The roof, that is …
Just got off the phone with my better 95+% … Dominion Virginia Power staff are at my home, right now, upgrading the meter to be able to handle net metering. Fingers crossed … with tomorrow’s dawn, my roof will be part of the power generation system covering over 90 percent of my family’s electricity usage. A bit more investment (both in terms of sweat and some $s) in energy efficiency, continuing tightening of our own attention to energy use, and we might be soon covering 100% of our power requirements.
My rooftop has solar hot water and solar pv.
It is unique, on both accounts, in my neighborhood.
That individuality is not a good thing. My neighbors are interested — really interested — in joining me but, as I will recount in a future blog, specific circumstances (stimulus package funding) enabled me to do this on a sensible financial basis. Right now, I cannot advise my neighbors to take the plunge … obviously not until they’ve done serious energy efficiency investments but also not unless they have lots of resources because, with current structures, the ‘payoff’ in my area just isn’t there under normal circumstances. One of the realities … we need to change “normal” to something more sensible.
As a new campaign from 350.org highlights, it is time for world leaders to Put Solar On It, to
install solar panels on your roof and then enact legislation to make it possible for everyone in your country to join you in the clean energy future. We need you to act symbolically — and then we need you to act for real.
Amid the many painful wounds of the Reagan counter-revolution against JImmy Carter’s efforts to move the nation forward on energy policy: the symbolic take-down of solar hot water panels from the White House roof. While the Park Service put solar electric panels up on a maintenance building on the White House grounds in 2003, the White House itself remains untainted by the clean-energy revolution. It is past time for this to change.
Thus, Tell Obama to put solar on it!
PS: We should, however, get Obama to do an weatherization/energy efficiency barnraising in the White House before the panels go up. Remember, the energy 3Rs: Reduce use, Renewable Power, Remediate for pollution. Get the WH to reduce before that step to renewables.