MEETING TONIGHT!
Posted by emily on Mar 12, 2010 in Events | 0 comments
Attendants listened as Jeff Shaw commented on inflation rates at the LSES March meeting.
Please join us for dinner at 6:30 at the GREAT WALL RESTAURANT located at 3084 COLLEGE DR. BATON ROUGE, LA, followed by a discussion on Home Energy Monitors led by active member and solar homeowner Jim Landry at 7 pm.
This is a great opportunity to meet other people who know about solar energy and even some who are currently enjoying the benefits of going solar!
Read the March meeting re-cap on Solar Economics below!
“The magic number is what you guess the rate of inflation to be,” said Jeff Shaw, president of the Louisiana Solar Energy Society.
This was only one of the conclusions made at the March meeting where 10 enthusiasts discussed solar economics and the 2010 Solar Rights legislation.
Jim Landry, solar homeowner and active member of LSES gave a presentation on solar economics. Using an article from Dan Chiras and John Richter, Landry explained why “an RE system makes economic sense.”
Landry said according to data drawn from the Energy Information Administration an RE system’s energy output ultimately costs three cents per kw hour.
“The electricity inflation has maintained a 4.4 percent increase for the past 35 years,” he said. “Assuming a 3 percent typical inflation rate, you’re looking at 3.6 cents.”
He also said after the ninth year post-installation, a solar owner will begin making more money on the original investment.
Shaw explained that guessing the rate of inflation is the most important variable in this formula. He said the higher the inflation rate goes, the less years a solar owner has to wait before the payback begins.
“The cross line is mostly dependent on the number you pick as what you guess the inflation rate is,” Shaw said. “If you guess if will grow at four or five percent, your payback may be closer to five years.”
Attendants then discussed the benefits of federal tax credit, which expires in 2016.
Active member Charles Deason works at the Department of Revenue and answered attendants’ questions about solar tax
. He said the Federal Government takes your tax liability into account, and the state offers solar owners a cash refundable credit.
But the LSES is trying to make even more benefits for potential solar homeowners.
The LSES state coordinator Lindsay Gallmann shifted the conversation to legal matters and passed out the 2010 Solar Rights Draft, which Gallmann and Shaw crafted with the help of avid members.
The draft is currently being held at the House Legislative Services until further notice.
If you have any real estate legal knowledge or if you are willing to help push more solar rights through legislation, please email lindsay@lses.org.
