Las Vegas NowSolar Energy Can Help You Save on Your Power Bill

Solar Energy Can Help You Save on Your Power Bill

Sen. Harry Reid wants the rest of the country to adopt Nevada's requirement that 20- percent of its power come from renewable energy by the year 2015.

The Nevada Democrat says that even if such a national requirement was pushed back to 2020, it would create at least 185,000 new jobs and save consumers more than $10 billion in lower electricity and natural gas bills.

One of those renewable energy resources is the sun, and we have plenty of it. There are homes in Las Vegas that use it to power their homes using solar energy panels.

Nevada Power says it saves them a ton of money, but why isn't everyone doing it?

Solar panels -- these are on a building here at UNLV but they're also on homes. What you may not know is that Nevada Power will help you pay for solar power.

Steve Rypka's home is no ordinary home. This is an energy efficient home. For example, his skylights have been replaced by solar tubes. They cut down on the amount of sunlight that heats up his house.

"It's the wave of the future," said Rypka.

Outside, Steve's quest for energy efficiency continues with solar panels on his roof. He heard about Nevada Power's solar energy incentives and decided -- why not?

"I like to say this is a nuclear powered house because we have nice wireless technology delivering energy right to the roof from a nuclear resource that's exactly where I like to see it -- 93 million miles away," he said.

Nevada Power offers rebates of up $5 a watt. Steve's solar panels cost roughly $40,000 to put in. But the rebates saved him about $10,000.

There is also a $2,000 federal tax credit for having it done. Not to mention the equity in Steve's home has increased by $30,000 because of it's energy efficiency.

"We're just so excited because we don't have an electric bill. It's $8 a month. And, that's for the life of this house, it will more than pay for itself may times over before it's all said and done," he said.

So why isn't everyone doing it? Nevada Power thinks everyone is little too gun shy about the $40-,000 installation cost. But Steve says his neighbors pool cost that much, and they don't even really use it.

"They have the ongoing costs of maintenance, chemicals, repairs, etc. While the system here runs itself and eliminates my electric bill."

So Steve may be on to something. While price of fossil fuels continues to go up, Steve's monthly electric bill -- is about the cost of a hamburger, fries and large coke.

(Associated Press contributed to this report)

Email your comments to Reporter Tedd Florendo.