Hard to believe there are only 45 shopping days before the holidays! In a year when we’ve emerged from the darkness of Covid – and back into the light – it’s a great time to keep following the sun into 2022!
Now is the perfect time to reserve a spot for solar panels on Santa’s sleigh – in time for delivery early in the new year. This is the gift that truly keeps on giving! Here are five reasons why:
Five reasons to put solar on your holiday shopping list
1. Your tax bill will go down: If you install a solar Tracker or solar-connected home battery system in 2022, you can deduct 26% of the installed cost against what you owe in federal income taxes – straight off the top! (In 2023, this tax credit will go down to 22%.)
| Home Solar and/or Home Battery System Cost | Federal Income Tax Credit (2021-2022) |
| $15,000 | $3,900 |
| $25,000 | $6,500 |
| $35,000 | $9,100 |
| $50,000 | $13,000 |
2. Your utility bill will all but disappear: Solar power costs have fallen 90% since 2010 and now rank among the least expensive forms of electricity. Once you install solar, you aren’t subject to your utility’s annual price increases of about 3% (compounded annually). And should you further electrify your life, as so many are with electric vehicles, mini-split heat pumps, etc., all that increased electricity usage won’t keep increasing in price, year after year.
3. You can stay connected even when the power goes out: Home battery costs have fallen just as fast as solar has over the last decade. Now it’s easy to store solar power for use when the grid goes down.
4. Your home value will increase: New studies confirm this old rule of thumb: For every dollar you invest in a home solar system, you increase your home’s value by at least as much – and probably more. A recent analysis by Zillow found that homes with solar power sell for 4.1% more than comparable homes without solar power; that works out to a premium of $9,274 for a median-valued home. An earlier study by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories puts this premium at $5,911 for every kilowatt of panels installed. Here’s how that works out for residential systems of different sizes:
| Home Solar System Size | Amount Solar Panels Increase Home Value* |
| 6 kW | $35,466 |
| 8 kW | $47,288 |
| 10 kW | $59,110 |
| 13 kW | $76,843 |
*Figures based on study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
5. Your family and friends will love you for saving the planet: With climate change now posing an existential threat to our planet, we all need to do our part. By some estimates, collective community action across the United States can cut our nation’s total energy needs in half, eliminate carbon emissions in the power sector by 2035, and create 5 million permanent jobs over the long term. That’s more jobs than our energy sector currently employs! Most of all – at a personal level – you’ll be changing your relationship with energy in a way that inspires hope, confidence and security in our future, and sets a (sun) shining example for our children and grandchildren to live by.
Solaflect is your home energy management partner. We help you install clean and affordable solar electricity and home battery systems for a more resilient and climate-friendly future. Click here to contact us, or email us or call (802) 649-3700, or text (802) 308-3018. Working together, the power is in our hands to make a difference.
