Here Comes the Sun
Combat Climate Change Today
Greetings Sunshine! Welcome to Save Our Happy Place, a newsletter making it easy for you to help protect the places you love from climate change. Please excuse this interruption from your regularly scheduled winter programming for a few rays of sunshine. Fellow heliophiles, this one is for you. In case you haven’t guessed it - this week we are talking about solar energy.
Harnassing the POWer of the Sun
Solar Energy: Making Our Shared Resource a Common Good
Your friends in Cali aren’t the only ones catching rays this winter, you can too (and without that pesky risk of melanoma) by powering your home with clean solar energy. Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources like the sun, which can provide us with a consistent stream of energy for at least another 10 billion years, is fundamental to ward off the worst effects of climate change.
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity.
What We Love About Solar:
Solar energy has the potential to supply 30–50% of electricity globally.
Solar land use has grown significantly more efficient.
Solar can be easily expanded by utilizing already cleared land: home rooftops, parking lots, big box stores, and on roadside sound barriers.
Solar offers households independence from failed power grids during extreme weather conditions.
Solar has an annual growth rate of 42% in the US powering 18.9 million homes.
More than 230,000 Americans work in solar across all 50 states.
Solar generated over $25 billion of private investment in the US economy.
Four Benefits of Going Solar at Home
You can directly help the planet by reducing carbon emissions.
Rainfall and the angle of the panels act as a natural cleaning system.
Solar panels are hard at work even when the sun isn’t shining.
You will stay ahead of the curve, solar roofing is quickly becoming a norm.
Source: Bison Roofing & Solar, located in the Sunshine State.
How to Harness Solar Energy in Your Home
Solar energy is readily becoming accessible no matter your relationship to your abode. There are always things to keep in mind when taking on home improvements or talking to your landlord, so be sure to check out these guides below:
Are you a….
Solar sounds super, is there a catch?
Change can be hard and kinks will have to be worked out as we transition to our more just and sustainable future. For solar that means finding a balance between accessibility for lower-income families, keeping overall energy costs down, equity within the system overall, and keeping the solar industry thriving. Each state has attempted this in its own way, but many states including California and Florida have used a system called net metering, which is now being heavily debated in both state legislatures.
Net Metering is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the power grid.
While both the current systems in place and the proposed changes are immensely complicated, it is clear that a true balance is not being reached with the new propositions.
Saving Solar
Don’t let a monopoly utility kill rooftop solar
Integrating solar equitably into our power infrastructure is something that we have to get right, so please encourage state legislatures to find solutions that allow for both more homes to benefit from solar roofing and for fair pricing of electricity overall.
Stop the Attack on Solar Rights in FL
What? Tell the Florida legislature to preserve solar net metering.
Why? Proposed changes in the FL Senate Bill 1024 & House Bill 741 would hurt FL’s rooftop solar industry and result in the loss of thousands of jobs.
How? Click link to send message. ( Estimated 1 minute)
Help Protect Solar Rights in California
What? Call CA Governor Newsom and tell him to protect solar.
Why? The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) made a proposal that puts rooftop solar far out of reach for millions of Californians.
How? Click link for script and number to call. (Estimated 5 minutes)
Help more families afford solar
What? Call your Senator and urge them to support direct pay for solar.
Why? Supporting Section 25D tax credits would help many low and middle-class households take advantage of crucial tax credits to go solar.
How? Click link for script and number to call. (Estimated 5 minutes)
Some Rays of Sunshine
The Headlines We’re Happy to See
Here is a shortlist of solar programs both recently completed and in the works:
Morocco built the world's largest solar power plant. - Read More
The US’s largest solar farm is being built in Indiana. - Read More
Florida will install 30 million solar panels ahead of schedule. - Read More
Women in Puerto Rico help fuel region’s solar energy revolution. - Read More
China is restoring the global supply of polysilicon for solar panels reducing the price of the material. - Read More
Solar Farms are opening all over the United Kingdom: Mallard Pass, Tetsworth, Bristol, & Liverpool.
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