A study from the University of Texas at Austin came up with extraordinary findings: Solar panels don't only reduce or eliminate electric bills for their owners, but they also slash the cost of providing electricity to whole neighborhoods.
Inside Climate News detailed how it works. As more homes adopt solar panels, the entire grid experiences less demand. That means less power needs to be generated by central utilities, and less grid infrastructure is needed, too. The utility itself and everyone in the service area benefit from the reduction.
Lead author Nick Laws and his team calculated that a typical neighborhood takes $7.2 million per year to supply with power. Investing in solar to reduce demand would save $3 million, or 40% of that total.
The benefits of solar for the individual buyer are obvious. One Forbes estimate placed the lifetime savings from installing solar panels between $25,500 and $33,000 — and that's after paying back the cost of the panels.
Another study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, summarized by the Santa Cruz Sentinel, found that median American households can achieve enormous savings of $691 annually when considering all costs and benefits.
Solar is also one of the best ways a homeowner can reduce their impact on the Earth. Using a clean source of energy instead of electricity that was generated with dirty oil or coal means less air pollution, which means healthier air and less heat-trapping gas overheating the planet.
The University of Texas at Austin study revealed a whole new layer of benefits for your community. Solar also means fewer wires crisscrossing the neighborhood, lower rates for power, and less need for work on the electrical system overall.
Laws told Inside Climate News what it would take for utility companies to take advantage of this discovery.
"I believe that distribution utilities need to be more proactive in identifying the problem areas in their grids that can benefit from non-wires alternatives," he said. "However, most distribution utilities do not have the tools to identify these areas, nor do they have the budget to develop the necessary tools."
He added that different methods of funding these utilities would be needed "to align their economic incentives with providing cleaner and more affordable energy."
Until then, if you'd like to do your part to reduce demand for grid power, check out EnergySage's free tools to find the best solar installation deals in your area.
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