Solar panels make a lot of sense from a number of different perspectives. Even in cloudy towns like Olympia, solar installation has proven an effective and environmentally friendly way to provide electricity to your home. It can help you stay self-sufficient during a disaster and help helps pay for itself by letting you sell energy back to the grid. But like anything else, solar installation requires proper preparation and planning. Here are 3 things to think about with solar installation.
- Think about sunlight exposure. Solar panels are strong enough to pick up plenty of sunlight even on cloudy days. (And we certainly have our share of hose.) But they don’t work as well when there’s a lot of tree cover, building cover and similar shadows falling over your home. In order for the panels to work as well as they should, you need them to be exposed to the open sky as much as possible during the day. This may require adjusting your home’s layout, trimming trees and taking a careful approach to where you place the panels.
- Consider your rooftop. Solar panels are usually installed on the roof, though you can use yard space if your property is large enough. Rooftops come in all shapes and sizes, and some of them prove more difficult for solar panels than others. A good installation company should be able to install panels on most every roof, but you should expect some planning to go into it, especially if you have a sloping roof, Spanish tile or something similar.
- Expect an up-front cost. Solar installation is not inexpensive and making the leap to solar energy will require an initial investment. You will start seeing returns on that investment over time as you reap considerable energy savings (and increase the resale value of your house to boot), but you need to expect a little patience and look for savings to accrue over time instead of arriving right away.
If you’re thinking about solar installation, call upon the experts at Sound Heating to help. We work in Olympia, solar installation is a specialty of ours, and we can prepare for the things to think about with solar installation before setting up your new system with courtesy and care. Call us today and let us show you what we can do!