How about just for a day?  GRID Alternatives is giving you the opportunity to install solar panels on a neighbor’s rooftop.  Since 2004, the non-profit whose mission is to empower communities in need by providing renewable energy and energy efficiency services, equipment and training, has installed almost 500 solar electric systems.

GRID Alternatives is similar to Habitat for Humanity, but instead of building houses, they install solar panels.  Each year GRID hosts a Solarthon and this year’s will take place in four different cities starting with Los Angeles in the City of Piru on June 12th.   They expect 100 volunteers and will be working on 8 different homes.

If you’re in the area, sign up to volunteer! And if you can’t attend, you can always donate or pass their inspiring video along to your friends to raise awareness for a great cause!

We compared 4 homes in the US using Wattbot.com and found that no two homes are alike when it comes to saving money on their energy bill. 

We recommended installing a solar hot water system to the family of three living in a 1972 single-family home in Orinda, California and it would only cost them $1,837 upfront. 

However, even though the solar hot water incentives in New York were bigger, the most cost-effective energy saving recommendation for the Scarsdale home built in 1900 was to install solar electric (Solar PV) panels. Then again it would cost them $25,000 upfront, but the next logical choice to reduce their bill would be to install insulation for less than $1000 upfront and they would still make money on that investment assuming they stayed in their home for another 15 years.

The homes in Randolph, New Jersey and Bethany, Connecticut both got the same recommendation - to install insulation - however, the insulation incentives in New Jersey came out to $300 more than Connecticut’s, although the upfront costs of installing insulation in both states is just under $2,000.

What was surprising was that replacing a refrigerator, while there are rebates available, never came up as the most cost-effective choice, although compared to the other recommendations - it is one of the cheaper upfront cost improvements you can make to lower your energy bill.

Now it’s your turn, type your address into www.wattbot.com and see what the most cost effective way is for you to save money on your energy bill.  Send us an email with your top recommendation and you’ll have a chance to be in our next video.