If you want to install a solar energy system on your property, one of the first questions you’ve probably asked is, “How will I pay for it?” There are many financing options available today for homeowners who want to enjoy the benefits of solar. In many areas, an increasingly popular option for home energy improvements like solar is Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing.
Continue readingSREC prices: explaining how to sell your RECs in the U.S.
If you’ve been researching the best solar energy incentives available, you have likely heard something about solar renewable energy credits (SRECs). SRECs are a tradable commodity that you obtain from owning a solar panel system and producing clean energy. Because of a common state requirement known as the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), many utilities must generate a certain percentage of their energy from renewable sources, typically at least 20 percent. In several states and Washington D.C., the RPS specifies that a certain percentage of the renewable energy produced must come from solar power. States with this type of “solar carve-out” are willing to pay significant amounts of money to take credit for the power generated by solar homeowners.
Continue readingSolar news: May 1st, 2020
In this week’s Solar News Roundup, we talk about two solar incentive programs that are getting a boost in the Northeast: Massachusetts’ SMART program and Rhode Island’s solar brownfields incentive program.
Continue readingThinking of investing your stimulus check? Consider solar.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began sending out stimulus checks earlier this month, providing much-needed cash to a country hit hard by both the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. If you’re fortunate enough to not need the cash right away, and are weighing your various options for what to do with the check, you may have encountered other articles telling you how you should spend this cash. We’re not going to do that: whether you use the money to buy something special, put it away for a rainy day, donate it to a worthy cause, or convert the check into twelve-hundred dollar bills to turn your room into a snow globe, we won’t judge!
Continue readingHow to read your SDG&E bill
San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) is the third largest utility company in the Golden State. Based in San Diego, they provide natural gas and electricity to about 3.6 million people in San Diego and southern Orange County.
Many electricity customers throughout the country receive their electric bill every month and pay it without really diving into the details of what they’re actually paying for…and we’re here to help break it down. In this article, we’ll review the most important parts of your SDG&E electricity bill, and how that changes once you install solar panels.
Continue readingWhere are solar installations still happening?
Given the current ongoing COVID-19 situation, you may be wondering both if it’s even possible to still go solar and, if so, where solar installations are still actively taking place. The short answer? Yes and yes! Here’s a deeper dive into what we know about where people are still actively installing solar today.
Continue readingSaving Energy with EnergySage, part 6: Heating & Cooling
This post is the sixth in our series about how to save on your energy bills even when you’re spending more time at home, as the entire EnergySage team is, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (here are the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth.) Continue to check our blog for more ideas for how you can take control of your energy bills in the coming weeks.
Continue readingSolar news: April 17th, 2020
In this week’s Solar News Roundup, Shell announces a net-zero emissions target for 2050, and Clean Power Alliance contracts a new 100-megawatt battery project in southern California.
Continue readingSaving Energy with EnergySage, part 5: Reducing your electricity usage
This post is the fifth in our series about how to save on your energy bills even when you’re spending more time at home, as the entire EnergySage team is, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (here are the first, second, third, and fourth.) Continue to check our blog for more ideas for how you can take control of your energy bills in the coming weeks.
Continue readingWhat you need to know about IKEA’s solar business
Massive corporations like Google and Facebook have made recent headlines with their commitments to renewable energy. One of the brands you might not have heard as much about is Swedish furniture giant IKEA – however, with ambitious solar and renewable energy plans, IKEA is becoming a brand to watch in the renewable energy space.
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