Amber Kennoy: [00:00:02] It’s Whiteboard Wednesday once again here on Everyday Kentucky with Jaime Clark of Synergy Home. Hi, everyone. We’re talking about solar today. And, you know, I feel like Kentucky’s always behind the eight ball a little bit. Are we ready for solar?
Jamie Clark: [00:00:14] You know, Mark Twain said when he died he wanted to die in Kentucky because everything happens 20 years later. But the truth is, solar is now in central Kentucky. Last year was the biggest year in the state’s history for for installing solar in residential homes. And 2022 is going to be even bigger.
Amber Kennoy: [00:00:30] Yeah. And some people might be like, is it just really crazy expensive if if it’s too expensive, it just doesn’t make sense.
Jamie Clark: [00:00:35] Right? So solar is cheaper as an economy of scale that’s ever been. And of course our electric rates are higher. So now we’re at a point to where we’re looking at less than a ten year return on the investment and those solar panels are going to last 30 years. So they’re going to triple the amount of money you spend on them and what they save you, especially as electric rates go up.
Amber Kennoy: [00:00:53] Yeah. What about the durability? I mean, we get those hailstorms here.
Jamie Clark: [00:00:57] We do. We do. So solar panels are made out of tempered glass similar to the side windows of your car. So you’ve probably never lost a window in your car to hail in eight years of installing solar, I’ve never lost one panel, so they’re really durable.
Amber Kennoy: [00:01:08] Yeah, but I hear most people be like, “Well, they’re just ugly.”
Jamie Clark: [00:01:11] Yeah. So we only want to try to install attractive solar. You know, I did a job in Lansdowne about five years ago on the front of a house on a real prominent street. I’ve put 28 homes on solar in that subdivision because of how good that job looks. So we use black on black panels and people always ask me, how big is a solar panel? It’s as big as Amber. So solar panels are about 31 to 40 inches wide and about 70 to 75 inches tall. So we can make any configuration important thing we like to do is all black glass and all black hardware. That way it blends in really nice to the roofline.
Amber Kennoy: [00:01:46] Okay, now what in the world? Diet and exercise. How’s the tie in?
Jamie Clark: [00:01:49] So, 25%. Kentucky homes use 25% more power than the national average. Our houses are fat in central Kentucky. Probably no surprise. We’ve had some of the cheapest electric rate in the nation for the last 40 years, and that’s why our rates are going up so much. So we had a case a couple of years ago. We had a solar competitor installed $10,000 worth of solar for a lady to save her $50 a month. We went behind them, installed $3,000 worth of installation and saved $70 a month. If your house is fat, we want to put it on a diet as part of that solar. We want to reduce before we produce.
Amber Kennoy: [00:02:21] And buy local real quick.
Jamie Clark: [00:02:22] Buy local. Right now, we’ve got a lot of competitors coming in from out of state and the local companies are always going to give you a better job and they’re going to be here tomorrow if you have a problem and having more issues down the road.
Amber Kennoy: [00:02:32] All right. If you have more questions.
Jamie Clark: [00:02:34] Give us a call, 859-687-0553 or info@mysynergyhome.com