One thing I did right, at the beginning of this year was to finally go solar with a residential solar PPA and to sign up to be in the ASES Nationwide Solar Tour which is tomorrow, Saturday Oct 2nd.
If you are in the SF Bay Area, come on by to my house and see how easy it is in California now to do the right thing and send clean power to green-up the grid for the next 30-40 years.
And if you are too far away to come by our house, find the American Solar Energy Association Solar Home Tourin your neighborhood!
In nine states now, solar in some utility districts is free or cheaper than utility energy, thanks to The Recovery Act, in combination with laws in some states that now allow solar companies that offer solar leases or solar PPAs that compete directly with utilities, by selling power by the kilowatt-hour.
In these nine other states solar can now be free, through leases or (what I chose) PPAs (power purchase agreements) which are what you have with your own utility now, essentially,buying power by the kilowatt-hour, except that utilities can raise the rate you pay.
With a residential solar PPA or lease, you can get started for nothing or for a down-payment equivalent to about two months electric bills, and then pay less for clean power than you are now paying for dirty power.
Thanks in part to the Recovery Act 30% Federal Tax credits and an assortment of different state rebates it pays for investors to front the money for large numbers of solar systems for homeowners, and then get gradually paid back over time, but without the hassle or difficulty of a bank loan or second mortgage.
While you don't save as much with a lease or PPA long-term as buying - it is best to buy if you can do it - but you do still save a lot monthly and cumulatively, considering that you make no investment to start.
The fact that it is no investment means more of us can do it now, to really change the world.
This really is a filibuster-proof serious climate action! Short of switching from a gas car to an EV, this is the biggest change that YOU CAN make.