One of the first things you hear when researching about going solar is net metering. What exactly is net metering and how does it affect the energy dynamics of your home/commercial space?
Net metering refers to the billing mechanism that lets you use energy from the grid when you need it against the excess you supply from your solar panels when they are at their functional best. Sounds complicated? Well, let us simplify it further for you.
How Does Net Metering Work in the On-grid System?
Grid is your conventional energy provider. Most homes that employ solar panels from Minus CO2 do it under the on-grid system, i.e, their solar panels work in conjunction with the grid. But how?
Remember the conventional utility (electricity) meter that moves forth as an indicator of your energy consumption, the reading of which the electricity-wala would hand over your monthly electricity bill? If your home has installed solar panels, you will find that the utility meter moves back as well, indicating the flow of electricity from your solar-powered home towards the grid. Who thought your home might one day not just produce electricity but also be able to supply it to the grid for others’ needs?
If your solar panels produce more electricity than you consume, net metering allows the excess energy generated to be given back to the grid. This will earn you excess credits. (Remember the meter moves backward)
On the other hand, if your solar panels are deficient in energy generation, say, during the night, net metering lets the energy from the grid to be drawn in for your energy needs (i.e, the meter moves forth.) Since you have earned credits for the excess energy you supplied earlier, you will not be charged for the same amount of energy you receive from the grid.
Your monthly electricity bill from the electricity office = charge for ( energy you consumed – energy you supplied). This is what we mean by an 80% reduction in electricity bill!
What if I supply more energy than I consume? Will I earn cash for the same?
Unfortunately, this is not how it works. If you supply more energy to the grid than you consume from the grid, your earned extra credits will be transferred to the next month, and so on. There is no provision for earning money directly. But of saving money, a hell lot!
Minus CO2 – Transition from old to the new
It is not difficult to see that this world of ours is in a state of ‘transition’, at least, and hopefully, when it comes to its modes of production and consumption of energy. It is a transition we cannot afford to delay further since the monsters of climate change, global warming and pollution are threatening to engulf the future of our very species and the myriad life forms we share this planet with. As is characteristic of every transition, one is not yet ready to completely bid adieu to the old and is shifting its dependence, gradually, on to the new. This gives rise to a kind of union, marriage, if you will, of the old and the new.
Installing solar panels from Minus CO2 that work in conjunction with your utility grid is precisely an example of the same. We are, thereby, employing the best of both the worlds – the reliability of the old and the possibility of the new, when we say Yes to a home, a community, a world (with) Minus CO2.