Getting electricity from the sun

Everyone knows that our planet (and mine, too) is dependent on the sun. We get heat, light, and warmth from our closest star. Without the sun, we'd be in big trouble. I guess you could say that the sun is a real lifesaver.

Somewhere along the line, some really intelligent people learned how to use light to generate electricity. Any light works, really, but a mere 93 million miles away sits a giant ball of burning gases that's been there for what seems like an eternity. The only thing is that we only see the sun during the day. It sets in the west every evening and rises again the next morning in the east. (If only everything was that reliable!) But for the time being, we have a good source of light shining down on us all day long, so why not use it to our advantage?

Ever since we bought our house way back whenever, I've always dreamed of one day getting our power from the sun. All we'd need would be some solar cells and a set of batteries to store the power for use at night. Sounds kind of win-winish, huh?

Recently, an agency was created in our area known as the Clean Power Alliance (CPA). Part of the deal was to get as many power users (aka Southern California Edison customers) to switch over to solar power. Through a third-party company, solar panels would be installed on the roof of any home if the owner wanted to sign up, and those panels would generate power for Edison. In return, Edison would offer a lower rate for power to those who had the solar panels installed.

I felt that this was a good idea, so I signed up. Everything was paid for by the solar company, including a new electric panel, any cables or wiring, the solar panels themselves, and all installation costs. The roofing company even replaced any part of the roof (like fascia board, joists, etc.) at no charge to us. We didn't get a battery for storing electricity (those cost more than $10,000 and not included with this deal), but the lower rate from Edison works. Our monthly bill isn't that high anyway because we don't have air conditioning (thank you, close proximity to the ocean with nothing in the way of the onshore breeze). A few years ago, we installed LED lighting throughout the house to replace all of the fluorescent and incandescent bulbs. LEDs use only about 15% of the power of a typical incandescent light, and about one-third less than compact fluorescent bulbs use. Between the LED lights and a new, more efficient refrigerator, our power use (and bill) have dropped noticeably.

New solar panels on our roof.

Installation has taken awhile, between the installation of the new electric panel, the wiring, the solar panels themselves, inspections, etc. You can see in the photo that the roof tiles still need to be placed back in their original place, but that will be done in the time ahead. (The panels were installed this morning.) The guy in charge said that everything should be ready to go soon, once a final inspection is done and approved by the city. And that doesn't usually take very long.

Despite the process being somewhat drawn out, the fact that we'll be getting electricity from a renewable source is well worth it. Whether you're a part of the CPA, or just want to help slowly wean our planet from burning fossil fuels to generate fuel, look into solar. It can be a steep investment, but in the end it's well worth it.