If you install solar panels on, or around your house, is the energy generated free?

Question

Same with wind turbines, if you have them up, is the generated energy free?

Answer 1

The energy you receive is free.

The cost ultimately is the cost of the equipment and any maintenance.

Those costs are coming down, and it looks like there are going to be some serious tax breaks to go along with it.

Answer 2

Essentially yes, except the cost of equipment & maintenance.

Many people are selling the energy back to the grid, then buying the energy they actually use from the utility company. This ensures you always have as much as you need, and can help you get rebates on the equipment. In this case you may pay a few dollars a month for energy.

Answer 3

So far the government has not found a way to charge for the wind or the sun ,

but they are working on it ,

Instead they do their best to keep this equipment as expensive as possible.

Answer 4

***** yeah the irrigation district even gives you money if you generate more than you use

Answer 5

The energy is free, but the monthly payments on the equipment will be huge beyond belief.

Answer 6

Free is a relative word when talking about the investment in the equipment you are using to generate some free energy.  Believe me, I have been scanning the internet looking for some CHEAP solar and wind power.  The cheapest and easiest is the black hose to the pool.  Sheesh....the sun warms the water in the hose and we put the warmed water into the pool.  Keeps it nice and comfy.  But anything more EXTENSIVE is costly and requires skills I do not possess.  I keep looking, I wish the cost to put these things in weren't so astronomical!  It seems to keep lots of people from investing in renewable energy.  Not all of us are Rockefeller's!  Hope this helps you!  Good luck!

Answer 7

Yes, the energy you get is free. Some cities allow you to tie it into the grid, and you can get a credit for unused electricity. The way my system works is when I'm generating more than I can use my meter runs backwards, so I'm actually feeding the grid. During the summer I'll actually have a credit on my electric bill, when the days get shorter I'll use more than I generate and my bill will be paid by the credit I earned over the summer. My system is only a few days old, but my hope is to go from almost $2K a year to under $500.

Answer 8

yes because it is RENEWABLE ENERGY!  

Answer 9

Yes the energy is free, so all you have to pay for is the cost of the equipment.

Answer 10

Of course, the energy produced by these devices is YOUR energy and not coming from any other company. It is a like a personal battery.

However, the pay that goes to your electric bill will go to buy these solar panels and they are quite expensive. And plus, you need a lot of it to generate energy to suit a normal american home

Answer 11

if they belong 2 u and they are on your property then yes it's free how could any one charge u 4 that it's like having a generator accept that's not free u need gas 2 run it.

Answer 12

Beside equipment cost you will likely have to pay local taxation on the increased property value. That could be hundreds of dollars per year.

If you are able to get NanoSolar panels, the effective cost of electricity will be about $1200 per kW and that gives you some amount of energy that depends on where the panels are mounted. That is cheap, but way off from free.

Answer 13

i would hope so... if you can figure out how to get the equipment.  but you know if you hook it up into the live system thats currently being fed into your house from the power company, and you expect them to take care of it for you, their gonna want you to pay for maintenance.  we had a hot water heater hooked up directly to the solar panel here, and it only used the electricity to heat one tank at a time when it broke, which was like after every hurricane, yeah problem with glass (but that was only once a year).  but now adays there are many different ways to produce electricity with solar power. there are titanium type paints that can transfer the energy to bateries for charging.  and you gotta love the little walkway lights that dont need and wires at all...those are cool, and the company can't charge you at all for that.  give it some more time if you cant afford it now, eventually (unless we come up with some awesome energy answer) all that kind of equipment (no wires, just tons and tons of silent rechargable batteries, no powerlines - maybe a few ethonol powered backup generators)  will be very affordable, maybe even city / county / state regulation type thing as well, then you really shouldnt have to pay at all, just the post maintenance and maybe, maybe not, for the repair, depending on whether or not it was something that was voted upon or decided by the environmental powers.  fha, fda, epa, ect.

before any of that happens i kinda wanna figure out a way to run batery chargin of a combination of magnet generators (permanent, so i dont need to waste e-  running them) and excersize equipment turning kinetic into potential e-.  (oh, e- = energy, electrons)