My brother and his family live in the desert northeast of Los Angeles. A few years ago, when my marriage crashed and burned, I stayed with them to recover for a few months in the comfort of their love and their large, luxurious home.
But being who I am, I always felt guilty about enjoying the large spaces, the cooled air, the plenty, the opulence…
Now those days are gone. My brother and his wife have decided to radically shrink their carbon footprint by putting solar panels on their energy-hungry house.
I’m so proud of them!
If you’re a homeowner, read on. The panels they’re putting on their roof should cover about 98% of their (considerable) energy needs, and the monthly payments on the system will be less than their current average electric bill.
They’ll get a rebate from the state of California that will help defray the cost, as well as a $2000 tax credit from the federal government.
The months that their solar panels produce more electricity than they use, their electricity meter will actually spin backwards and they’ll be issued a credit for use when the system produces less power, like during a particularly cloudy month. Their projected average electric bill will be around $5 a month!
Needless to say, the solar panels will increase the value of their home. My sister-in-law, who does very thorough research before any project, calculated that with the increased value of their home, the break-even point was almost immediate.
Here’s what she has to say about the project.
We are so sad that more people aren’t doing this. It requires a loan up front, but the payments on the loan would be less than what a person pays in electrical costs each month. The value added to the home offsets this debt on paper (net worth). With oil prices rising steadily, (gas is almost $4/gal) and the cost of producing traditional electricity rising proportionately, you would think that more people would want to do this. We are talking to all of the people we can about this program. I think I have convinced two of my friends to at least check into it. Now, if everyone we influence could influence two more and so on and so on, we could really make a difference!
Because she does her homework when it comes to things like this, I always listen to her advice. She recommends that people not go through big-box companies like Home Depot or Lowe’s for solar products because the installation is not very professional. She and my brother ended up working directly with a manufacturer (SunPower) and the contractor that company recommended.
My sister-in-law happened to mention that George Bush’s ranch in Texas is extremely green, even to the point that it has underground cisterns to collect rain and runoff. Of course, I question his motives.
Why do you think G Dubb’s ranch is green?
a) He’s a closet environmentalist.
b) Somebody convinced him it would be good for his image if his ranch were environmentally correct.
c) He wants to have a self-sufficient hideaway/stronghold to retreat to when America goes all Soylent Green.
Yes Pam, that process, of being able to sell power back to the grid, is starting to happen in Australia too, and is the key to getting more and more homes to use solar panels. Then prices will drop and inventors will find more efficient forms of the panels, builders will incorporate them straight into the roofs of new houses and so on.
And also keep in mind solar hot water (which I have) which can be done before you have the option of solar power generation. For most homes water heating is a considerable proportion of their energy bill, and using the sun to do it (on all except the cloudiest days) saves power and money.
“Let the sunshine in!”
Like many of the rich, I just assume George Bush is a penny saver, along with some right wing security paranoia ;-)
He’s shown convincingly he couldn’t care less about the environment.
Hi David. It seems so self evident. What does it take to get people to care? I know many, many people live hand to mouth and don’t have the option. But anyone who can afford a family vacation to Europe, a sportscar, or plastic surgery should be spending their money on solar panels first. When Americans start stigmatizing ostentation and waste the way they did smoking, people will change. What’s needed is a social marketing campaign that villifies those behaviors and glorifies those who are doing the right thing. Maybe Al Gore would pay for it. The problem with liberals is they’re not nasty enough. Too touchy feely. Time to sling mud where mud is due if you ask me!
Hey Peter. Do you remember way back when, when there was a big scandal in the US because Bush senior went to a grocery store and had no idea what a loaf of bread cost? That’s the kind of rich those people are.
I doubt Dubbya thinks about pennies, but I have no doubt he’s greedy.
1) YEAH them!!!!
2) What a gorgeous house!!!!