There is a lot of well-intended talk about a climate crisis. There is pressure on city halls everywhere to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and take other actions. The new federal administration is turning increased focus on policy activity that only the nation can accomplish. Even more breathtaking is the announcement from General Motors that they intend to start making gas powered cars. However, the real and immediate power to change is in the hands of local folks and the action they can take is to install solar power. The future of local climate empowerment is solar.
It’s so easy to demand change of others but now is the time for personal action. Solar is cheap to install and significantly helps reduce dependency on out of state oil and gas sources. There are approximately 20,000 roofs on houses in Petaluma. Over the past five years, the average number of permits issued for new solar installations is 200 per year. If we assume that only half the houses have good sun exposure and have suitable roofing, that means there are 10,000 opportunities to make a change that reduces greenhouse gas. Permitting numbers indicate that perhaps 2,000 of these 10,000 have solar. What are you in the other 8,000 houses waiting for? Let’s make 2021 the year Petaluma goes solar!
The ironic element of the decision to go solar is that it can be free; free upfront or free after it pays itself off. If you do not want to pay out of pocket for the installation, contractors will provide a plan where you pay them instead of PG&E. They own the equipment but you are helping reduce greenhouse gas. Since the average house pays back the initial cost in seven years, installation companies are happy with this arrangement. If you can pay for the solar yourself, in less than seven years, PG&E electric bills will be gone – only a memory. PG&E will raise rates 8% on March 1, but you have no more worries about rate hikes.
Federal tax credits of 26% significantly reduce the cost of home solar projects but the credits are reducing in the future. Another reason to make 2021 the year that Petaluma goes solar.
People are worried that PG&E power gets shut off and at inconvenient times. Batteries installations are becoming common with solar installations. Thus, making PG&E dependence even less. Another exciting trend is that electric car owners are using their cars as batteries by connecting the car to the house.
Also many rent paying tenants are dealing with slow to adopt change landlords. In these cases the tenant is leading the landlord to the decision simply by setting up a meeting with a solar contractor.
All actions are important to addressing our climate crisis. Installing solar on your house is something that you can do today to make a specific, personal, local, inexpensive commitment to address the climate crisis.
Kevin McDonnell is a member of the Petaluma City Council, and John Crowley is a community organizer and solar sales consultant.