'Solar future looks really bright'

The costs and benefits of solar panels was one of the many topics explored during this year's 4th annual "Energy and You - Individual Choices ... Global Impact" workshop seminar at Wilson College.

As a renewable energy consultant with Mountain View Solar and Wind - and someone with a background in real estate - Michelle Liefke spoke about the real estate value of solar panels.

In her work, Liefke said she comes across four different types of buyers when it comes to solar panels - investors, libertarians, environmentalists and jet setters - each with different goals and purposes for their choice to go solar.

"It's appealing to use in many different ways," she said. "Understanding who you are will help you understand the next person who might be purchasing your home." Nancy Lindenmeyer, Fayetteville, agreed, stating she and her husband were a mix of the first three in their decision to install solar panels on their home.

They wanted to reduce their electric bill as well as be energy efficient and independent, Lindenmeyer said.

"We just liked that," she said. "We wanted to do out part."

There are many values of solar panels and the energy they produce which include reducing or eliminating your electric bill, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, providing a highly durable form of energy production and being a product with one of the best return on investment, Liefke said.

"The solar future looks really bright for our area," she said.

At Mountain View, in 2009 a five kilowatt system cost $42,000 but its net cost after state and federal incentives was $18,200, Liefke said. Today that same system costs $26,000 with a net cost of $18,200.

In addition, an April 2011 study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that homes in California that had a six kilowatt solar system saw a $33,000 increase in the value of the home, she said.

From 2009 to 2010, solar integration has doubled and it has increased eight times since 2006, Liefke said.

In 2010, Pennsylvania was ranked sixth in terms of grid-connected capacity installed, which Liefke attributes to a healthy Sunshine grant act, since Pennsylvania wasn't even on the list a few years ago.

Although many of the top ranking states, such as California, New Mexico and Nevada, are ones that are extremely hot, Liefke advised that heat has nothing to do with solar production. It's the amount of energy absorbed from the sun at any given time that does.

Judy Bricker, Waynesboro, compared this to the fact that you can still get sunburned in the winter even though it's not hot out because the sun is still producing energy.

Bricker said she and her family took a lot of things into consideration - such as when they would realize their investment, what if they moved shortly after installing, the aesthetics of solar panels - before deciding to install them on their home.

"They're not tacky," she said. "They're showing people that I do care."