Tag Archive: solar power

The Solar Lease vs. Buy Debate; A Question of Math

In an earlier blog, Financing Your Renewable Energy System, we made the statement, “The lure of no money down for leasing is tempting, but the economics show that owning your system offers much better payback over the life of the…
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Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC): Tick Tock, Time’s Running Out

The 30% Federal Tax Credit, the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), is scheduled to retire on December 31, 2016, dropping commercial incentives to 10%, and residential to zero. The ITC was first enacted as part of the Energy Policy Act…
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First Steps to Go Solar: Find out if Solar is right for you

If you are thinking about going solar, but aren’t sure if it makes sense for you, here are a few questions to help you determine if solar is right for you.

Solar Power System Incentives Update – June & July 2015

Local solar and renewable energy incentives offered by states, municipalities, and electric companies are continuously changing. They can be rather difficult to understand, so we’re going to update you on a few programs we’ve heard about recently.

Solar Tracking Tips: To Track Or Not To Track?

The idea of installing a solar power system that automatically tracks the sun throughout the day, increasing its output by as much as 30% seems like such a great idea, but is it worth the extra expense and maintenance issues?…
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What Are The Best Solar Panels?

  We often get the question from customers, “What are the best solar panels for my home?” It depends on what you mean by best. In our experience at altE, for some customers “best” means highest efficiency per square foot,…
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Peak Shaving with Power Shifting and Load Shedding: An Overview

No, they are not new product lines from Gillette® and Weight Watchers®. Peak Shaving and Load Shedding are power management strategies that can help optimize your grid tied solar system. Elon Musk recently talked about peak shaving in his PowerWall…
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Aquion AHI Batteries to Go Off Grid: The Upgrade

Last fall, I decided to walk the off-grid walk. Our altE customers have applications that run the gamut, from grid-tied, to battery backup, to off-grid. To get some hands-on experience with the kinds of products altE customers use every day,…
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altE’s Take on Tesla’s PowerWall Battery Announcement

We’ve all heard the excitement over Elon Musk’s Tesla Energy battery announcement. We thought we’d take a moment to try to help sort through the bits of information released. Additional pieces of information are slowly coming through, so we are…
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Solar Energy – An Interview with a Solar Queen

Recently altE Store’s resident Solar Queen, Amy Beaudet, was given the opportunity to speak with Victor Norman, a Broker/Owner at Acton Real Estate Co., LLC, on his local television program Insider Guide to Real Estate.