Solar panels have long been known as a way to save on electricity, but they're also more than that. According to a recent study from the University of Texas at Austin, solar panels don't just lower costs for the owners; they can actually reduce the cost of electricity to the whole neighborhood, Inside Climate News reported.
Lead author Nick Laws and his team found that a typical neighborhood-sized part of the electrical grid costs $7.2 million per year to supply with electricity. That includes not just generating power but also building new infrastructure.
However, the more homes adopt solar panels, the less reliant they are on grid power, lowering the overall demand for the system. If enough people install solar panels, the study found that the cost for the same neighborhood would drop by $3 million, or 40%.
🗣️ If you were to install home solar panels, which of these factors would be your primary motivation?
🔘 Energy independence ⚡
🔘 Lower power bills 💰
🔘 Helping the planet 🌎
🔘 No chance I ever go solar 🚫
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
"It lowers the cost for everybody," Laws told ICN.
Those benefits are on top of the individual savings for the owners, which a report from Forbes estimated at between $25,500 and $33,000 over time — or even more in areas where electricity is most costly.
Plus, you can get an even better deal and enjoy savings and tax breaks by checking out the free tools at EnergySage.
If all those savings and benefits to the community aren't enough, solar power is also a healthier choice for the planet. Solar doesn't create heat-trapping air pollution like fuel-powered electric plants do, so it helps bring down the temperature of our overheating planet.
Laws said that despite all these benefits, electrical utilities aren't currently set up to bring down demand by promoting solar.
"I believe that distribution utilities need to be more proactive in identifying the problem areas in their grids that can benefit from non-wires alternatives. However, most distribution utilities do not have the tools to identify these areas, nor do they have the budget to develop the necessary tools," he told ICN. A change in funding to these utilities would "align their economic incentives with providing cleaner and more affordable energy."
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