Determining whether your home or business is suitable for solar electric or other renewable energy system is a several step, yet exciting, process. Often, alternative options are uncovered as we work with our clients to determine how they can go renewable.
First, we will ask some questions about how you use energy, what type of heating, cooling, and appliances are currently installed at your home or business, and review your utility bills. We often recommend energy efficiency audits or measures that will reduce your utility bills with greater a return on investment than installation of a solar system. Throughout this process, we focus on our clients needs, rather than simply getting another solar system installed in what are at times not the most cost-effective or utilitarian solutions.
Next, we perform a site review, where we carefully assess the roof structure, the solar resource (affected by location, direction, roof tilt, and shading), and electrical intertie options; and consider how energy efficiency options might make sense prior to considering a solar system. With this information, we then prepare a comprehensive solar system proposal including a description of the system, the payback period and return on investment, a budget detailing total and net (post-incentive) costs, the amount of incentives available, monthly and multi-year energy analyses identifying how solar energy will be produced vs. energy consumed, a visual representation of how the system would be installed on your roof, and greenhouse gas emissions averted.
Finally, we help answer any questions our clients have, to the level of engineering, policy, and philosophical detail they seek. We also often work with our future clients to determine how financing, scheduling, and tax incentives can be applied for those systems that make economic sense. So you too can go solar.