Solar Power in Southern States?
by admin on Sunday, October 23rd, 2011 | 4 Comments
Can solar power be used to power a home in the state of Georgia? I understand that most solar is only in the western states and the southern states are not worth the investment.
Maybe not true. Search for insolation tables on the Internet, and find the insolation value for your area. It is 5 where I live, meaning you get the equivalent of five hours of sunlight per day on the average. My system works very well. I generate about 20 kWh per day.
Don’t forget to take into account the cost of the collectors compared to their usable lifespan. Just as roofing materials last longer in the more arid west, a solar collector will not last as long in Georgia.
I think a lot of the cost effectiveness has to do with what kind of rebates you will get.
Florida has a lot of solar installations, and surely, they’re no less humid than Georgia. They even have hurricanes!
If you look around, and are not hearing about solar electric installs in your community, that would suggest that it financially doesn’t make sense.
I’ll bet solar hot water makes sense, though, especially with your warm summers and mild winters.
Worth the investment? ? ? Depends on what your goals are. Solar is very very cheap compaired to the millions of lifes that could be saved. If you think about it your grand kids will be here when the ice melts and the coast lines have moved in 150 miles.
Georgia gets about 4 hours of peak sun so it would cost you a little more then someone in southern Florida. But solar is still usable in your area.
Here is a World Solar Insolation Map http://www.oynot.com/solar-insolation-map.html