Green energy finally becoming affordable

Cost has been a prohibitive factor for many consumers seeking alternative energy sources for their home but as demand has increased, the cost has slowly gone down, although we have quite a way to go before it is within reach for common households.

As demonstrated in the video above, Google has just announced that it has created a $280 million fund to finance residential solar projects including the solar lease and power purchase agreement options to homeowners that want solar panels but need financial assistance in order to obtain the systems. The lease project will serve Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas.

According to Google, “In SolarCity’s innovative financing model, the company covers installation and maintenance of the system over the life of the lease. You can prepay, or pay nothing upfront after which you make monthly solar lease payments. All told, [a user] will save $100 per month on his energy bills this year, and more than $16,000 over his 15 year lease, after factoring in his lease payment and lower energy bills.”

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Alternative solar power concepts

The black solar panels installed on roofs have been around for many years, but designers and engineers are coming up with new and innovative ways to capture solar energy in the standard home. One that has recently caught our attention is the “Solar Window” concept designed by Jun-se Kim, Yu-jin Cho and Yu-jin Lee.

It is a transparent solar panel that glazes the window and offers additional sockets giving it an immediate purpose. We believe the Solar Window could be used in conjuction with traditional energy sources and act as a backup energy source.

Are you seeing more solar energy being used in your market? If not, do you think Google’s lease project or concepts like the one outlined above could help increase solar energy use where you live? Tell us in comments what you think.

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