18 Best Solar Companies in San Jose, CA (Dec 2022 Review)

The Cost and Benefits of Solar in San Jose

The cost of putting up solar panels has decreased greatly over the past few years, but it's still a significant investment for most homeowners. The cost of solar and the savings it generates vary depending on some key factors such as:

• Your energy bills: This will affect how much you can save. In San Jose, the average homeowner can save about $1,000 a year on their electricity bills.
• Choice of solar panels: The type of solar panels you buy will affect your total cost. High-efficiency monocrystalline panels will cost more upfront but can also lead to more savings over the lifetime of your system. If space isn't a constraint for your project, you can go with a higher number of more affordable panels.
• Your location: This affects the average daily sunlight your roof gets, which helps determine how many panels you need.
• Incentives: The federal solar investment tax credit currently lets you reduce your taxes by 30% of the project cost. Your state may also have incentives and rebates that you can benefit from. Additionally, you can save about $32,000 over 20 years on your utility bills, not including incentives.

There are several great benefits of solar even with the initial cost of installation. It can help the environment and your finances. Additionally, it can increase the value of your home, giving you even more benefits if you want to sell your home later.

Solar Incentives in San Jose

Although a solar power system is typically a large investment, it can save you a substantial amount of money over time because of reduced utility bills and government incentives. These incentives usually take the form of cash rebates, tax breaks and/or solar renewable energy credits. They can cut the cost of going solar by 30%, upwards of 50% depending on your location. For more information about local incentives, check out our our article on solar incentives.

Environmental Impact of Switching to Solar in San Jose

Going solar can have a meaningful effect on the environment. But you may be curious — how much exactly can you help by going solar? The average person has a substantial carbon footprint. Between their car, which produces over 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year, and energy for their home, it can be overwhelming to figure out what to do. Going solar is a practical thing you can do to help. In San Jose, the average household can lower their carbon footprint by 50 pounds a year after going solar. As you can see, going solar has so many other perks outside of saving money. One of the primary ones is that you can help save the Earth too.