wildrose wrote:'Net-Zero' Homes Strive for Energy Efficiency
The only question is whether or not the initial cost of all that equipment balances out eventually as a result of savings on utility bills. In other words, does the cost of the solar panels (and other special equipment and materials) actually wind up getting paid for and how long does that take?
It really depends on how much one "normal energy use" is. If a home has a average bill of $100 a month, it would take too long to hit the break even point. Around $250-300 is when it starts to make sense to finance a system. Payments on a
$30-40K system would need to be less than $250 a month IMO to make it worth while.
I think that if a $40k system was put on a $100k home in an undesirable housing market. The home would likely increase $25-30k in value. The opposite would happen in a hot housing market.