Part 2: Should I wait for more advanced solar technologies to emerge?

Top reasons not to wait to get solar:

Solar incentives that are available right now cover up to 75% of the initial cost! They are still available in full but will expire soon as they won’t be necessary when the utility rates jump and the masses start standing in the solar line.

1. You will lose valuable financial incentives that are currently available as a way to reward “early adopters” to invest in proven technologies before the masses are forced to do so through legislation. Remember the “hybrid car credit” that was available? Well I waited until about halfway through the program to buy my Prius (great car, by the way) and lost over ½ of the incentive that was being offered. Gas prices shot up about 4 months later and everyone who gave me funny looks at the office (a solar company, mind you!) were asking me where I got it and how much. By that time, the only incentive available was the 50mpg the car gets but that seemed to be enough for most people to make a move.
2. You will continue to “rent” your home or business’s energy indefinitely at a cost that is beyond your control. Sudden rate increases (which we are already seeing) continue to happen and are expected to spike in the coming decade due to climate-change legislation, cap and trade, carbon-tax, clean energy mandates, and good old fashioned profiteering by your friends at the power company.
3. You may miss out on the ability to significantly improve the value and marketability of your property with no increase in taxable value. This is a critical point as we are now being told that it may take over 10 years for real estate values to recover. Which property do you think will sell more readily? One that consumes energy at an ever increasing rate, or one that produces energy/income automatically every month? One that cannot even be sold without costly energy improvements due to new energy code laws (these are happening already), or one that, by virtue of already having a solar energy system installed by the prior owner, exceeds all energy code changes that are already on the horizon without the need for any other improvements?
4. You lose the energy production you would have realized as well as the increasingly valuable SRECs (solar renewable energy credits). These are similar to stocks that are traded on newly emerging markets and your system produces these for you automatically. This is a big one.