Frequently asked questions

With solar water heating a 15% per year return on investment is not unusual. You always need hot water so this system is working for you whenever the sun is shining, winter, summer, spring or fall. Your savings will have nothing to do with how well your new, old or how well your house is insulated. As long as you have a good southern exposure and proper angle on your collector you are going make hot water.

With solar air heating savings of 20-35% on heating cost are common. There are however many variables. Most of all is how well your home is sealed and insulated. Once again southern exposure is the most important thing you can do to insure the best success. 7-9 year paybacks are common at todays energy costs. Solar air heating is only going to be used 7-8 months out of the year.

Payback periods will vary according the cost of energy. As energy cost rise the payback period shortens. Once you have saved enough on your energy bill to pay for your solar energy investment it starts paying you -day in day out. This can be a considerable amount over 20-30 years. Check Federal and state tax laws, their are many incentives available, this will also shorten payback period. many of these incentives are credits, not deductions. Credits are dollar for dollar and are not linked to your tax bracket. Presently SRCC rated systems like our American Solar works unit receive a credit of 30%. YourSolarHome is currently working on SRCC ratings.

For example: Your heat bill averages $100.00 per month during a 7 month heating season. $100.00 x 7 months = $700.00 per year, add a 5% energy inflation rate and at the end of 20 years you will have paid $23146.38 for heating your home. With a solar air heater saving 20% on your heat bill you will have spent $17899.08 for a total savings of $5247.30 your heater would have paid for itself in 7 heating seasons the remaining 13 years it would be paying you. In year 1 your savings would be $140.00 by year 20 you would be saving $354.00 per year! This at a 5% escalation rate. At 10% escalation the savings would be astounding. During the 2006 heating season natural gas went from $5-$6.00 per thousand cubic feet to over $14.00 per thousand. Look for more increases like this in the future, with our increasing dependence on foreign sources for natural gas we are more likely to see considerably higher prices in the future.

Learn more about Peak Oil at Energy and Capital.

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Send mail to sales@nebraskasolarsolutions.com with questions or comments about this web site. Last modified: 07/30/10

Send mail to sales@nebraskasolarsolutions.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 07/30/10