Rooftop solar to help small businesses

The U.S. economy has been on a long bull run, but with mostly stagnant wage growth, climbing interest rates and record-high asset prices across all classes. Financial experts believe it’s poised for a potential fall. No one knows how long the trend will keep going up, and many small businesses are bracing themselves for the downturn. Companies are increasingly turning to rooftop solar to reduce vulnerability to economic upheavals and increase savings on electricity.
Small businesses are accustomed to operating in a world of uncertainty. Defined by the Small Business Administration (PDF) as firms having 500 or fewer employees, small businesses face many of the same problems as large corporations but without the security of being "too big to fail." Everyone ought to care because most businesses are small, and they account for 99 percent of all U.S. firms.

Economics of rooftop solar changing

The economics of rooftop solar have changed substantially over the past few years and, by now, those small businesses that haven’t embraced it are denying themselves a valuable risk management tool that may help them better endure the next economic downturn, while boosting profits before, during and after.

Energy costs small business $60 billion a year

When it comes to energy spent, small businesses are no joke. They spend more than $60 billion a year on energy, according to Energy Star (PDF), and the average commercial building wastes 30 percent of its energy. The good news is there’s ample room for improvement. Higher building efficiency combined with solar energy produces great savings. At Carbon Lighthouse, we typically find that between 10 and 30 percent of a commercial building’s energy spend can be reduced by improving the efficiency of existing equipment.

Efficiency makes solar more accessible

In the past eight years, the cost to install solar has dropped by more than 70 percent, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Not even the Trump Solar Tariff has significantly driven up the costs of rooftop solar. That’s encouraging to individuals and small business owners.
What isn’t encouraging is that many small businesses still view solar projects as a nuisance rather than a source of great long-term value. That’s because, in the past, these projects were expensive to install, had long payback periods, were disruptive to operations and took a long time to construct. This was a major turnoff that still prevents small businesses that otherwise may have embraced solar and caused them to abandon the idea of generating their own electricity.

Solar power is here to stay, and the sooner you explore how much you can save, the sooner you can enjoy the benefits of residential solar power. Go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. It tells you how much solar power you need, and how much you can save.

Please visit our solar blog to find out more about the benefits of going solar.