Yesterday at Easter dinner with Matt's family, the conversation somehow steered towards "green"ing our houses. Now mind you, these are salt of the earth kind of people. They're just regular folks making a regular living in Indiana -and they were all thinking about ways to reduce their carbon footprints. From rain water collection, to composting, to geothermal heating, and the addition of solar panels, they are more than ready for a change.
This made me think that probably most of the nation, who are probably mostly just like us, really do want to take the right steps for our environment. Regular people want to do their part too! The only deterrent is the high cost of installation. So last night I went surfing on the internet for more information. I think I found something very exciting.
Check it out! Now you can rent solar panels from a company called Citizenre through it's REnU program. You sign up for a 1, 5, or 25 year contract where you lock in your rental fee for the entire duration of the contract at whatever price you pay for electricity now. If your house is big enough to generate excess electricity, you can net meter it back to the electric company and get credited for it! If you have to move, you can transfer your system to your new house, or transfer the contract to the new owners (I know I would be more apt to purchase a home with this technology than a house without it).
They'll set it up (obtaining the necessary permits even), maintain it, etc., and the only cost to you for the whole shabang is a $500 up-front security deposit. That's it. It's available in all states that offer net metering and will start being installed in September.
I did the Solar Savings Calculator and would save over $6000 in electric bills over a 25 year period, and this:
Your REnU will eliminate 243 tons of CO2, 1178 lbs of NOx, 2993 lbs of SO2, 67 lbs of PM, 7 lbs of VOC, and 54 lbs of CO. That is equivalent to taking approximately, 42 automobiles off of the road, or planting 713 trees.
That's very exciting and I'm gonna look into it some more. Please take a look at the site for yourself.
High: 45 Low: 27, cloudy; Lunar Phase: Waning Gibbous, 92% of full.
Monday, March 24, 2008
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This is wonderful. We have held off on Solar because we know we are going to move in a couple of years. Thanks for the great info and what a wonderful idea.
Oh, by the way, you've been tagged. Don't be mad. See my blog for details.
Hey Aunt Deb! No problem.
Ok, we'll play along. Just give me a second here to decide what's safe to talk about. I can't believe you can do the splits with both legs. heehee -Jen :)
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