I love, love, like silly, gaga, over the top love, solar. How beautifully simple and elegant it is. The energy source that fuels all life on this planet can also power my house and my car. It's brilliant. I got really interested in solar when I was in college in the 90's. At that point, it actually was financially out of reach for almost everyone. I continued to assume that was the case, though I always knew that whenever I built my little earthen house, it would definitely be solar, no matter the cost.
A year or so ago, a friend of mine came to me asking if I wanted to join in his solar business. He said I could work from home and just make referrals to existing solar installation companies. Essentially many of them are beginning to outsource the sales portion to focus on the design and installation parts. Then he told me something that actually blew my mind. He said you can switch to solar and make a monthly payment roughly equivalent to what you are currently paying for the electric bill. Then it's paid off in just a few years. I had no clue it had come down so much in cost. It has come down 70% in the last 8 years! In some places where people pay exhorbitantly high rates for electricity, homeowners are saving money immediately by switching to solar. In Hawaii, you can go solar with battery storage and still pay less. Isn't that fabulous?! Now I'm not a sales person. It's just not how I'm wired, but I figured I can sell this because I love it.
The first solar system I sold
And I'm not talking about DIY solar installations. I'm talking about you hanging out in your living room while other people make a good living doing it for you. And the price dropped even more through 2017. This drop has a lot to do with massive growth in India and China. India recently built a 1000 megawatt solar farm. Solar farms of 1000 and 1500 megawatts are being planned in China. Their investments in solar are making it easier for all of us.
And yet people still seem hesitant. So I am here to shout it from the rooftops! Financing is easy in many countries. You don't have to put money down. Your monthly bills won't go up. You will be helping make a difference with our current ecological crisis. It's the right thing to do, and it's easy.
I get wanting to complain about political and social situations. Seriously, I do. There's some real douche buckets in the world right now. It's time for action, though. We are facing some serious issues. Just this week I've written about the patriarchy, raising revolutionary children, child abuse, and CPS corruption. We have big problems, and we have to step up and do what we can. This is something you can easily do that costs you nothing and seriously takes maybe two hours from your life. If you own your own house, hop to it. If you don't know how, ask me, and I'll help you. Even if you live somewhere that my company has no connections, I'll help you find them. Chop chop!
An added bonus: with the incredible rise of EV's, the cost of battery storage will drop dramatically. If you get your panels now, you'll be well on your way to having them paid off when batteries become more affordable. Then you can totally and completely divorce your evil electric utility.
Double bonus: Get that EV you're eyeing and power it with the sun shining on your roof. Sweet!
Here's to the end of coal, gas, oil, and nuclear power!!