Aug 25 2010
Scott M. Kiner, who holds the position of CEO in Kiner Communications and a resident of Palm Desert, has penned his experiences in installing a solar system at his home in Palm Desert and the benefits he accrued out of such an installation. He wanted to take advantage of his habitat in Palm Desert being one among the most sunlit areas in the world.
Scott, encouraged by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act bill passed during the Bush regime allowing home owners a cool 30% credit on solar investments, approached a local solar company with a license to know the viability of installing a roof mounted solar panel at his house. The company tested his roofing and quoted the installation charges for a 5.4 kW system as $50,000. With no money in hand, he availed a 20 year loan from the city energy department under the Palm Desert's Energy Independence Program at 7% annual fixed interest and got his system installed during March 2009.
Prior to the installation of the solar system he was paying approximately $6,387 to the Southern California Edison as charges towards electricity consumption which came down to $2,073 within a year resulting in a cool savings of $4,314 in the first year. After paying the annual loan repayment amount of $3,800 he was able to achieve total cash saving of $514 in the first year. In addition to the savings he also received an amount of $11,885 as one time tax credit from the government. During the working period of 25 years the system will make a guaranteed profit of $85,000 and will remove 160,000 pounds of CO2 emissions every year.