Alternative Home Energy

Alternative Home Energy options are growing rapidly. While solar, wind and geothermal are the major categories available to homeowners, the options within each category are offering diversity that has not been available in the past. And with the growing interest of homeowners in Alternative Energy, the options will continue to grow, improve in efficiency and availability.

The place to start answering that question is with your current electric bill. Your bill will show your monthly kWh usage. Knowing what your use today is an important part of the equation as to how much alternative energy you will need to produce. And that will play a role in the alternative home energy solution you choose.

1. Consider two data points on your energy bill, the month you used the most kWh and the average kWh you used over a 12-month period. As you price systems, you can choose to cover all you energy needs, your average energy need or a percentage in between.

2. Schedule a professional energy audit.

Alternative Energy options are expensive, so before you purchase anything, reduce your consumption. A professional energy audit is $200-$300. This is a comprehensive assessment and will provide detailed information on where you are spending your energy dollars. Their recommendations could save you substantially in your investment in alternative energy for your home. Once you have made the changes, watch your kWh usage go down. It’s a good investment anyway you look at it.

Average kWh usage ______________

Highest kWh usage ______________

Expenses:

Energy Audit ______________

Energy Audit Improvements ______________

Alternative Energy Costs ______________

You may choose an alternative home energy solution that provides the highest kWh usage, the average usage or some percentage in between. This simple chart will help keep all the information you need handy as you start making comparisons. We will add this information to questions you should ask about solar, wind and geothermal specifically and we will have a section on how to evaluate vendors, consultants as well as a section on how to check references.

· Solar technology - sun and cost are considerations

· Geothermal Heat Pumps - is an option almost anywhere in the world

· Wind Power - wind speed and community restrictions are considerations

Combining technologies may offer you a total energy solution that is more dependable and more reasonably priced, for example, combining geothermal heat pumps with solar or wind technology, may be a solution that can be achieved in two steps.

As you talk with vendors, have them give you estimates on your current energy usage (before you made changes from your energy audit) to see just how much you saved. Your savings from your energy audit may mean you can afford to supply 100% of your energy need with alternative energy. Or you might consider covering the average and pay the electric company to cover your highest usage. If you are able to net meter your electric meter runs backwards when you produce more electricity than you use. This results in either selling your surplus energy to the electric company or receiving a credit on your electric bill with makes covering your average usage with alternative energy a much more appealing option.

You will find more detailed information on alternative home energy options in Solar, Wind and Geothermal sections of this site. For additional specific solar information, we recommend visiting Solar Energy Advantages