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Tracy Cohen, CRPC

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Energy Efficiency & The Benefits of Home Solar

July 27, 2016 by dev-greenleaf

Many homeowners go solar due to the potential to save huge amounts of money by producing their own electricity. Few homeowners, however, consider the potential savings that come with making their homes more energy efficient. In fact, making your home more energy efficient prior to installing solar panels can lead to your home needing a smaller sized solar system. This, in turn, would mean that you wind up saving a lot more money. As an experienced solar company on Long Island, we recommend that homeowners have a professional energy audit conducted prior to installing solar on their home, with the goal of knowing exactly which appliances in their home are consuming the most energy.

One common finding among energy audits is that a large portion of a homeowners electrical consumption comes from inefficient lighting. The vast majority of homes in the US currently use antiquated fluorescent lighting. However, by switching to LED lighting homeowners can save an excess of 10% of their current energy bill. Unlike having to upgrade things such as expensive appliances, upgrading to energy efficient lighting can cost just a few hundred dollars and can wind up saving homeowners thousands. As was previously mentioned, upgrading the energy efficiency is not an alternative technology to solar, but rather a complimentary technology because it allows for a homeowner to erase their entire electric bill while using fewer solar panels.

Electric Bill Graph of Electric Usage by Greenleaf Solar

Once a homeowner installs solar on their home, the need for energy efficiency is still a major factor to consider. In fact, homeowners who make their homes more energy efficient following a solar installation can actually wind up having excess solar energy that they can sell back to the power utility. On the flip side of the coin, if a homeowner adds significant appliances and electrical devices that increase power consumption following the installation of solar panels, there existing solar system may no longer cover all of their electric bills.

It is very important to consider what your future energy consumption will be before going solar. Take for an example that a young couple with small children installs solar on their home. As the children get older, their electrical consumption will go up as the children begin using electrical devices such as tablets and laptops.

office-laptops

One effective strategy that homeowners can utilize to ensure that they install a solar system that will accommodate their electrical needs for years to come is to incorporate a solar system that features consumption monitoring technology. Currently, Enphase is the only company on the market that offers solar monitoring technology that not only tracks system energy production but also household energy consumption. By choosing to go with an Enphase system, homeowners are now able to not only see how much energy their solar panels are producing but also how much energy their home is consuming. The real beauty of the Enphase system is that if homeowners are able to track and monitor their electrical consumption, they can ensure that their electrical usage falls within the parameters of the production their solar array generates.

If a solar homeowner is consuming more energy than their solar system is producing, they can take educated steps to make their home more energy efficient and ultimately stay within the electrical parameters of their existing solar system.

To find out more information about energy efficiency and home solar systems contact GreenLeaf Solar or call (631) 509-1747.

Filed Under: News

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