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Are Solar-Powered Homes More Valuable? Yes!
04/18/11
08:33:00 am, by Jim Jenal - Founder & CEO 
, 328 words 
Categories: All About Solar Power, Solar Economics, Solar Rebates, Solar Tax Incentives
Are Solar-Powered Homes More Valuable? Yes!
Link: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/emp/reports/lbnl-4476e.pdf
While the value of having a solar-powered home might seem self-evident - after all, energy prices are only going up so your solar power system will save you more and more money every year - there has been an open question as to just how much a solar power system would increase a home's value at resale time. A new study published by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory titled, An Analysis of the Effects of Residential Photovoltaic Energy Systems on Home Sales Prices in California, is a significant step toward answering that question.
The report, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Clean Energy States Alliance, looked at the sale of some 72,000 homes in California of which approximately 2,000 had solar power systems installed at the time of sale. The research found a substantial premium for solar-powered homes ranging from a low of $3.90/nameplate DC watt to as high as $6.40 with most model assumptions coalescing near $5.50/watt. For existing homes, the premium was even higher - ranging from a low estimate of $6.00 to $7.70/watt. (As all of our residential work involves existing homes, we found this conclusion particularly encouraging!)
Given that residential installation costs are currently running in the $6.00 - $7.50/watt range, this means that for the typical residential solar installation in the Run on Sun service area, the solar premium on home value more than exceeds the total cost of installing solar even before rebates and tax incentives are included. There is no other home improvement that would provide such a 1-for-1 improvement in your home's resale value while simultaneously resulting in thousands of dollars in savings over the years that you continue to own the home.
Whether it is to increase the value of your home at resale time, or to dramatically cut your energy costs, or to simply green your home and be more environmentally conscious, a residential solar power system continues to make more and more sense. As in dollars and cents.
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2 comments
This report is definitely good news, and I believe that its findings apply in many, maybe most cases. Unfortunately, I'm pretty convinced that our case is not one of them. We live in an entry-level homes neighborhood where a lot of homes have gone into foreclosure in the past 3 years. The same house that we bought, unfortunately at the peak of prices here in the Denver area in 2005 for $215,000, would likely sell for $185,000. The 5.59 kW solar system we added last year cost us, out of pocket, only $8,000, but I don't think we could sell our house for $193,000 because it's up there. We just don't live in the "right" (yuppie/green) neighborhood where prospective buyers are going to pay $8, $10k more for a house with solar. 
Christof - Hard to say, but there must have been many homes in the research that were from areas with lots of foreclosures given the rate of same in California. Frankly, I hope you don't have to find out whether there is a solar premium for your home unless and until *you* want to move! 
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