Can Solar Reduce My Heating Bills?

Snow covered house

 

Switching to solar energy is a powerful, popular upgrade for American homeowners. The number of new solar installations doubled in 2016 compared to the year before and the cost of solar continues to decline. 

You might be wondering, how would going solar reduce my monthly energy costs? On average, Americans spent $114 per month on electricity in 2015. If you invest in a residential solar array for your home, you could reduce your monthly electricity bill to virtually zero, and in some particularly sunny places, even earn you money by selling excess energy back to the grid.

However, those monthly savings won’t help you reduce your heating and cooling bills, unless you’re running an entirely electric heating system.

In the Northeast, homeowners with heating oil- and propane-based systems can expect to spend $2,100 this winter on heating costs alone in the winter months. In some cases, spring is so short that it’s not long after you turn off the heat before you have to start cooling.

The only way to get the same heat for a lower heating bill if you’re on oil, propane or pure electric is to install a geothermal system. Geothermal use the constant, ambient temperature of the ground to efficiently heat your home in the winter and cool your home in the summer, using 75 percent less electricity that conventional electric heating and cooling would in the process.

Along the way, you’ll not only save thousands of dollars per year on oil and propane, you’ll also improve your home’s carbon footprint. By some estimates, 65.4 percent of the average home’s energy use goes toward heating (41.5 percent), providing hot water (17.7 percent) and air conditioning (6.2 percent).

Home geothermal systems, like those sold by Dandelion, can handle heating, air conditioning and hot water at a fraction of the cost of traditional systems. Coupled with solar, homeowners can eliminate their home’s carbon footprint.

You can sign up here to get a detailed estimate of how geothermal can impact your home heating and cooling costs and here if you want a solar estimate too.