Why You Should Go Solar

Everyone should know that in a general sense solar energy is the way to go. It's green. It's abundant. It's inexpensive. It is easy to install. It is safe.

Everybody knows all that, but what are the advantages of actually taking action and building or buying a solar power system for your home? What does your family stand to gain by harnessing this massive source of energy?

Here are a few things you might want to think about:

1. The value of your home will increase and continue to increase. Back in 1978, President Jimmy Carter installed old-school solar panels on the roof of the White House. Those panels continue to produce energy to this very day -- at a college in Maine of all places.If you install solar power in your home today, barring a tornado or other intense weather event, it will still be producing power 30, 40, even 50 years from now. That increases the value of your home in the long-term.
2. Your power bills will not rise. The price of energy goes one direction: up. If you are getting a significant portion of your power from the sun, which does not raise its rates, you will be well positioned to beat energy inflation in the years to come.
3. You will be setting a good example for your neighbors and increasing the value of their homes. It's always nice to be seen as a good citizen. It pays off in so many ways. Who knows, you might even inspire a few of your neighbors to install systems of their own!
4. You will be doing the planet a favor. Listen, unless you want your children and their children to curse your name for generations to come as they deal with the effects of global climate change, you ought to install a solar power system. Then your progeny can say proudly, "My grandparents were the first ones on their block to go solar," instead of, "My grandparents helped create this mess we're in."

Other advantages exist, such as the fact that it is so easy and quick to install solar power systems. The fact that the panels actually look pretty nice is a plus, as is the fact that they produce the most electricity at exactly the times when it is needed -- on hot summer afternoons. But the real advantage is in the long-term economics of it -- you beat energy inflation and increase your home equity.

Besides, it's just the right thing to do.

Learn more about DIY solar.

Solar water heaters are very easy to build, by the way.