Most people who install solar on their home or business do so primarily for the economic benefit. There are four main ways to think about solar from a financial benefits perspective:

Drastically reduce or even eliminate your electric bills. Electricity costs can make up a large portion of your monthly expenses. With a solar panel system, you’ll generate free power for your system’s entire 25+ year lifespan. Even if you don’t produce 100 percent of the energy you consume, solar still reduces your utility bills, meaning you’ll save a lot of money.

Avoid rising energy costs. Every year, electricity prices continue to increase throughout the country. By investing in a solar energy system now, you can lock-in the price you pay for electricity today in order to protect against future increases in electricity costs.

Increase your property value. This one’s easy: homes with solar sell for more than homes without. And when you consider that solar allows you to reduce or eliminate electricity bills, it’s easy to understand why: wouldn’t you rather live somewhere without monthly utility bills?

Earn a great return on your investment. At the end of the day, solar is one of the best investments you can make. The average American solar purchaser sees a return on their investment (ROI) of 20 percent or more, with most solar panel systems paying for themselves multiple times over the course of their decades-long lifetime. Try getting that ROI from stocks!

The second primary reason people install solar is for the environmental benefits.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the electric sector accounts for 27 percent of America’s carbon emissions. Fossil-fuel fired power plants create carbon emissions, as well as contribute to local air pollution in areas close to power plants.

By installing solar, you can reduce your own personal environmental footprint. When you put a solar panel system on your property, you can avoid purchasing carbon-emitting electricity from the grid, pulling directly from your solar panels instead. And even when you’re not using the solar electricity directly, you’re offsetting the need for carbon-emitting generation by putting your solar energy onto the grid. At the end of the day, a typical residential solar panel system will eliminate three to four tons of carbon emissions each year—the equivalent of planting over 100 trees annually.

For businesses, going solar can demonstrate your commitment to sustainability, increasing employee morale while also demonstrating sustainable values to potential customers.

The benefits of solar don’t stop at just financial savings and environmental benefits. There are plenty of additional reasons to go solar.

For instance, going solar contributes to local jobs, helping to boost your local economy. According to The Solar Foundation’s annual Solar Jobs Census, the solar industry employs over a quarter million people, most of whom work for local solar companies in your area. By investing in solar, you’re also investing in your local jobs.

Home and business owners are also increasingly looking to solar plus storage as a way to avoid power outages as storms increase in severity throughout the country. Many install solar to be on the cutting edge of technology. And a not-insignificant number of solar shoppers are looking into solar for the aesthetics: today’s solar panels are quite sleek!

There are myriad reasons to go solar, beyond just the ones we’ve outlined above. Whatever your motivation for going solar, get started today by requesting a free in-home consultation.