purchasing a carbon credit, the company helps finance the project and thus pushes further investment into clean technologies. Therefore buying carbon credits not only cancels out a companys emissions, but it helps transform society to become more green and efficient.

It is crucial, therefore, that you evaluate your options before you decide how to offset your emissions. Therefore it is crucial that you carefully evaluate your options before you decide how to offset your emissions.

Carbon credit evaluation criteria

It is important that carbon credit projects are tested against standards to ensure that the buyer can be sure they are funding a reduction of greenhouse gas from the atmosphere that would not otherwise have occurred. Any carbon credit used by an organisation to meet emission reduction requirements under the NoCO2 certification program must meet the following standards:

1. Financially additional

For a carbon credit to be financially additional, the money from the credits must have been required to make the project happen beyond business as usual. Projects often fail this where they are cheaper than their more polluting equivalent, or their energy savings pays back in time frames that make it a business as usual proposition.

2. Environmentally additional

The project must be additional to the environment. Carbon Credits cannot be claimed on projects that would have occurred anyway, such as the natural growth of a forest or the implementation of an activity that would have occurred anyway through legislation or through a shift in market demand. Furthermore, carbon savings from a carbon offset must be additional to a countrys mandatory Kyoto target. For countries/states with a binding target, such as Australia, NZ and the EU, this can be achieved through the Joint Implementation mechanism, or through sourcing carbon credits that pre-date the Kyoto commitment period.

3. Permanent

Permanence is a very important requirement for a voluntary credit. Carbon savings that have been forward claimed or carbon emissions that have been stored can present a liability risk for any party using them to make a claim. If the emissions fail to happen, or are released into the atmosphere, and the project proponent does not make good this reduction, then the liability may fall back on the purchaser who made a claim to rectify the issue.

4. Leakage

Leakage occurs when a project designed to reduce emissions results in an increase of emissions elsewhere. This is a major risk in avoided deforestation projects where the removal of one section of forest product from the market encourages the destruction of forest in another due to inelastic demand.

5. Validated and Verified Savings

The project must use a methodology that conservatively quantifies its emissions reductions through a scientifically valid approach. The project must be audited by an independent 3rd party to quantify the number of tonnes of greenhouse gas that it has saved. This can occur through ISO 14064.3 and 14065; through a GHG program, or through using an approved methodology from a GHG Program.

For more information about the carbon offset systems used by the Carbon Reduction Institute, visit the Carbon Offset page. For more information about the Carbon Reduction Institute’s NoCO2 carbon neutral certification system, please visit the NoCO2 Certification page. To learn more about the Carbon Reduction Institute, such as other programs we are responsible for and more information about the company, visit http://www.noco2.com.au.