Consumers Union campaign "A Greener Future" is working for clean, renewable, affordable energy.
Taking the sun's power into your hands.
Image credit: Min-Kai Tech Corporation
California is graced with plentiful sunshine, and much of the state has excellent conditions to reap the sun’s free energy. While getting solar panels or solar water heaters installed can be expensive, options for installation are increasing as leases and zero-down financing are becoming more widely available.
For example, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) offers solar leasing and power purchase agreements, in addition to incentives for purchasing a solar array. Major home improvement stores are now offering zero down financing for solar panel installations. Lots of neighbors can get together and use their buying power to score great discounts through community solar projects.
Rebates and financing options are available from many sources. To find out more about rebates and incentives from your local governments or utility, check out Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency.
What about renters and residents in multi-family housing?
Some community projects leverage federal and state tax credits to make solar accessible for residents who live in an apartment or can’t afford to purchase a system on their own.
As part of the California Solar Initiative, 7,000 residents of affordable housing benefit from solar power through California’s Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH). MASH plans to spend $108 million putting solar panels on housing for low-income communities by 2016. San Diego is home to one of the finished projects, which is already saving residents money on their electric bills and greening their electricity.
Find out how you can go solar and receive rebates from the California Solar Initiative or learn more from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (PDF).
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I’m happy to hear that the residents of California saw the light and rejected the Large energy companies. It’s about the only positive thing that happened on election day(MY opinion) Can’t wait to see what the conservatives come up with besides NO.
Solar is one of the most dependable sources of renewable, clean energy. However in order for solar to be viable, solar facilities need to be smaller; more efficient and be able to generate maximum wattage. The huge Mojave Desert complex only powers forty thousand homes for its size.
Secondly, in Canada solar facilities and kits must have at least 61% of all components made in Canada before you get a tax rebate or any form of government compensation.
Due to high labor wages and benefits; union protectionism; gross corporate mismanagement; high trade tariffs and taxes on domestic manufacturers we can’t compete with the Chinese.
I cite Germany as an example. Germany plans to build eight solar and waste conversion facilities across the nation. Germany has its own companies that manufacture solar panels and other solar products. Guess where the accepted solar materials that finally won the contract came from; China. The German nationals were speechless. It’s the same here. China is the biggest producer of solar goods in the world.
We need to be enforcing environmental laws and regulations coupled with the proper trade tariffs and taxes; and the establishment of fair work standards for all workers; on all Chinese goods and all other imported goods; and throughout their workforce. That is the only way of leveling the playing field with a nation that has 200,000,000 people in its work force working for slave labor.
I’m no fan of unions. I am no fan of xenophobic protectionism. I grew up in the fifties when North American ingenuity, R&D and manufacturing quality lead the world. All I’m asking for is a fair playing field. Let’s get rid of fossil fuels wherever possible. However it has to be a practical and proactive means. Solar energy and waste conversion plants have been proven to work. Vaxjo, Sweden has been running its city on alternative energy since 1997. It is our addiction to big oil; and the internecine obstructionism of Wall Street that has retarded national development of viable alternative energy programs.
Then again, much as I love solar; if we had followed Tesla and developed free range, standing scalar energy we wouldn’t be in the mess we are today. We can thank that criminal Edison and Banksters such as J.P. Morgan who wouldn’t permit Tesla to go ahead because they couldn’t put a tap on it and charge exorbitant rates. How criminal.
To ensure good quality of the solar panels, certification is needed. The growth of the photovoltaics market has been driven by the demand for greener power sources and by increased government subsidy. But to justify the subsidies given, governments require certified testing of photovoltaic modules for safety and quality. The incentive to improve performance could not be greater. One way is the CB Certification which guarantees a lack of defects of the pv modules.
(source: http://www.ee.sgs.com/news/cb-certification.htm)
There are plenty of real good solar-related inventions out there but they are being blocked for funds by “oil” related sources. Wake up America and start demanding a cheaper-cleaner energy source like solar!
I am thinking of installing solar on a house I am building. I want to start out with a 1 KW system, and build my way up to where maybe one day I can be net zero. I am looking forward to being more self sufficient by creating some of my own electricity.