05/08/2021
Solar! It seems like everybody is talking about it. It’s a little weird for a company like ours because we have been talking about it for 22 years. More than that, we’ve been installing it, repairing it, servicing, and maintaining it for Central Florida homeowners for that long too. Now the rest of the world has suddenly caught on and every Tom, Dick, and Harry has opened up a solar company and started making wild and crazy claims. Buyers beware!
We know solar, better than most, and we cringe at the promises some of these new “solar salespeople” are making. Further, we are shocked at some of the prices they are charging. Just in the last few years we have already seen several of these new solar companies close down, change their names, or move onto other states once their tarnished reputations hurt their ability to be believed by even the most gullible among us.
We do solar right, and sometimes that means not doing solar at all. If we don’t think solar is a good fit for your home, we’ll tell you and explain why, and lose the sale. It beats throwing it up on your roof and then getting the grumpy phone call from you a few months later, and then the bad reviews. We have no intentions on going out of business, changing our name, or moving away.
So what’s the right way? Well, first of all, you have to have enough reasonably unshaded south facing roof to fit enough Photovoltaic (PV) panels up there to generate enough electricity to offset your current electric bill. Why south facing? Because we are north of the equator. The sun may rise in the East, and fall in the West, but it is always south of us. To get enough sunlight every day, your panels are most effective when south.
Unshaded? If you have trees that block the sun from landing on your south facing roof it takes away some, or all, of the roof area to put panels. Unscrupulous salespeople might suggest you cut those trees, we do not. That tree, or trees, are providing your home with more energy saving shade than a few PV panels can offset. You would wind up paying the arborist to remove or trim the trees, then have to buy more PV panels to make up for the increase in electric cost due to the missing shade.
So let’s say you have a good swath of unshaded south facing roof to work with. The next step is not to add up your total electrical usage for the year, divide by twelve, and translate that to solar photovoltaic panels. The next step is to make sure your home, the envelope of your house, is sealed as tight as possible and every energy using appliance is as efficient as possible. Energy usage reduction is A LOT more cost effective than energy production. We’ll look at your air conditioning, water heater, seals around windows and doors, attic insulation, and much more to make sure you are conserving as much as possible before investing in electric panels.
Then we wait, three to six months, and see how these changes have lowered your electric bill. Now we recalculate your energy usage and we have a real number to offset with photovoltaic panels. The PV sale will be much smaller, and less profitable for us, but we will have stretched your buying dollar efficiently and made the absolute highest possible positive change in your energy consumption. Add to that, we will expect you to love the work we did for you, leave us glowing reviews, and tell all your friends and family about how well we took care of you. Beware any salesperson or company that tries to sell you solar any other way. Better yet, call us and deal directly with a solar company who has been doing it right for Central Florida homeowners since 1999.
Thanks,
Dave Mills
General Manager
AllSolarEnergy, Inc.
Lic
352-598-3789
www.allsolarenergy.com
