Green Real Estate Appraiser

6 Solar Energy Myths

Posted on March 28, 2016 | Leave a comment

1. There’s Not Enough Sunshine In My Area for Solar

America is bathed in sunlight. Solar works, even in the Pacific Northwest or the Northeast where cloudy days are more frequent — you’ll just need a bigger system. Photoelectric systems produce optimally in spring, summer and early fall. Bear in mind, you don’t need a crystal-clear, blue sky to generate electricity. Even on cloudy days, solar electric systems easily generate 10 to 20 percent of their full capacity.

2. The Cost of Solar Is Too High

The costs associated with home solar electric systems have plummeted in recent years, mostly because of industry streamlining. In fact, solar has never been cheaper.

Moreover, solar electricity’s lifetime cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) is significantly cheaper than other North American utility options, in part because of the federal Investment Tax Credit extension, which is now good until 2022. (See http://goo.gl/F3iPHt for more on tax credit extensions.)

In the Midwest, electricity from a solar electric system currently costs around 6 to 7 cents per kWh with the 30 percent credit, based on installation costs. In sunnier regions, such as the West and Southwest, the cost of electricity from a solar electric system is even lower. For comparison, large, investor-owned utilities typically charge 10 to 17 cents per kWh, sometimes more.

Even without the federal tax credits, solar electricity is still less expensive or on par with energy costs from

major utilities. And, unlike conventional power, the cost of electricity from a solar system won’t steadily increase. Consequently, solar electric systems hedge against inflation and spikes in energy prices, frequently providing a return on investment in the range of 3 to 5 percent.

The challenge with solar is that prepaying your electric bill requires a huge chunk of change. Because you have to pay for 30 to 50 years of electricity upfront, solar often appears outrageously expensive, at first glance.

Fortunately, in many areas, installers will lease you a system. And they’ll install a system on your home free of charge. You’ll simply pay them for the electricity the system generates for a set period, usually about 15 to 18 years. In this case, customers’ electricity bills are often cheaper than what they would have paid to utility providers throughout the life of the lease.

When the lease is up, the solar system will be yours, and all of your electricity will be free from that point on. You could easily benefit from another 15 to 20 years of free electricity, although you might need to install a new inverter.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Smart home aimed at elder care

Posted on March 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

Using small, battery-powered sensors developed by Samsung, the Australian developed Holly Smart Home Project will be able to monitor aged care homes and can alert healthcare providers when strange activity is detected in or around the home.

The sensors are placed around the house — motions sensors, sensors under the bed for sleep tracking, door sensors, in cupboards, fridges, etc — and stream information to a program named Holly, whose artificial intelligence coordinates the information to make certain predictions about your behaviour, said Rajesh Vasa, Professor of Software and Technology Innovation at Deakin University.

The sensitive sensors — which can detect temperature and movement — will alert Holly to remind you to take medication, and let it know if you’ve taken that medication.

“It can track if (your medicine cupboard) has been accessed,” he said.

“The devices can also pick up anonymous movement around the house. If you go to the bathroom and have a fall, the system picks that they have been in there too long, far more than usual, and the appropriate alert can go out.”

All the data collected by the sensors and Holly stays in your house, and it only sends out information — such as alerts — if the device has been given permission to set up those protocols.

SEC said to probe mortgage servicing fees tied to bad debt

Posted on March 24, 2016 | Leave a comment

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking at whether mortgage servicers are boosting profits by prematurely unleashing debt collectors on delinquent home equity borrowers, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The probe is focusing on servicers that are not owned by banks, including Ocwen Financial Corp., the person said. It is part of the investigation that Ocwen disclosed last month, when it said that the SEC was looking at fees and expenses tied to liquidated loans.

Mortgage servicers get paid to process home loan payments from borrowers. When loans go bad, the firms can write them off and send them to outside collectors.

One of the questions the SEC is probing is whether borrowers are getting enough time to make good on their home equity loans once they fall behind, the person said. A servicer may be entitled to a receive a percentage of whatever outside collectors recover, which may be higher than the usual fees it would receive, the person said. Sending loans to collectors prematurely may also cut a servicer’s costs.

These collections practices may hurt the bond holders and banks that own the home loans by cutting into their income from the mortgages.

Ocwen and Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. are the two biggest servicers that are not banks. Their industry has grown rapidly after financial reform laws spurred big banks to shrink parts of their subprime mortgage businesses, leaving an opportunity for companies like to acquire assets. With that growth has come greater scrutiny. Federal and state authorities have previously looked at Ocwen for issues including mishandling foreclosures.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only.

6 Solar Energy Myths

Smart home aimed at elder care

SEC said to probe mortgage servicing fees tied to bad debt

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