Happy New Year! What's your New Year's Resolution? I have great recommendation. Put solar on your home or business. It has never been a better time to do it. Panels are lower in price than they ever have been and the government incentives continue to be strong. And for businesses, 2011 is the perfect opportunity, given the additional incentives laid out for this year.
Solar is an investment. If you remove the environment (which benefits greatly from renewable energy) and only focus on the financial aspect of solar, there is no better place to put your money. What the stock market, housing market and simple banking options have proved over the past few years, there is no guarantees on the return on your investment. Everyone who has a 401k saw a lot of that money disappear back in '8. Over the last 5 years, houses have lost 6% of their value each year on average. You go to a bank and you are lucky to get 1% annual return on a CD. Stock market - because you have no say in the decisions of the company you are investing in, your business plan is relegated to simple hope.
A solar electric system will garner you annual returns of on average 10-15% return on your initial investment for the life of the system - 30 to 40 years. Most panels have performance guarantees of 25 years and these systems are built to produce power for well beyond that time period. So if someone were to come up to you and say - you can invest $10,000 and get $1,000 per year for 30 years, you wouldn't think twice. So why is solar any different?
As far as 2011, there were two solar initiatives that make it a special year for businesses in particular. One is the 1 year extension of the Business Energy Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which is a Treasury Grant that covers 30% of cost of the system (http://dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=US02F&re=1&ee=1). The check gets sent to you, the business owner, within 90 days of the install completion. Not bad, having someone else (the government in this case) covering 30% of the cost of the system with cash.
The second incentive is not specific to solar, but nonetheless covers your solar purchase. Via the accelerated depreciation incentive , businesses can write off 100% of their purchase of equipment (http://dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=US06F&re=1&ee=1). As a solar owner, you will receive the 30% Investment Tax Credit mentioned above and therefore you are allowed to write off 85% of the cost of your solar energy system.
Combine the two above incentives with your state and local utility rebate and loan programs and you are set up for a very successful business venture. Not to mention your local community will be very interested in what is on that roof - oh solar energy - maybe I'll go buy their products. All this and you get to save the planet!
Invest in yourself, empower yourself - create your own power - make solar your New Year's Resolution. And you can look back at 2011 and for once remember what your resolution was...because you still will be benefitting from it.
Author's Note: My new year's resolution was to give up junk food...it's going very...mediocre.
