If the electric bill were to proportionally rise, the average American would pay over $850 every month. Even if a consumer opted for a whole house transformation, he would still lose money. For a full home transformation to solar power, the Boston Solar Company says it will cost between $35,000 and $40,000 with an additional cost for batteries to store the excess power for use in the night (Strecker). Even though the solar panels will provide sufficient energy for the house, the homeowner will still want to be hooked up to the power grid in the case the solar panels cannot provide the energy needed to power through the night. One reporter provides a possible reason why solar panels are so expensive when she writes, "Thin, cheap solar panels need tellurium, which makes up a scant 0.0000001 percent of the earth's crust, making it three times rarer than gold" (Jones). Gold is over $1000 an ounce, and keeping a proportional price would make tellurium over $3000 an ounce. If a consumer wants to convert his house, he would have to take out a loan. He takes out a loan for his $37,000 solar panels. In the economy of today loans are paid out over a 36 or 72 month term. Supposing he has good credit, he will take a personal loan with an interest rate of 4%, compounded yearly over 72 months. Each month he will have to pay $ 578.87 for the next 6 years. Over the entire period of the loan, he will pay $ 41,678.64 for his solar panel system. For 6 years he will pay $538.28 more each month. With the total $ 41,678.64 paid, he could have paid his $115 electric bill for the next 30 years. In this situation, the solar panels would begin to show any benefits after 6 years. Therefore, due to the high cost of solar panels, consumers are not able to justify installing them in today's economy.
Although the idea of converting energy from the sun appears ideal, it is less than efficient. In my high school engineering class, we did a unit over alternative energy.