A lot of milestones in clean energy have been reached in the last few years, made possible by forward-thinking companies, such as SolarCity.
SolarCity, of course, is a solar power company, enabling thousands of residences, municipalities, and businesses, to adopt solar power. Constantly expanding across the United States, SolarCity is the nation’s number one full-service provider of clean energy generation and storage. Part of what makes the company so successful is how it makes renewable energy far more accessible to even the average consumer.
All John Q. Public has to do is fill out a form online, and a SolarCity planner can design an all-inclusive solar power system. The system, which includes solar panels, inverter, smart metering, even backup storage via Tesla batteries in some locales, takes a couple of days to install. In spite of equipment, materials, and labor running into the tens-of-thousands of dollars range, some customers end up paying nothing up front, opting instead to pay for the energy that the house ends up using, just like paying the fossil-fuel-powered utility company, only cheaper and cleaner.
Part of the result, of course, is that the average home and business has a much smaller carbon footprint and smaller utility bill. How much clean solar power has been generated by SolarCity customers? As of April, a whopping one billion kilowatt-hours, or one terawatt-hour (TWh) of clean solar power has been generated, and the infographic is quite interesting, what that kind of energy translates to…
Considering a couple of SolarCity chairman relationships, referring to Elon Musk, of course, I enjoyed the infographic’s application of 1 TWh clean solar power. Elon Musk has been referred to as the real-life Tony Stark, which makes me wonder where Mr. Musk is hiding his TeslaMan Suit. In any case, 1 TWh could power the suit for nearly two weeks of constant usage. On the other hand, considering that Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla Motors, producer of electric vehicles, I thought it interesting that 1 TWh could power every single electric vehicle on the road today, for an entire year! What else can 1 TWh power? SolarCity figures to have, by 2018, one million solar power installations, many complete with Tesla battery backup storage, and another one billion kilowatt-hours of clean energy generated!
Image © SolarCity, orngejuglr
The residential solar power revolution is both exciting and ever-changing. As important as the work being done by large solar installers like Solar City is, there are better ways to go solar for many homeowners. The fact of the matter is that many homeowners would save considerably more money if they had acquired their own financing through government back home improvement loans.
The residential solar power revolution is both exciting and ever-changing. As important as the work being done by large solar installers like Solar City is, there are better ways to go solar for many homeowners. The fact of the matter is that many homeowners would save considerably more money if they had acquired their own financing through government back home improvement loans.