LI Power Solutions Blog

1] The Al Gore Contingency. This group is motivated by the fear of global warming.  It is their argument that green house gasses, produced by fossil fuel emissions, will cause the earth to heat up and melt the polar caps. This will cause catastrophic climate changes, and will eventually render the earth uninhabitable. Whether you believe in global warming or not, nobody likes pollution.  Solar electricity contributes no green house gas, nor does it create pollution. 
 

 2] The Pickens Army. This faction is determined to rid America from the dependence of foreign oil. Oil billionaire, T. Boone Pickens began this campaign on the internet, and is mainly focused on wind power, but solar power fits as well.  The Pickens Plan advocates using renewable, free power sources, therefore using less oil.  The motivation here is security. One belief is that buying oil from Arab nations may fund terrorists, but it also has to do with American financial security.
 

3] Just Plain Americans. People, who don’t care much about global warming, or foreign oil dependency, still know they pay too much for electricity, especially if they live in NY metro or California. Solar electric systems are expensive, and not economical at first glance, but the combination of utility rebates and tax credits bring the price down to a point where it makes economical sense.  To have a system installed, an average household will invest between $5000 and $12,000, (out of pocket, after rebates and tax credits).  To simplify the numbers, a $10,000 investment can yield a savings of say, $2000 per year, every year.  That is a 20% rate of return on investment. Not too shabby considering there is no investment risk or taxes on the savings.  If you invested $10,000 anywhere else, in order to receive that kind of return, you would need to take on some sort of investment risk. Unless of course, you are in a Ponzi scheme and you get out early. Even if you were able to achieve that rate of return, you would still need to pay taxes on the profits. Ben Franklyn said “A penny saved is a penny earned”. He may have been correct in 1775, but now a penny saved is better than a penny earned because it is not taxed. Not to mention, has anyone ever seen electric rates actually go down, long term?