February 12, 2020
Taxes may be a dry topic, but if you want to save money with solar, this is a very important post. Please read on. I’ll start at the beginning. Jump ahead if you don’t need answers to the first few questions. And see the glossary of tax terms at the bottom of this post if… Read the entire post »
December 20, 2019
So went the famous line from the 1975 movie, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and now so does the Federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for solar systems. In short, the Federal Investment Tax Credit for going solar is not dead and gone. Instead, it has merely dropped a bit, whereby the old credit of… Read the entire post »
December 20, 2019
We get many enthusiastic calls and emails from people ready to get solar installed on their roofs. Their enthusiasm is exceeded only by their disappointment if we tell them that their projected return isn’t that good because their roof is far less than ideal. How would we know? How could you know? Here are some… Read the entire post »
October 29, 2019
9,125 Days of Christmas (or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice)! We know it’s a tad early, but are you looking for the perfect gift for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or even the Winter Solstice? We know there are a lot of options, but how about a gift that will keep giving for 25 plus years… Read the entire post »
October 29, 2019
As I have often mentioned, the solar installation process can at times be fairly maddening (see The Five Stages of a Solar Installation, Parts 1, 2, and 3). That’s partially because it is more of a major construction project than initially meets the eye, but mostly because there are so many players involved in the… Read the entire post »
September 27, 2019
One of the hottest topics in solar these days is a solar power battery. That is, a battery to shift your solar production to the non-sunny part of the day as well as provide a backup power source for when the grid isn’t working. And if you’ve thought about a solar power battery at all,… Read the entire post »
September 27, 2019
As we outlined in an earlier issue/blog, we divide each solar project into five stages; the Sales Stage, then Engineering, Operations, Installation and finally Close Out. In this series we went out of order, so in Part 1 we covered Close Out (the very end) and last month we covered Engineering and Operations. We could… Read the entire post »
August 30, 2019
Last month we covered the fifth and final stage of a solar installation, the Closeout Stage, meaning we started at the end. So what are the other four stages? Well, it all starts with the Sales Stage (what we call the paperwork chase), then Engineering, Operations, and finally Installation. We’ll cover the Sales and Installation… Read the entire post »
August 30, 2019
“What are the best solar panels for you?” That’s a great question, but hopefully you won’t take offense if I say “I think you’re asking the wrong question”. Yes, I know, the on-line review mania that has swept the world since the Internet’s arrival has made finding the very best products a kind of sport.… Read the entire post »
July 26, 2019
Final solar installation stage. Sticking with the theme that we make solar installations easy, we thought that explaining what goes into an installation would be helpful (even if that doesn’t make our top eight questions list). So here is Part 1 of the Five Stages of a Solar Installation and rather than starting at the… Read the entire post »
I started writing The Energy Miser in 2011 because I like to analyze energy issues and pontificate about my findings. Got a topic you want me to cover? Let me know.
