Does your state help you benefit from solar?

Your State Capitol can help you climate-proof your energy costs.
Or it can stand in your way.

The cost of solar panels has dropped dramatically, making solar electricity competitive with the juice you get from the grid. But whether you can take advantage of these savings, and climate-proof your energy costs, depends largely on the protections and incentives in your part of the country.

Net metering, solar rebates, tax credits, property tax exemptions, sales tax exemptions . . . all are ways that you might get help from your state government in saving money with solar panels.

Solar Power Rocks has graded all the states on ten such initiatives. Northeastern states seem to give their residents the biggest boost, led by Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. Bringing up the rear are Mississippi and Alabama, even though their residents benefit from more sunshine than most of the US.

See how your state’s policies rank. While you’re on the site, you can also do a rough calculation of your potential savings using solar. And remember that if you have an unshaded, south-facing roof, great! But if not, you can still probably share panels nearby.

As climate change ramps up storm intensities solar electricity can be the best way to climate-proof your energy costs, protecting your family from rising electricity costs and more frequent outages. Thinking about where you – or your children – should live in the future to restrain you other costs from warming? We’ll be incorporating these solar rankings into our Where-To-Live Scorecards soon.