Category Archives: energy retrofitting

Solar Power Costs Continue to Fall

Posted on October 2, 2013 | Leave a comment

Lower prices. Solar panels are a sizeable investment, but according to a recent report from the Solar Energy Industries Association, the average national price for a solar electric system is now less than $5 per watt installed. That’s a notable drop since 2009, when prices averaged $8 per watt. Ten years before that, they were about $12 per watt. A small home solar electric system might be 2 kilowatts (kw) — or 2,000 watts. At $12 per watt, the system would have cost $24,000. At $5 per watt, it’s more like $10,000.

Does solar add value to your home? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com they are the forerunners in green and energy-efficient real estate appraisal.

Federal incentive. You can receive a large federal tax credit for purchasing a home solar electric system. This tax credit — which is available through 2016 — is 30 percent of the price of the system, with no upper limit. So for that same 2-kw, $10,000 system, the cost would now be down to $7,000. (For more information, visit Energy Star.)

Green Home Could Result in a Larger Loan

Posted on August 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

Those solar panels or radiant-heated stone floors could help snag a larger home loan under legislation now pending in the U.S. Senate.

The SAVE Act would require Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration about 90 percent of the mortgage market to add energy efficiency to their underwriting policies.

Mortgage lenders and appraisers do not systematically consider the value of a home’s energy-efficient technology, said Robert Sahadi, director of energy efficiency finance policy at the Institute for Market Transformation, a nonprofit Washington D.C. group promoting green building. The organization co-authored the bill.

Have a green home or an energy-efficient home but did not get credit for it on the appraisal? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com; we specialize in green and energy efficient properties.

“There have been some attempts in the past to do something about it, but they were premature, like 10 years ago, before consumers were really demanding these kinds of homes,” he said.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., filed the bill in June. The bipartisan SAVE Act legislation has dozens of co-sponsors, and support from a broad variety of groups, including real estate agents, consumer organizations and environmental advocates. SAVE stands for Sensible Accounting to Value Energy.

While utility bills are ignored in mortgage underwriting, they usually amount to more money than real estate taxes or homeowner’s insurance, the institute says.

The typical U.S. homeowner pays $2,500 on home energy bills annually, according to the institute. The organization estimates an energy efficient upgrade, even a small one, could reduce a home’s energy bills by 30 percent or more.

The bill would help borrowers in two ways. Lenders would factor in energy cost savings when arriving at a borrower’s debt-to-income ratio, which could result in a larger loan. Lenders would add future energy savings to the home’s value, if that is not already reflected in the appraisal.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only.

Do You Need to Wash Your Rooftop Solar Panels?

Posted on August 9, 2013 | Leave a comment

It is a question gnawing at people who live and toil beneath rooftop solar panels: To wash or not to wash away accumulating dust?

The answer is don’t bother hiring a panel washer to let in the sunshine, according a study by a team of engineers at the University of California San Diego. You are highly unlikely to earn your money back in electricity.

Does solar add value to your home? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your value questions; they specialize in green homes.

“The vast majority of solar-energy systems certainly get some dirt, but it has a fairly low impact on how much energy they produce,” said Jan Kleissl, the study’s principal investigator and an aerospace engineering professor at UC San Diego

The study looked at output from solar panels on homes and bigger buildings across California that report electricity output in return for rebate incentives from state government. Those data from 2010 were cross cataloged with rainfall events, assuming that a strong rain would clean a panel fairly thoroughly.

The analysis included California’s summer drought period, when rain can be scant for five months.

It found panels that had not been rained on or cleaned for 145 days lost little more than 7 percent of their efficiency. A mid-summer cleaning, under those dusty circumstances, might generate an extra $20 of power.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Category Archives: energy retrofitting

Solar Power Costs Continue to Fall

Green Home Could Result in a Larger Loan

Do You Need to Wash Your Rooftop Solar Panels?

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