The key to a reliable, sustainable solar energy system starts in the home.

American homes are big.

Yes, of course, there is a wide variety. But compared to just about every other country on earth, the average U.S. home is big and getting bigger (growing by about 1,000 square feet compared to just 40 years ago¹).

Why our homes are so big could be explained simply if the average American household was bigger than in other countries or bigger than in times past. But that’s not the case.² In fact, the size of the typical household in the United States has been shrinking since at least 1940,³ and as of 2020 our households are less than half the size of those in Africa and nearly a person-and-a-half smaller than those in Latin America.⁴ 

The reason for growing U.S. home sizes is tough to pin down, but it does make clear one important fact: the American homeowner is now faced with powering a much larger space than at any other time in our country’s history. And while it’s true that the issues stemming from outdated solar systems and reliance on dirty fuel sources are a global problem, it’s undeniable that this country needs to play an outsized role in making smart, sustainable changes. 

Unraveling why the home plays the role it does in American life helps shine a light on the role homes can (and must) play in reshaping the planet’s solar energy system.

American homeowners are now faced with powering a much larger space than at any other time in our country’s history.

An extremely abbreviated history of the American home

Most of us probably didn’t need Maslow⁵ to inform us of the crucial role shelter plays in our well-being. Across time and geography, the home has always played a big role in both individual lives and more broadly in communities and cultures. But there is something distinct about the role the home occupies in American life.

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt publicly called the United States “a nation of homeowners, of people who own a real share in their own land” (and also that this would make us as a nation, “unconquerable”⁶ ).⁷ This wasn’t an announcement of a new course of action as much as it was an articulation of a longstanding general sentiment. 

Governmental involvement—from big actions like the creation of the Federal Housing Administration in 1934 to innumerable smaller actions like zoning mandates on the local level—have long provided a de facto bureaucratic blessing on the home.

Add in the technological innovation (i.e. the automobile) that made it possible to commute to cities and much more convenient to live in areas without dense public transportation options and we saw a whole new approach to residential planning: the expansion of suburban sprawl from the urban core. This made big lots and bigger homes much more realistic. 

Friendly loaning practices, and economic growth in general, have run alongside these trends to 1) make it possible for people to afford larger homes and 2) spark the desire to do so—both for the lifestyle benefits as well as the potential return on investment that’s expected with home prices generally appreciating.

That’s a quick recap but one end result is that most Americans today consider a home to not only be an asset, but their biggest asset. Over 64% of the 139 million homes in America are owned by the people that reside in them⁸ and homeownership is commonly considered a benchmark of progression toward the elusive American Dream.

These homes not only require maintenance, but they also demand energy—which is one reason solar panels are becoming a common solution to help homeowners manage rising electricity costs.

Another result is that, for those able to purchase a home, homeownership largely becomes a constant balancing act between comfort and responsibility—we want our homes to look, feel, and function a certain way but that all comes with a financial and environmental cost. 

If we let the costs creep up too high then our homes become liabilities instead of the assets we planned on them being when signing the dotted line on an enormous loan. And continuing to practice unsustainable habits that harm the world aggravate a persistent guilt many of us feel, which is at direct odds with the home-as-a-haven ideal we’re all aspiring to.

The Cost of Homeownership

Census data showed the median monthly cost of a mortgage in America being just north of $1,500 in 2019.⁹ Data from the prior year showed the most affordable state (Arkansas) tallied a median of $1,071 and the most expensive (New Jersey) came in at $2,439.¹⁰ 

For most Americans, that’s a formidable chunk of cash to produce every month, year after year, for decades.¹¹ And that doesn’t include expenses like utilities, repairing the AC, or buying a new mattress. Not to mention the countless succulents, picture frames, rugs, and decorative hand towels et cetera et cetera that “make a house a home.” It gets expensive, is the point.

And although there are a ton of variables involved, many of which you do have some control over (such as your taste in décor or how much you’ve saved for a down payment), the energy bill is a unique element of this balance between comfort and cost. The need to pay for your energy is about as certain as death and taxes, but it feels more visceral and influenceable than other big home expenses. 

Unlike homeowners' insurance, for example, energy bills come with daily reminders—every adjustment of the thermostat, every time someone leaves a window open, or every time you run your washing machine.

According to the EIA, the average monthly cost of electricity in 2018 was $118.¹² Do some quick math with the median cost of a mortgage, and most homeowners are tacking on a monthly electricity payment of approximately 10% of their mortgage. This might not be a big concern for some people in some places. But others could be just one rate hike or one unexpected winter storm away from being unable to afford that monthly cost. And, unfortunately, the general trend is putting more and more people in that second category.

The environmental implications of homeownership can be equally concerning. Roughly 20% of all the greenhouse gases emitted in the US each year come from residential energy.¹³ Views on climate change tend to map pretty well to political views, so it’s not fair to say all Americans see the specifics of this concern similarly. 

However, data does show that it is fair to say that most of us believe human activity has at least some influence on the environment and, more to the point, that most of us worry about it.¹⁴ And worry is not a welcome house guest.

So what role can the sun play in all of this? Is it a serious solution to the problems that get in the way of creating the kind of homes we want to live in? Are we really at a point where we’ve figured out how to power the modern home with the sun effectively?

The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is yes, once the home is electrified.

Revolution By Way Of Electrification

Most of us have probably never lived in a home without electricity, so in a certain sense, all we know about is electrified homes. Prior to 1900, only wealthy homes had electric lamps, but since that point, it has become the norm to live in a home flowing with electricity.¹⁵ But as problems with that grid have intensified and conversations about fixing the problems have become mainstream, what “electrifying the home” means is complete home electrification.

The furnace, air conditioner, and water heater are just three of literally hundreds of appliances you’ll find in the average American home, but together, they account for nearly half of total solar power consumption. Currently, most of them across the country rely on fossil fuels in one way or another, so they’re the biggest piece of the home electrification puzzle.

What’s Powering Your Power?

Most of us don’t spend much time thinking about how much energy we use at home. We're satisfied as long as the lights come on when we flip the switch or the heat turns on when it gets cold outside. I don’t think that means we’re lazy or careless. 

Life is busy, and there is just a certain amount of our day-to-day existence that needs to move to autopilot to avoid being entirely overwhelmed and anxious all the time. But the truth is that not all electricity is created equal because not all electricity is created similarly. Raw energy, from any source, needs to be converted to be usable in your home.¹⁷

For most of our uses, that conversion happens at the nearest power plant and the electricity that comes from it is then distributed through the grid to reach your home. What it was before being converted and passed along to you depends on the fuel sources used by your local utility. 

This could mean a mix of fossil fuels and natural gas, possibly some nuclear, and maybe smaller portions from solar energy systems or other renewable resources like wind and hydro. Solar panels produce electricity cleanly, whereas fossil fuels come with environmental consequences.

By the time it reaches your home, you can’t tell the difference between grid-provided electricity from polluting sources and clean sources. (But, at the risk of stating the obvious, our earth can tell the difference in the types of emissions from your local power plant due to these various fuel sources.)

In other cases, the conversion happens right within the appliances in your home. Take a natural gas-powered furnace, for example. This requires a natural gas line to your home from your natural gas provider (usually your local utility). Your furnace will convert that natural gas into heat that can then be distributed throughout the home. 

Remember that electricity is still a crucial part of the process because the blower fan (which pushes the hot air throughout your home) runs on electricity. This is why your furnace won’t work during a power outage.

The point is that polluting fuel sources are still a big part of the electricity running through your home—either because they’re being used at the local power plant or your appliances are using them. When we talk about “electrifying the home,” we’re talking about eliminating those pollutants from the equation.

How Do We Electrify America’s Homes?

In theory, electrifying the home is very simple: replace fossil fuel-dependent appliances with electric ones. 

In practice? Unfortunately (and sadly/unsurprisingly), some obstacles are standing in the way.¹⁸ But the good news is that none of them are insurmountable, even with existing technology that everyday homeowners use today.

As mentioned earlier, the place to start is the appliances¹⁹ that use the most energy and that are most commonly powered with polluting fuel sources. Heating or cooling (whether it’s your air, water, or food) covers the lion’s share of most homes’ energy usage. And furnaces,²⁰ water heaters, and stoves are still commonly powered by gas.

“Electrifying the home is actually very simple: replace fossil fuel-dependent appliances with electric ones.”

The upfront costs can deter homeowners from making immediate changes, but the sooner these appliances are converted, the better. Imagine pairing those new appliances with a solar panel system — suddenly, you're looking at serious energy efficiency.

The dollars and cents are usually the first question for any homeowner considering a switch to electric appliances. The bad news is that a frustrating amount of bureaucratic red tape makes the switch less affordable than it could be. 

According to an in-depth report by the Rocky Mountain Institute, the good news is that even with the current, outdated policy/regulation in place, “In many scenarios...electrification reduces costs over the lifetime of the appliances when compared with fossil fuels.”²¹ 

The financial benefits are especially promising for new home construction, anyone switching away from propane or heating oil, homeowners who would otherwise need to replace both a gas furnace and air conditioner simultaneously, and those who also go solar. And that last bit is where the value of electrifying your home can grow exponentially.

Benefits of a Solar System for Home Electricity

The environmental benefits and potential savings of rooftop solar systems and rechargeable home batteries are relatively well known now. What is less understood is the key role solar panel systems play in transforming our energy system in ways that provide Americans with far more reliable home energy. When you choose solar companies that offer sustainable options, you’re contributing toward a broader solution.

Putting home solar panels on the roof of a fully electrified home allows your family to power everything in your home with usable solar electricity generated on-site. There is no longer a need to transmit electricity over miles of long-distance lines that cost billions of dollars to build and maintain. Solar panels power your home for years, delivering clean energy even during an outage because your home becomes less reliant on the main grid.

This provides insulation from situations where huge sections of a local grid are shut down because specific portions of that grid are damaged or in danger (as with wildfires), even if those portions are miles away from your home. This insulates you from situations where large sections of the local grid are shut down due to damage. 

In these cases, your home solar energy system — typically backed by monocrystalline solar panels or polycrystalline solar panels — can keep your home powered, enabling uninterrupted electricity.

The development of community-based virtual power plants also allows these huge benefits to spread beyond individual homes. Sunrun already has a dozen of these agreements in place around the country, and what they allow is for more localized power generation, reducing long-term installation costs and electricity bills for entire communities. This shift helps support community solar, making clean energy accessible on a wider scale.

Homeowners can even sell excess solar energy back to the grid during emergencies, providing a backup pool of distributed energy to serve neighbors who deal with downtime in their solar panel installation process.

It’s been said that the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. For over 125 years, we have approached power the same way: more power plants, more power lines, and more power poles. A solar installer knows American homes have evolved significantly since these methods were first used.

So, installing solar panels at home and contributing excess energy is the modern way forward. With the help of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, it’s time our approach to power-matched industry innovations like solar leases or solar loans, which further reduce solar panels cost for homeowners. Together with residential solar systems, they make power generated more affordable, while helping Americans transition towards self-reliance in home solar systems.