The Top 5 Reasons to Put Solar On It in 2014

Felice Stadler — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 17:23:37 +0000

Last summer, a long time friend in Half Moon Bay, CA, asked me what she and her friends and neighbors can do to promote solutions to climate change. Her question inspired the theme of my 2014 New Year’s Resolutions blog on three wildlife-friendly New Year’s resolutions. If you haven’t picked your 2014 resolutions yet, it’s not too late. How about taking the Put Solar On It pledge to put solar on your home, a community building, or wherever you think solar should be in 2014?

Turkey vultures on a solar panel in Everglades National Park. Flickr photo by Adam Fagan.

Why Put Solar On It?

1. Protect wildlife!

Solar panels on a rooftop create no land disturbance; and no land disturbance means animals and birds aren’t affected. If you want to build a bigger solar project, pick a site that’s not great wildlife habitat (like abandoned industrial lots, brownfields, or mines).

2. Solve climate change.

Every bit of electricity generated from something other than coal, oil, or natural gas helps reduce climate pollution. And the good news is we can do it locally, in our neighborhoods.

3. Save money.

As my 13 year old says, “The sun is a fireball of energy that we should use more.” Solar panels make the sun useful, and would displace our electricity costs. This is a good thing, especially when so many Americans are spending a disproportionate share of their monthly income to pay their electric bill.

4. Clean our air.

Did you know in some major cities, like Washington, DC, over 18% of children have asthma? Air pollution puts them in harm’s way every day, and one of the major culprits is pollution generated from burning coal to power our homes. Solar energy is converted to usable energy without generating any pollution.

Solar Panels at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, UT via Flickr photo by Jason St. Sauver/USFWS.

5. Build support for home-grown energy.

Rooftop solar installations nearly doubled over the past three years, and support is only growing. And as support grows, so does the pressure on local elected leaders to revisit long-held monopolies enjoyed by corporate power companies. Change is happening, community by community.

Put Solar On It is a new campaign launched by Mosaic to build a national movement for local clean energy by giving people the tools and resources to get small-scale solar projects off the ground. How would it work? Let’s say I pledge in 2014 to put solar on my kid’s local school.

Through Put Solar On It, I would get the answers I would need to take this from idea to reality: How do I get parents and teachers to support the project? What would it cost and how would we finance it? Who would actually install the solar panels? Put Solar On It can help me answer all these questions and more.

When a New Year’s resolution feels difficult or hard to achieve, it languishes. Put Solar On It is intended to head that off, by giving you what you need to be successful.

Share this blog to spread the word: 2014 is the year to Put Solar On It!

The post The Top 5 Reasons to Put Solar On It in 2014 appeared first on The National Wildlife Federation Blog.