The benefits of switching to a green energy source – such as wind, solar or water power – for your sole or primary source of energy are numerous. So we came up with the 6 reasons why you should turn to green energy.
Energy costs, including electricity and heating fuel, account for a large portion of the money it takes to maintain your home or business. These costs increase at rates much higher than the standard rate of inflation when using nonrenewable energy sources, with prices for fossil fuels being particularly volatile. This makes estimating your energy costs for the year difficult.
Once you have your Solar Energy system installed, there is no cost for the energy. It is freely supplied by Mother Nature.
One of the myths about Solar Energy is that the panels need direct strong sunlight to work.
That is not true.
As long as the panels are exposed to light, they will generate electricity. That means that your solar panels will produce power even when it is raining or in the Winter time.
There is the cost of installing the system, but those costs are steadily decreasing. There is also a steady stream of government assistance programs to cover the cost of installation of Alternative Energy. Many power companies are also offering payment plans for home Solar Energy systems.
Also contrary to what some people are saying, you can also install your Solar Energy system yourself. There are no laws to prevent you from doing your own installations and Solar Energy Systems are very easy to install. It is much easier than replacing a kitchen or bathroom.
All you have to do is purchase all of the parts, get your tools out and get a few friends to help. Organize everything on Friday night and by Monday morning you will be ready to call an Electrician to hook up your Electrical panel or call an Electrical Inspector to inspect the installation.
Wind is free once the windmill is installed.
In most places of the country there is wind at least part of the time. Some places like on the Eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, there is a lot of wind. The key to wind power is power storage. That of course is done with Batteries. It doesn’t take a very big windmill to provide enough power to run the average home but it is important to capture it when the wind is blowing.
Small Wind power generators are even easier to install than Solar Energy systems. The whole system consists of a solid base to mount the Windmill on, and the windmill. That’s all there is to it. Again these systems are easy to install and you can be generating your own power in less than a day.
Installing a larger windmill will take a bit longer if you have to install a free standing or guyed tower. If you are putting up a free standing tower, you will have to pour the base and if the tower is guyed, you will also have to set up forms and pour concrete for the guy wire anchors.
The cost of maintenance is very low.
All Alternative Energy systems are front end loaded. This means that once you spend the money to install the system, most of the costs for the life of the system are taken care of. Solar panel maintenance consists of checking to make sure all of the connections are still tight once a year, and making sure the panels don’t get covered up by falling leaves in the Fall.
Maintenance on a wind system consists of making sure that the mounting bolts on the generator are still tight once a year and making sure any oil filled drive cases are topped up.
With both systems you will want to check the water levels on your batteries if you have flooded batteries and maybe wipe the dust off of any maintenance free batteries in the system.
The cost of traditional sources of energy are constantly rising.
The traditional sources of energy were never designed to accommodate the current population. The increase in population over the last 50 years is straining the National Electrical Grid to it’s breaking point. The grid is now said to be so inefficient that we are wasting over 60% of all of the electricity we generate. Not only are we using old antiquated plants to generate our power but we are sending out into a grid that is only 40% efficient.
But guess who’s paying for all of that wasted power. You are.
There is also an increasing concern that our National Power Grid would be easy to disable, either by a Cyber Attack or by a physical attack on key pieces on our grid infrastructure. If you generate your own electricity, you no longer have to worry about the inadequacies of the National Power Grid.
Your Solar Energy costs and windmill costs are constant.
Once your Alternative energy system is installed, your energy costs will be constant. You no longer have to worry about the price of your electricity going up because the price of oil went up.
You won’t even care if the Power Company decides to impose an infrastructure upgrade fee, to replace all of the junk in their system.
Switching to Alternative sources of energy is a proactive move.
In the news lately there is a lot of talk about climate change and that we need to do something about it. Whether you believe in global warming or not, or that we can actually do something about it, is not important.
There is no question that we are doing some things wrong. Burning coal and petrochemicals to produce electricity is very inefficient and we should stop doing that as soon as possible, especially since most of the power generated is wasted.
If every house or even half of the houses on your block were powered by the sun and the wind, we would no longer be talking about massive pollution problems. If you had your house solar powered you wouldn’t even know if there were a power outage on the grid.
Summary
With green energy, your source of energy is consistent and renewable, and the costs associated with the energy are constant. Once you have switched, you’ll see enormous savings in your electric bill each month. You’ll also be reducing consumption of fossil fuels. Not only will it be a cinch to budget for energy costs because the prices won’t fluctuate weekly or monthly, but you’ll quickly discover many more reasons why you should turn to green energy.
Details
- Expense of Oil. Oil is expensive, and prices for oil are increasing at a fast rate; this directly increases your gas and heating costs. Even though the current price of oil is at it’s lowest in many years, how long do you think it will last? Thinking that the price of oil will stay low is a false sense of security.
- Oil is in Limited Supply. Supplies of oil are being quickly depleted, which ensures that oil prices will continue to rise, over the long term.
- Oil Spills are Damaging. Oil spills are disastrous for the environment; one spill can affect organisms and ecosystems for many miles, and the effects last for many years. It would be nice if the pipeline companies could build a pipeline that wouldn’t leak. The technology is there, but of course that would cut into their profits and we wouldn’t want that.
- Fossil Fuels are Running Out. Along with oil, supplies of coal, gas and other sources of energy derived from fossil fuels are also limited, and they will eventually run out.
- Reduce Electricity Costs. When you are using means other than the National Power Grid as your sole or primary source of energy, then you are reducing your electric bill considerably each month.
- Reduce Greenhouse Gases. By reducing dependence on electricity and fossil fuels, the reduction in carbon dioxide output is enormous.
- Increase Clean Energy Investments. If more people would switch to sources of green energy, more investments would be made into producing and improving sources of green energy.
- Green Energy is Inexhaustible. Fossil fuels such as gas, oil and coal are being depleted at vast levels each year. If we continue to consume fossil fuels at the current rate, shortages are inevitable, causing prices to skyrocket and potentially leaving you without enough energy.
- Stimulate Employment. As more homeowners switch to green energy sources, the need for people who can build and maintain the systems increases, adding jobs in a relatively new field.
- Enables Independence. When you have a source of green energy, you are not at the whim of a power company that is constantly raising prices, and creating imaginary shortages.
- No Conflict. With green energy, countries are not in conflict with each other over the availability of an energy source because the sources are widely available.
The Bottom Line
Switching to clean, green energy is great for the planet as well as your pocketbook. You’ll be reducing the amount of oil consumed, which will slow down the depletion of a limited resource. Green energy sources also do not produce greenhouse gases or negatively impact ecosystems. You’ll have a consistent, low-cost, high-efficiency source of energy, and you’ll be helping to stimulate the economy as well.