Use the Heat To Your House's Advantage: The South's Solar Transformation

Southern homeowners are increasingly embracing rooftop solar as a way to lower power bills and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Learn about the South's solar transformation to see if it is the right approach for you. 

Solar Power For Homes

You can expect to gain many benefits by adding solar panels to your southern home. Depending on your goals and needs, one of these following may be more important than others. Use that information and the advice of solar companies Charlotte NC to design a system that gives you maximum results. 

Lower Your Carbon Footprint

Concern for the environment and the desire to reduce carbon emissions is a leading drive in adopting residential solar. This is especially true in coastal areas where people see firsthand the devastation of climate-change-driven storms. Solar energy is completely clean, meaning it relies on no fossil fuels. As such, it can drastically reduce your household's carbon footprint. 

Gain Energy Security

Many southern states face power outages from storms. Having rooftop solar can mitigate the discomfort and inconvenience this causes. A solar generator can keep your home fully functioning when the grid goes down. Even without a backup generator or battery, you will still have some power during daylight hours.  

The best way to get an idea of how much power you need to make to keep the lights on in an outage is to look back at your utility bills. If you can get a year's worth of usage, that will help you get an idea of how seasonal changes affect your usage. Many companies provide this information in your online account, so that's a good place to start. Consider only trying to keep core appliances and systems running in an outage and cutting back on extras to help keep your system size reasonable. 

Save Money on Energy Bills

This is a huge motivator for many people. After all, the idea of generating free energy is very appealing. With Florida solar incentives, you can lower the cost of components and installation to maximize this benefit.

The payback period varies depending on many different factors, but the average for many homeowners is about 10 years. Modern panels last well beyond that, which means you will likely continue to generate power and a bigger return on your investment beyond the payback period. 

Florida's Abundant Sunshine

It's called the Sunshine State for a reason. Florida rooftops get about 5 hours of peak sunlight each day, making them the ideal place to install solar panels. This is important because the more peak sun your roof gets, the more power you can produce with solar panels Florida. 

You may notice that the peak sun-hours figure is not the same as daylight hours. Rather, it represents the number of hours per day that are ideal for solar power generation. This is the number you will use to determine how many panels you need to meet household consumption. It can vary significantly by location, so be sure to get a figure specific to your address. 

If you are considering jumping in with rooftop solar in a southern state, it's a good idea to talk with staff from an experienced solar company. They can help you better understand the benefits of going solar.