Solar Panel Loans
If the federal government can help us get an education, can it help us get solar panels?
We believe that all Americans should be able to receive an education, so the federal government provides low interest loans to students. Now Americans are in need of alternative sources of energy to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So why doesn’t everyone just get solar panels? The price!! A solar system for a home can cost about $30,000!! The gov gives tax credits for such systems, but how does that help the average joe? So my question is: Would it be feasible for the federal or state government to provide low interest loans for families to purchase solar systems for their homes? If you think that this is feasible, then at which level ( fed or state) should this service be provided?
That is a very expensive way to produce electricity.
A $30,000 solar panel system installed on your home will have an annual production of electricity of about 4,000 kilowatt hours.
If you finance that with a loan at 6% interest (a very cheap interest rate) your annual interest cost is $1,800. That is 45 cents per kilowatt hour, which is very expensive for electricity.
You would be very unhappy with your local utility company if they charged you 45 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity.
If instead that money were spent on wind turbines, the cost of production of electricity is 4 cents per kilowatt hour using wind turbines. That is less than one tenth of the cost using solar photovoltaics.
I think that it makes much more sense for the government to fund electricity production by wind turbines because it is so much more cost effective.
DOE Gives Out First Loan Guarantee