Longtime Newton resident and Ward 8 City Councilor Jacob Silber made the switch to power his home with solar energy. To learn more about the motivations behind his decision, along with the benefits he’s noticed, we asked him to offer some insight.
What does solar mean for Massachusetts?
In the Northeast, especially in Massachusetts, power supply is limited. We don’t really have a huge number of natural resources like hydro power or coal. But with a growing population, limited supply, and no real cost-effective measures, the cost of electricity is sure to go up. From a state perspective, investment in solar builds resilience and provides cost-effective options for Massachusetts residents.
What benefits, both environmental and financial, were important to you when deciding to make this investment?
After working in the renewable energy industry for a while, I started thinking, what’s the return on putting more solar on? What do I think is going to be happening to electricity prices? I think the environmental benefits are attractive: solar lasts longer than people expect. The longevity is there for the panels to continue to generate. Solar puts out more power than it takes to actually manufacture them. So, you know, there’s a good life cycle with solar panels in general.
Can you demystify the economic benefits of installing solar?
I basically look at what’s the cost of putting on solar, and then you look at if I took that money and compare what would happen if you instead put it into the stock market, or bought bonds. Since you’re effectively getting electricity for free after installation, it comes out to returning more than the standard 8% from other investments. Also, considering federal tax credits and the benefits of net metering, we’re seeing a huge return on investment.
How would individuals see return on investment?
It’s like any investment, really. You’re paying more money up front, but you’re getting benefits over a number of years. Factoring in general electricity costs increasing, your return on investment increases even more. Then it becomes a pretty easy calculation. You pay less for electricity since you’re getting this added benefit of getting electricity from solar effectively for free.
As a homeowner, is there anything that you wish you had known before you installed solar?
For me, getting an interconnection agreement with Eversource took a bit of extra planning than I expected. I had a lot of stuff on my electrical panel, and so they couldn’t put the solar onto the electrical panel and had to put it on the other side of the meter. Also, I think there’s some things I wish I had planned out a little bit better to set myself up for being totally off the grid. For example, the solar could charge my truck and my truck could power the house if there was a power outage. Lastly, when you’re doing big electrical projects, it never hurts to take a look and ask yourself, “What are my long term goals?”
James Garrett and Lukas Shrestha are juniors at Newton South High School.