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I’m glad you’ve found your way here to Saving with Solar! Please take a few minutes to poke around and find out what solar panels can do for you, your home and your energy bill. Before you get too far into my blog posts, take a moment to read through the “About Us”, “Business Model” and “Banking Model” tabs above for a little background information on solar panels and the solar industry.

Oh, and don’t forget to comment on the pages and posts to get the discussion going, and hit the share button when you see something you really like.

Renewable Energy and Sports

Check out this great blog post from my sister site, “Sustainability in Sports”:

Eagles Go Green

The posting details a new initiative by the Philadelphia Eagles to make their stadium completely net-neutral. The great thing about this example is that instead of buying carbon credits to offset the amount of energy and pollutants the stadium emits, the owners have decided to install solar panels and wind turbines on the stadium itself to generate clean, renewable energy.

As some of my previous posts have shown, there is resistance to alternative energy sources (such as solar) because the panels are not the most attractive things out there. When a huge, respected institution such as a professional football league takes the initiative to take on a project such as this, it not only inspires other people to do the same but shows them how the technology and infrastructure can be incorporated into existing buildings, that it can actually look good and work. Check out his post and the mock-up photo of the transformed stadium.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

For all the good solar panels do, for some people they have one major drawback: You can see them. What I mean by this is that, unlike dams or nuclear plants which are hidden off in the forest or out in the desert and away from cities, solar panels are often installed around neighborhoods and in towns. After all, why pay a ton of money to lay power lines and build the infrastructure to transport that electricity when you can just plug the solar panels into existing power lines?

Image via New York Times

As seen in the image above, a power company in New Jersey has begun placing solar panels on property it already owns: power polls around the state. While this may be cost-effective for the utility company (they don’t have to buy or lease land for the panels and can hook them directly into the power grid), many residents of the town are up in arms over the panels.

The reason so many solar panels have been installed throughout New Jersey recently is due to a new state mandate that requires 23% of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2021 – a very respectable and smart mandate.

One can’t help but to wonder, however, if the utility companies couldn’t have thought up a better way to go about installing solar panels. What if they had made deals with consumers whereby panels would be installed on customer’s roofs, perhaps for some sort of credit on their electricity bill. There’s even a chance that many people around the state would offer up their roof for no charge, if the utility can effectively market the fact that those homeowners are helping save the planet by donating their roof. Ownership of the panels could become contentious – no one said this sort of deal would be easy to work out, but I’m confident that somewhere here there is an opportunity to make solar work for everyone.

Link to original article: Solar Panels Rise Pole by Pole, Followed by Gasps of ‘Eyesore’

The Solar Panel/Recession Relationship

An interesting article from the archives of the New York times, dated February 3rd, 2009: “Factories building parts for [the solar and wind] industries have announced a wave of layoffs in recent weeks, and trade groups are projecting 30 to 50 percent declines this year in installation of new equipment, barring more help from the government.”

As the recession hit in ’08 and ’09, the true character of the solar panel (and wind turbine) industry was revealed. While people and companies that instal solar panels in neighborhoods and on houses of course have the best intentions, the reality of the situation is that solar panels are still considered a luxury where most people are concerned.

This phenomenon is equitable to market for organic food and produce. A family that is barley surviving on food stamps isn’t going to have the extra capital to buy those more expensive products – cheap, store-brand (and incredibly unhealthy) options are going to be their choice. Similarly, for households already stretched thin financially (even those where the breadwinner has a stable job) are not going to put the money into installing solar panels.

The article makes another very good point on the matter – during the recession, the industry isn’t going to pick up unless the government does something to help. Cities and towns across America had, over the past decade or so, been trying to attract solar panel and wind turbine factories to their area, as those factories brought with them high-paying jobs. Now, as the industry has slowed significantly, the jobs are beginning to disappear with little pink slips taking their place.

Government policy that subsidizes solar panels, or even mandates that more energy be produced through renewable sources, are smart investments in the future of our country. Not only would jobs be saved and money being to move through the economy again, but the environment would benefit as well. Government policy is only one piece of the puzzle, but as this article shows, it’s an important piece.

Source article: Dark Days for Green Energy

Incentives: A Double-Edged Sword

Government or utility incentives to increase the use of renewable energy are a great way to promote renewable energy technology, but unfortunately not a sustainable one. The main purpose of incentives is to increase the use of an emerging technology or help an emerging industry find its footing in the economy. Here is one example of incentives for solar and renewable energy being slashed:

Protest Planned Today to Support Solar Energy Incentives

Colorado is one state where solar has already really taken off. Therefore, the companies and governments that are losing money to these incentives want to cut the rebate levels back as the industry matures.

I’m not in any way opposed to cutting back incentives – in fact, I think it must be done at some point so that the industry can survive on its own. Where the difficulty comes in is determining when and by how much to cut those incentives. Cut to soon, too often or by too much and you run the risk of destroying the industry in its fledgling youth (as the protesters in the above article believe). Cut the benefits too late and you risk huge losses to governments and companies when they aren’t really necessary because the demand for solar technology would exist even without the incentives.

Solar power is just beginning to reduce down to a price that is affordable to most all consumers, and I don’t believe the industry is yet developed enough to cut off those incentives.

Find Local Tax Incentives Where You Live!

I stumbled upon a great website through my research today, a website that outlines all the government tax rebates and incentives by state and even city. The website summarizes each incentive and lists how much it is worth. For some programs, there is a straight cash tax deduction while in other cases the deduction amounts for a specific percentage of the cost of the item or improvement.

The website focuses on incentives for Renewables and Efficiency. Consequently, this database would prove extremely useful in my business model (see tabs above). The different incentives would further lower the costs of the home improvements my company would complete on each home, thus lowering the total loan amount, which could decrease the monthly payments, the length of the loan or both.

Check out the website for yourself to see what kind of incentives exists where you live:

DSIRE: Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency

Alternative Energy Confrence

If you’re not sure that going to an Alternative Energy or Solar conference is something that would be beneficial to you, take a quick look at this promo video I stumbled across for an upcoming Alternative Energy Conference. A link to the conference itself can be found on my quick links page under “22nd Annual Energy Fair”.

As you can see, at just this one conference alone, thousands of people gather together to discuss their alternative energy solutions, share knowledge, and swap ideas on how to make alternative energies the norm in America.

Smart Meter Technology

Here’s an interesting article about Smart Meter technology in the United States:

“Utilities Are Slow to Make the Most Of Smart Meters”

A “Smart Meter” is simply a fancy name for a digital meter that allows for more precise measurements of a household’s electricity use. The important aspect of these smart meters, however, is that they allow electric utilities to charge more for electricity during the peak usage hours (afternoon-evening) and less during the non-peak hours (nighttime). The power companies have found in various tests that consumers respond to higher prices at different times of the day by reducing energy use during peak hours.

This is the kind of promising research we need to take advantage of.

If by simply installing these smart meters and instituting tiered energy prices consumers reduced their overall energy consumption, think of what could be accomplished if these meters were made standard on every home? This is a cheap, easily installed box, and doesn’t have nearly the amount of risk or uncertainty associated with it that my new business plan does.

My plan for increasing solar energy use through different business models isn’t going to happen overnight. The smart meters make consumers aware of their energy use, and subsequently their energy bill – it’s small steps like this which will work to push homeowners towards solar energy, and push companies towards providing cheaper solar options.

Promising Artificial Leaf

MIT Scientists have developed a new artificial leaf that is incredibly efficient and produces enough energy by itself to power a small home in developing countries. If just one of these leaves can power a small home in a developing country, then four or five may be able to power an average home here in the states.

Read the store HERE.

One of the big problems with residential solar systems today is that they are very expensive, and they could be much more efficient. Breakthroughs like this is exactly what the solar industry needs. If we can improve the efficiency of solar panels and reduce the cost at the same time, solar power will become a reality for everyone in the Untied States.

A Business Proposition

Across our country we hear politicians, the media, and even other bloggers declare and discuss the problems we’re facing. Not often do all these voices speak as one, but for a few issues, they sound off in unison: our dependence on foreign oil, the looming energy crisis, and even – for the most part – global warming. Wouldn’t it be great if we could solve all these problems with one simple solution? Wouldn’t it be great if we could create jobs and even get electricity for free?

We can.

Or at least, we have one solution that will significantly help in each of these areas, and if technology and demand keep increasing as they are expected to then we could be talking about a genuine silver bullet. The idea is this: solar energy.

Solar energy? That’s nothing new, you say. But I would argue that considering less than 1% of power in our country comes from solar energy, wide-scale implementation of solar power is a new idea.

We are already in a position to greatly increase the use of solar power in this country. Society is becoming more concerned with the environment and more willing to become “green”, and there are already a plethora of rebates and tax credits from federal, state and local governments for homes which install solar panels. And that’s where I think we can make a real impact – individual homes installing solar panels.

The most effective way to green homes is to build zero-emission, carbon neutral homes from the ground up. Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources to rebuild every home in the country. But I believe it is possible to instal solar panels on many homes in this country, thus generating renewable energy and even making money for the consumer. If the solar panels on top of your house produce more energy than you actually use, that energy can be sold back to the electric company and you can actually make a profit.

The costs and upfront capital needed for an investment in solar panels is prohibitive. That’s why I would propose some sort of new company or bank that would be able to help consumers pay for the initial cost of the panels. There are many different possible strategies: a simple bank-style loan approach, where the customer is responsible for researching, buying, and installing the panels. Or there is the strategy of creating a completely new company which would handle all the technical aspects of the panels and installation, even routine maintenance. In exchange, the consumer would have to pay back the capital for installing the panels over a period of time, perhaps at zero interest. The consumer would also sign a contract that gives all profits from selling back excess energy to the power utility back to the new company.

There are many possible ways to go about implementing this idea, so watch this space for updates and more specific numbers about the feasibility of this project. But think about it – a future where each house is it’s own mini power plant, sending electricity back to the grid for use in places that don’t get as much sun. We have the potential to revolutionize energy production, stop our use of fossil fuels, and even reverse global warming, one house at a time.