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When we discussed ways to reduce your home energy consumption, we talked about installing solar panels as a way to reduce your home energy consumption and go green.
Thanks to the recent solar boom, the proliferation of solar panels for residential consumers has become more ubiquitous than ever.
According to research from the EIA, solar panel installations rose by 34% between 2020 and 2021. A recent survey from Pew also found that 8% of homeowners have solar panels installed in their homes.
Tack on a 30% solar tax credit from the Inflation Reduction Act and switching to solar has never been easier.
However, there are more ways to power your home with renewable energy that go beyond just solar.
That’s why we want to share our top alternative power sources for home electricity using renewables available to most homeowners.
While many conceptualize the switch to renewables as some high-cost, philanthropic endeavor to benefit the planet, having a renewable energy home offers more stability and cost-savings to homeowners than they realize.
In our experience, switching to renewable energy production at home is easier than people think.
With that said, making the switch to renewables requires several different factors, including your:
Nevertheless, most people can benefit from adding solar panels or other renewable projects as long as it makes sense for their location, home, and budget.
So to help you decide what works best for your home, we’ve outlined seven practical ways to power your home with renewable energy and a few additional sources of green energy production.
As we’ve mentioned, solar panels offer the easiest access to home renewable energy considering the sun is available everywhere. Even in places with harsher winters, like the northeast, solar panels can still convert sunlight to electricity, though the shorter days will impact your production.
Furthermore, solar panels even work during dark or cloudy days, making them suitable for the northeast or west.
Solar panels may be one of the more expensive items on the list, but they do pay for themselves in ten years and will significantly raise the value of your home.
Unfortunately, solar panels will only make you grid-independent with a battery to store the energy your panels collect.
PV batteries allow homeowners to store any solar power generated and use it when their panel is no longer collecting energy.
The benefit of the PV battery is that it makes your electricity production more independent and stable in the event of a grid outage.
As technology evolves, the lifespan of solar batteries should increase. Currently, PVs last around 5-15 years and may cost as much as $10,000 for popular models like the Tesla Powerwall.
Air source heat pumps are a popular new way to heat homes and even come with their own hefty tax credit.
Air source pumps extract heat from the air–even in temperatures up to -15℃–and can be used with a solar panel or wind turbine to heat your home or water without fossil fuels.
It should be noted that air-source heat pumps do require electricity. So if you get your power from the grid, you will have to pay for your air source heat pump.
However, their costs are similar to that of a furnace and less than baseboard heating, making them a cost-effective and cleaner option to heat your home.
Solar water heating is a clean new way to heat your water using existing solar technology. Essentially, solar panels will collect the energy from the sun to heat up water just beneath the panels, which is then fed into your home.
Energy.gov estimates that solar water heaters can reduce water heating costs by 50% to 80% monthly.
While geothermal heat pumps may sound impractical at first glance, they’re actually very efficient and available to most homeowners.
Geothermal heat pumps work similarly to conventional heat pumps but transfer all heat generated through long looping pipes buried beneath the ground. The idea is that the layer underneath the earth the pipes pass through will keep the heat warm as the temperature remains consistently warm underground.
The US Department of Energy estimates that geothermal heat pumps can reduce your energy consumption by 25% to 50%.
The main drawback of geothermal pumps is the high upfront cost but they can pay for themselves in as little as 5 to 15 years.
Purchasing pellet or wood-burning stoves is a great way to offset your heating costs and get free heating supplied from your backyard. While not entirely clean, biomass heating emits significantly fewer emissions than coal or other fossil fuels and can help you manage the rising cost of natural gas in your state.
Finally, if the cost is too great to get started, consider shopping for a renewable energy supplier. In states where energy deregulation is allowed, customers can shop for suppliers that source their energy entirely from renewable sources.
This strategy allows you to contribute to green energy projects and power your life with clean energy.
In addition to the changes I listed above, there are dozens of additional ways to power your home with renewable energy, including:
As renewable energy production increases, technology like solar panels and EVs will only become more affordable and crucial.
In the meantime, taking advantage of existing technology to power your home with renewable technology will help you save money and reduce your carbon footprint.
If you’re concerned about affordability, keep reading for clean energy tax incentives designed to help make renewable energy more affordable.
Driving the clean energy movement one step at a time and making a positive impact on the environment.
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