Posted Thursday, May 25, 2017

Why Lower Oil Costs Mean a Brighter Solar Outlook

In the past 24 months or so, the world economy has experienced a massive 50% drop in the price per barrel for oil. This comes at a time when oil production firms are seeing company valuations take unprecedented nose dives.There have even been some negative implications on publicly traded companies in our own industry (example: First Solar). Barring those individual cases, however, we at Urban Solar believe that the future of residential PV is strong in light of oil being so low, and here’s why.

First, it’s important to remember that consumers in the solar power industry are buying a very high-tech product. Solar power is fairly complicated to the layperson, much like a new, top-of-the-line computer would be to someone who only has a cursory understanding of computers. What’s more, solar companies are playing a dual role of being both energy companies and high-tech companies. There’s a lot of heavy lifting to do on both ends!

Second, the solar power consumer economy reacts in ways that are unique in the world. Because the costs and benefits of solar power are so cut-and-dry, almost anyone can obtain a general understanding of why solar is better than traditional fossil fuels. This leads to an informed consumer base that is less prone to wild market swings that don’t directly affect materials costs.

When considering a solar power system installation on any building, it is now almost unheard of to not conduct an energy assessment to determine exactly how much money will be saved over using grid-tied electricity. This kind of constant evaluation is simply not being done in the oil business, for obvious reasons (and some not so obvious). After all, the lower the price of oil goes, the less interested anyone is going to be in how to get more of it.

There are lots of factors that play into a decision to go solar. We know it can feel complicated, but that’s why we’re here to help. Contact us today and let’s start the conversation that could lead to your new solar power system.