Solar and battery systems offer plenty of benefits to homeowners looking to lower their power bill and help the planet. That said, many folks aren’t yet familiar with their advantages. That’s why we’re breaking down all the major ways a solar and battery setup can make your home or business more efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly.
Key Points
- Solar and battery systems offer three main benefits to homeowners: they save you money, lower your carbon footprint, and make you more energy-independent. Read on to learn how!
- Over their system’s lifetime, many homeowners actually see their savings far exceed the initial cost of their setup, leading to a serious return on investment.
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Investing in a solar and battery system can make your entire community more energy secure.
Monthly Savings
Solar and battery systems are fantastic at lowering your monthly electricity bill and, in most cases, lead to greater savings than solar panels alone. With a solar and battery system, you produce your own renewable energy using solar panels. During the day, you can use some of this electricity to power your home and store some of it in your battery to use when your panels aren’t producing energy anymore, like at night. Because a solar and battery system lets you run your home on renewable energy around the clock, it dramatically reduces the amount of electricity you pull from the grid, significantly decreasing your power bill in the process. In fact, Torus Station owners lower their monthly electricity expenses by 60%-80% on average.
How’s this different from solar panels alone? For starters, with solar panels, you often don’t actually use all of the energy you create. In most states, this excess electricity is sent back to the utility company in exchange for credits on your power bill through net metering or billing agreements. Unfortunately, many households receive credits worth a fraction of the retail cost of electricity. This means homeowners are repurchasing their excess electricity from the utility company at a much higher price than they sold it for. On the other hand, solar and battery systems let you use all of the electricity you produce, resulting in greater monthly savings.
Overall Return on Investment
Solar and battery systems do cost money, but they can produce significant savings and return on investment over their lifetime. If you’re trying to decide if a system makes financial sense, the first item to consider is the payback period. The payback period simply refers to the amount of time it takes the sum of your monthly energy bill savings to exceed the cost of your solar and battery system. Once you’re past your payback period, every additional watt of energy your system produces amounts to pure profit. Each situation is different, but many Torus customers recoup the cost of their setup around the 8-year mark, well within the lifespan of their system. Once they’re out of the payback period, many homeowners save tens of thousands of additional dollars in the long run, thanks to their solar and battery system.
Outage Protection & Energy Independence
Solar and battery systems aren’t just more cost-effective than the grid, they also provide far more benefits to homeowners. For instance, many systems offer battery backup, allowing you to keep your lights on and fridge running using stored electricity when the grid goes down. Severe weather events and grid instability are projected to become more frequent for the foreseeable future, meaning it’s never been more important to protect your home from outages. Electricity prices across the United States will likely continue to rise as well, leaving many homeowners stuck paying far more than they used to for power. With a solar and battery system, you aren’t nearly as susceptible to rising costs because you produce most of the energy you consume.
Environmental Benefits
Homeowners benefit greatly from solar and battery systems, but so does the planet! Unfortunately, most electricity from the grid is generated by burning fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. Creating electricity this way increases pollution and CO2 emissions that are harmful to the environment. The average home uses a lot of power. With a solar and battery system, this power comes from the sun rather than fossil fuels. Even better? Battery storage lets you access renewable energy even when the sun isn’t shining, like at night when electricity from the grid is most likely created with fossil fuels. Most Torus Station customers reduce their carbon footprint by hundreds of thousands of pounds of CO2 emissions over their system’s lifetime.
For EV owners, the same principles apply. Electric vehicles are definitely better for the planet than fossil fuel-powered cars, but when charged using the grid, they’re still responsible for some emissions. Systems like the Torus Station let you charge your EV using 100% clean renewable energy, making your next drive truly emissions-free.
Community Benefits
Solar and battery systems don’t just promote energy security at home, they also make your entire community more resilient. The average home uses far more electricity than it used to. This increased demand on the grid leads to rising costs and more frequent brownouts and blackouts. By installing a solar and battery system, you greatly reduce your home’s burden on the grid. Even better, depending on your system and location, you may be eligible to enroll in a virtual power plant (VPP) agreement with your utility company. VPP agreements (link to VPP blog) allow your utility provider to use your battery’s stored electricity to balance the grid in exchange for a cash payment. This leads to more stable grid systems for your community and greater savings for you.
The Takeaways
Solar and battery systems offer many advantages to homeowners. They lower your monthly bills, often pay for themselves, and yield a significant return on investment over the long run. On top of that, they greatly reduce carbon emissions and create far more energy-resilient homes and communities.
