If you live in the western world, you may have heard about the fact that your government is giving grants for mounting solar panels on your house.
What's western world? you may ask. Well, since I've only been to Europe, I'll mention Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. But of course, the rest of the countries have their own programs as well.
If you live in North America, you should check out more info with your authorities to learn whether they're giving out solar panels grants or not.
Some reasons on why your government is generous
1. Basically, the governments are doing this because it's a very elegant way to outsource the investment management of a key industry.
What this means is they don't want to go trough the trouble of developing solar farms so they've distributed this task to individual households and investors.
So you find all the info about what solar panels to install, find the technicians to do this, buy the modules, take care of the system (maintenance - which is rather minimum since there are no moving parts).
After you have your panels up and running, you simply deduct your expense (in a certain percentage depending on the country you live in) with the grant program.
2. Another reason why governments are into this is coz it can contribute to some form of energy independence for the whole country.
Electric energy is a very important commodity (can we call it that way?) nowadays. You're reading this on a digital display which is powered by electricity - be it stored in a battery or from the mains. We'll reach a point where paper will be obsolete and then we'll say: Paper?! Oh that's so 2012. :-)
Energy - we'll need it more and more for simple things like reading a book on our electronic readers.
When most of the households will have solar panels on their roofs, that will have an impact into the nation's independence - energy wise.
3. Some countries wan to to decrease the use of nuclear energy. And they invite everyone to join in this effort.
Solar energy is not dangerous unlike the potentially deadly nuclear reactors. There's a plan and (it seems) a political will to give up nuclear power plants in favor of green energy sources.
In the end, solar modules don't create any waste as they produce electric power. No green house gases, no radioactive waste - it's all neat and clean.
4. Independence of households?
Who knows...?
I'm a bit skeptical whether the governments (and sponsoring corporations) actually want us to be energy independent. And I've mentioned this before in a previous article.
At this point, however, a household that has an array of solar panels installed is more energy independent than the next house. So while this sounds too good to be true, it's a fact. But I believe it's accidental. :-)
What I mean is the governments give out grants mostly to outsource the management of a key infrastructure. We don't know what kind of laws they are gonna pass in the future and how they could regulate the industry.
Anyway, let's not get pessimistic here. We are smart enough and the internet provides with the ultimate freedom to share ideas so building energy independent homes may be closer than we think.
Conclusion
Grants or no grants, there are only benefits in installing your very own solar panels. And right now it's a time of opportunity.
Once you make your investment (and get more than a half back from your authorities) you'll actually start to spend less on energy or, even better, make money by selling and delivering energy into the national grid.
- What do you think?
- Is there a grant program for solar panels in your country?
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