Do it yourself Solar! An alternative to the extreme quotes of professional solar contractors.

By using the free energy that our sun is providing, we can considerably reduce our energy bill and reduce the pollution of our planet. But a professional solar contractor could easily charge you more than $25.000 for the installation. Do it yourself solar is an excellent alternative to the extreme quotes of solar panels installed by a professional solar contractor. There are do it yourself solar manuals in the market that show you in great detail how to make these panels. And a mayor benefit of a do it yourself solar system is its Low Cost.

Due to the high demand from the market for professionally installed solar systems for residential homes, a professional solar contractor can apply a healthy margin. Even though you can submit an application for rebates, the installation costs by the company and the costs (although decreasing) for the solar panels from renowned manufactures like Sharp of Sanyo itself, are extremely expensive.

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In case of a residential solar installation, the average home would need a 3kW system, which is 3000W´s of solar panels. When installed by a professional solar installation company, a system like that would cost you typically $25.000-$27.000. In order to be eligible for the rebates, a solar contractor would propose panels from the well known brands like Sharp (high end), Mitsubishi (mid end) or Kyocera (low end), which are approved by the Department of Energy. Prices of panels range from $450-$650 for 130W panels (which equals $3.50-$5 per watt). A panel would need a surface of 1 m² and their weight is 15-20kilo (including the mounting brackets). For a 3kW installation you would therefore require slightly over 23panels (25m² of roof surface).

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Many states in the US and other countries have rebates that will refund you when you buy solar from a professional solar contractor. In California you get back $2.60 for every watt that you buy, in Colorado you get $4.50 back and in New Jersey you get $4.50 back. That means that in Colorado you get about half of that money back and in California about a third of that money back. So a typical customer is out of pocket about $15.000 to $20.000 to put a system up on their roofs that will cut their utility bill by probably about 80%.

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The bad news is that $15.000 is still a lot of money and it will take you about 8years to pay back your initial investment (assuming an annual saving of 80% or $2000). The alternative is to professionally installed solar is to do it yourself. And it´s not as difficult as it sounds as there are great do it yourself solar manual available that show you in great detail how to make these solar panels. Though you won´t be able to apply for the state incentives, nor will you get the 20years warranty that panel suppliers provide, but you will get a solar power system up and running at a fraction of the costs (for as low a $200 you can make yourself a solar panel) and realize a payback of less than a year. So if you're sure that your energy bill will continue to rise, you might want to take a closer look at do it yourself solar manual and install yourself a do it yourself solar PV system to provide electricity for your home.

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Please take a look at our home made solar panel manuals to start lowering your energy bill.