Climate Action
I’m an Enviro-Economist, This is Why You Should Be Too
March 14, 2025
Solar energy is taking off across the US, the latest industry report by the SEIA shows that 66% of all new electricity capacity added to the US grid is solar. It’s not a shock to me as solar was part of my family’s story for longer than most.
Given that today is Solar Appreciation Day, I want to share my family’s experience with a home powered by sunshine and why we found so much value in this renewable energy source.
“Appreciate” is a very specific word—it’s about finding real value in something. I truly do appreciate solar energy because it has brought so much to my life: light, clean clothes, safe food, clean dishes, heating, cooling, entertainment, and the ability to charge my phone, keeping me connected. My childhood really was powered by sunshine.
But If I’m being honest, I never thought of myself as an environmentalist. Not because it’s a dirty word; I just thought you had to shower with rainwater to consider yourself a “true environmentalist.” Anyone from Bakersfield, California knows this isn’t possible if you want anyone to come within ten feet of you most of the year. Yet, as I’ve gotten older, I have realized my parents raised me to live sustainably without giving it a second thought. They gave me green muscle memory.
How Did They Flex Your Green Muscle Memory So Early On?
My parents were the first people in our neighborhood to install solar. When I asked them, “Why solar?” They said, “Long ago, it was clear climate change was a reality. We wanted to be sure that when our children asked us how we got here, we could honestly say we did everything we could to leave you a livable world. The money we saved from the experience was just a welcome side benefit.”
So back in 2008 when a solar company knocked on the door to give them a price breakdown for going solar with what is known as a “pay off time” pitch which basically explains how long it will take to break even. At the time my parents’ made the solar leap installation, the energy provider was pushing back against energy consumers purchasing solar units that would overproduce the energy the home needed. Because the utility company was then required to buy back that extra unused energy for the national grid.
My parents were advised to get a smaller solar system but they somehow knew that electric cars were coming, and their energy needs would be greater so they opted for a large 40 panel system. As energy prices continue to rise nationally, this was clearly a very smart decision. Basically, they are creating their own energy right on their roof.
It Didn’t Stop At Solar
Their advocacy had started in earnest. When the homeowner’s association (HOA) tried to put up a fight about the aesthetics of having panels on the roof, claiming the panels would not be pleasing on the eyes, they fought back. Explaining that due to the California Solar Rights Act of 1978 the HOA did not have the power to stop them from installing the system. All the power was in my parent’s hands.
California is not the only state that secures homeowners’ right to install solar panels and arrays on their property: for instance Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, and many others also have similar protections.
How Does Home Solar Work?
Every solar scheme can be slightly different, and each state can have slightly different rulings and laws around solar but in my family’s case – all the energy their solar panels create is fed back into the grid. They can then use the equivalent of all that energy back off the grid whenever they want and if they generate a surplus of energy, their energy company pays them the difference.
In California, the local energy provider only pays solar owners 3-3.9 cents per kw but sells it for 34 to 72 cents a kw. There is also a fee to ‘use’ their power lines which is about $9 a month in California. With this monthly fee and purchasing of the system itself, it usually takes anywhere from 3 to 6 years to break even, so like any large financial undertaking it is an investment.
What Happens When You Sell Your Solar Home?
By the time we sold our family home – we’d been solar for about a decade and the utility company owed us $1000 credits That means they over produced enough energy to power over 612 cars on a trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles (for my non-west-coasters, that’s a LOT of power).
The thing about renewable energy is that it’s not the future. It is NOW. That is why EARTHDAY.ORG has designated the Earth Day theme of 2025 as Our Power, Our Planet for 2025, advocating for a triple in renewable energy production by 2030.
The renewables movement has been growing for centuries and it cannot be stopped no matter how hard the fossil fuel industry might try, so we can either get on and embrace renewables or watch the rest of the world leap ahead of us.
Don’t believe me, then consider these incredible renewable energy facts:
China is making massive investments in renewable energy and is currently leading the world in both wind and solar. Uruguay has transformed its energy sector, generating 98% of its electricity from renewable sources. India is aiming to achieve 50% of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2030. Kenya’s geothermal power accounts for nearly half of all its electricity generation. A third of all homes in Australia use solar power. In Brazil hydro-electric accounted for nearly 68% of its total electricity generation in 2023. In Denmark, over 50% of the country’s electricity is generated from wind turbines and by 2026, wind energy will power 30% of Spain, 17% of the Netherlands and 23% of the electricity needs of Germany.
…and in the US?
In 2023, the US produced more solar power than ever before with California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona the states leading the solar revolution. It is helping to produce the cheapest electricity in history.
In the United States, Texas—long associated with oil production—now leads the nation in wind energy generation. The U.S. also has used its existing drilling capacity to become the world’s leading producer of advanced geothermal energy. California and Florida, states often at odds politically, are both at the forefront of the solar power boom. Across the U.S., solar capacity has grown over ten-fold in the last decade and is poised to become the 2nd largest source of USA’s generating capacity in the next few years.
Find out more about solar energy by reading our Explainer Can The World Run On Sunshine? I wish you good luck on your solar journey – and whatever you do remember that it is almost certain that just 10 years from now millions of us will be using electricity generated by solar energy!
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