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FACTS ABOUT SOLAR ELECTRICITY
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DID YOU KNOW? New York State has some of the biggest incentives in the country for installing solar power systems - covering close to half the cost of a typical system. The earth receives more energy from the sun in one hour than the world uses in an entire year. Silicon from one ton of sand, used in solar photovoltaic (PV) cells, could produce as much electricity as burning 500,000 tons of coal. If just 1% of New York’s area were covered in solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, it would provide 100% of the state’s electricity needs. Buildings, roads and other structures already cover 3% of the state, and can serve as hosts for the solar panels. Our earth receives as much energy from sunlight in 20 days as scientists estimate is stored in the Earth’s entire coal, natural gas, and oil reserves. SOLAR POWER – RELIABLE TODAY Four large companies account for over 50% of solar cell production: Sharp, Kyocera, BP Solar, and Shell Solar. GE recently acquired a solar manufacturing company. Solar energy is currently used to power road signs, replacing noisy, polluting, maintenance-intensive diesel generators. It also powers emergency call boxes and the new parking meters. In the United States, over 10,000 buildings are already powered by solar energy.
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IS SOLAR POWER FOR YOU? Is your roof flat or does your roof face southwest, south, or southeast? Is your building located away from taller buildings and trees? If so, you may be a good candidate for solar electricity. A three kilowatt (3 kW) system of typical solar panels covers about 300 square feet of roof and costs about $16,000.* This system produces the same amount of electricity that the average NYC apartment consumes (3,600 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of AC electricity per year – less in winter, more in summer). Businesses are eligible for state subsidies to finance solar panel installations up to 5,000 square feet (50 kilowatts). A 50 kW system produces about 60,000 kWhs per year (enough to power 17 NYC apartments).
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ECONOMICS The federal government is providing a 30% tax credit on solar power systems purchased through 2008. Demand for solar electricity has grown at about 25% annually over the past 15 years while the cost of systems has dropped by about 5% each year. Solar = insurance. Lock in your electricity at today’s prices for over 20 years. Plus, your power is not dependent on unstable fuel sources, often from unstable places, that are extracted and burned in environmentally harmful ways.
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Cost after NYSERDA financial incentives.