About 15.2 million households in the US have installed solar panels, and as time goes by, many countries are adopting more sustainable forms of energy—one of which is solar energy. Many countries have seen the value of using solar energy to produce clean energy and plan to increase residential adoption rates in the next few years to help achieve the goal of reducing our carbon footprint. Solar energy has such great potential that forecasters estimate that we will install more solar energy globally in the next 5 years than all the time combined. With millions of households adopting solar energy, the biggest question is—should you do it too?

Here are four reasons why you should：

Financial Savings

There are several economic benefits to using solar energy. Here are a few highlights.

· Save on your utility bills. Regardless of which electricity rate plan you adopt, solar energy can help reduce your utility bills by reducing the amount of energy you get from the grid. For every kilowatt-hour your solar system produces, the utility company will charge you one kilowatt-hour less on your electricity bill. Solar systems typically pay for themselves through savings on utility bills. Check out this article by EnergySage to see how much solar panels can save you on your electricity bill.

· Increase your home value. Homes with solar systems installed sell for nearly 4% or more than homes without solar. Therefore, installing a solar system on your house is an investment for the future that can help you recoup your losses.

· Take advantage of incentives. To increase the adoption of solar energy, there are also utility, state, and federal incentives available for solar and battery storage systems. Your local solar installation company will know how these incentives apply to your location. To find your state and local incentives, visit the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency.

Environmental Benefits

Solar energy produces emission-free energy from the sun. Typically, the energy produced by solar can offset the fuels that produce carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants, such as coal or natural gas. Using solar energy as your primary source of electricity is one of the biggest ways to reduce your environmental footprint. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy quantified the environmental and health benefits that solar energy can provide to show the benefits of achieving SunShot, an initiative launched in 2011 with the goal of making solar energy cost-competitive with traditional sources of electricity.

Energy Independence

Solar energy can not only save you money, but it can also reduce the impact that future utility price increases may have on your monthly utility bill. For example, in the past 10 years, the national electricity rate has increased by 14% ($0.15/kWh per year), and in Massachusetts, it has even increased by 51% ($0.74/kWh per year). These rates are likely to continue to increase and fluctuate, making it difficult for some people to budget for the future. In some cases, customers will go completely off the grid, but more commonly, solar (and storage) allows them to reduce their dependence on the utility company and reduce the impact of future energy price increases. Additionally, you can take control of your own electricity, free from the utility company's oversight, giving you more freedom.

Resilience

In addition to economic and privacy reasons, energy independence is also crucial in the event of a power outage. Losing power during a power outage can be a tense moment, especially if you are not prepared. From January 2021 to September 2021, there were 183 power outage events in the US, affecting over 15 million people. The most common causes of these outages were from severe weather and the need to reduce electricity usage to maintain the power structure that transports electricity. In these situations, relying solely on grid power becomes unreliable, as it is sudden and potentially long-lasting. The longest of these outages lasted over 7 days⁵. According to the USDA, a freezer can only keep food safe at a safe temperature for about 48 hours⁶. If one of these 7-day outage households had young children, providing milk or other nutritious foods would require going outside in severe weather conditions, such as a hurricane or blizzard. Fortunately, when a home solar system is paired with battery storage, it can continue to provide power to your household, even when the grid is down.

In the event of a power outage, an automatic transfer switch will register that your home is no longer receiving power from the grid and switch the flow, making the solar panels your home's source of electricity. You can also choose to keep certain appliances in your home powered, such as a refrigerator or heater, to maximize the time the stored power lasts. For more information, visit www.Energy.gov.

Tech Enthusiast

The rate of improvement for solar energy is indeed exponential. Modules, inverters, MLPEs (module-level power electronics), racking—all the components we mentioned in the first blog series—are constantly improving as solar energy evolves. For all the tech experts out there, solar energy gives you the ability to have the most advanced power generation equipment in your own home. Additionally, the monitoring systems and software are so good now that you can see what is happening on each module, down to the minute.

Summary

Overall, there are many benefits to using solar energy. You can reduce your electricity bill expenses while helping to save the environment and the people around you from pollution. Additionally, you can rest assured that your family is safe in extreme weather conditions and maintain your normal activities during a power outage. Another benefit is adding advanced technology to your home, increasing your home value. These are the common reasons for using solar energy, but each household or residential project may differ when it comes to your priorities or needs.

If you are unsure whether using solar energy is right for you, please leave us a message, or follow us on social media to be notified when new blogs come out. We will post more information and guides to help you make a decision.