Solar Panels ARE a building improvement and increase appraised value!

A lot of people may not realize that SOLAR energy improvements are not just tax credits and a source of renewable energy. They also add value to a building, and they can and should be be financed as capital improvements. Real Estate people tell us that there is a value and it is not a trifle one. A solar panels can last 30 years and reduce electric bills throughout that lifetime. It represents a value in the form of cost-avoidance, which is the same as any investment, a return on the outlay. In the case of photovoltaic panels, the annualized return on investment (ROI) is less than 4% on the east coast, but this is a nearly risk-free stream of cash, likea savings account. This is a raw ROI, by the way, I think the actual return is higher if one considers the tax incentives and depreciation in this.

Market driven incentives are out there but the old tired rhetoric continues.

In two separate articles in ASHRAE JOURNAL last October, authors asserted, wrongly, that owners do not want to invest in renewable energy like photovoltaic solar panels because they will not recoup the cost when they sell.

Wrong. The writers do not realize the changing economics are making this a moot argument. Its an old argument. I first heard it back in the 1970s when electricity was 2 cents a kilowatt/hour. Electricity prices were in the basement for 20 years, but starting about 1997, the tide turned.

More than anything, the lack of agreement points up a lack of knowledge. The great masses of engineers and technicians ought to stay up to date on the markets but they probably do not. The ones who claim that energy efficiency and renewable energy is not financially viable are doing a disservice to the rest of us. Staying up on ones reading is more important than ever.

Perhaps its “Over-specialization syndrome”: staying up-to-date on ones passion for good design but not on peripheral issues such as energy prices. Real estate managers know more about this cost issue than the so-called experts!