What’s the Cheapest Form of Electricity?

In a world where coal and natural gas dominate energy production, here’s the new cheapest form of electricity generation and why it’s so important for small businesses to adopt it.

Let’s start with the obvious.

If you could lower your electricity bill, would you?

Well, the answer to that question is the same reason that millions of home and business owners in America have been switching wholesale to this “new cheapest form of electricity”.

You probably don’t think about this every time you turn on your lights, but unless you’ve got solar panels on your roof, the electricity you use mostly comes from burning fossil fuels, mainly coal and natural gas.

In turn, to keep up demand, the power sector pumps over 1600 million metric tons of pollution into the air every single year!

That’s a LOT of pollution!

So it’s pretty timely that this cheap form of electricity also comes with added benefits such as lowered electric bills, increased property value, and most importantly protecting the environment.

By now you’ve probably already guessed it but I wanted to confirm it for you.

Solar is now, officially, the cheapest form of electricity generation in the world! No, wait… in history!

Woohoo!

What’s behind the price drop in solar energy prices?

Rewind to when Jimmy Carter was President, and installing solar panels seemed like something out of the Jetsons. If it seemed that way, it’s because it was that way! NASA has been using solar panels in space since the 1960s!

Widespread use of folar down here on earth, by us earthlings, was unthinkable because of its cost!

There are several factors that have contributed to making solar extremely affordable and consequently, its nationwide adoption, I’ll cover the major ones:

• New policies and solar incentives: In the last decade, the government has started to issue new policies and legislation to help transition U.S. electricity production to cleaner methods. Part of these policies include a) requirements for states, utilities, and large corporations to produce and use renewable energy, and b) incentives that not only reward investors but also reduce the risk of installing solar.
• Improved solar technology: While solar technology itself has become more advanced and more versatile, the price for solar panel production has continued to drop. Investors and installers are getting more efficient panels for less cost, which in turn makes solar investments easier to finances and more affordable for you, the end-user.
• Accessibility to financing: With a major increase in solar installations across the U.S., there has been a big increase in access to financing for solar projects, making it far more accessible. Entire financial investment and lending firms have been created solely to finance solar projects, requiring low credit, and offering competitive interest rates to home and business owners.

As you can see in the below chart provided by Ensolar, one of Florida’s largest solar installers, the price for solar has continued to drop over the past decade, putting solar power within reach for anyone who wants to save money on their electric bill.

I understand! You may or may not want to install solar panels on your roof. More likely, you could be in a situation where even if you wanted to, you can’t. like if you rent.

With solar being one of the fastest-growing industries today, there are multiple ways that you, as a home or business owner, to take advantage of and benefit from solar:

1. Solar panels: This one’s a no-brainer. If you own your home or your office building, the most direct way to benefit from solar is to install solar panels. Solar panels provide fantastic savings, protect you from the yearly increases in electricity prices, all while you produce your own green energy, help the environment, and oh, increase your property’s value. Whose complaining right? But if you don’t want to or can’t install solar panels on your home or office there are two other very simple ways for you to take advantage of solar power:
2. Join a community solar program: Have you ever heard of a solar farm? It’s essentially a farm filled with solar panels instead of cows. With more and more policies mandating an increase in renewable energy generation, large privately-owned solar farms have started to offer community solar to home and business owners within their area. Solar power generated by solar farms is channeled through your local utility and fed right to your home or business. Earlier this year, Energy Professionals partnered with Ampion Energy to launch a community solar program that not only offers all the benefits of solar without the investment or a solar installation but qualifying homes and businesses are also guaranteed a 10% reduction in energy costs.
3. RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates): Renewable energy certificates are a great way for you to ensure the electricity you use is sourced from renewable energy. For large corporations, RECs are a great way to meet any sustainability goals. While still connected to the grid, you help contribute to green energy production and receive a certificate that shows you offset your energy use with green energy.

Whatever the solution you chose, it’s important that you take some action towards adopting solar power or electricity produced by a renewable energy source, here is a two-minute video that I put together to help you understand how important this is. PS: that’s not my voice!

Enjoy!