Community Solar
Renewable energy provides a cleaner energy source than other alternative sources of energy such as burning fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas. Solar power is often discussed as a viable source of energy, in conjunction with wind and geothermal. But putting the responsibility on everyday consumers like you and me is difficult because the upfront costs for residential solar panels is rather high. Most people cannot afford this initial cost, especially when the payback period can be around 8 years! This deters many people from investing in renewables like solar power.
Recently though, places have attempted to combat this problem by providing community solar subscriptions! What is community solar you ask? Community solar programs allow residents of the community to subscribe to a part of a solar farm and have the clean energy created from that portion of the solar farm sent to a utility company to be redistributed to their community. This allows many members of the community to benefit from solar energy. Most programs offer no charge for the subscription itself, which is much better than the high cost of residential solar!
The program helps connect you to a cleaner energy source and allows you to live more sustainably! You can find a community solar program near you here.
Written by Olivia Giovannini-Dolan, Class of 2020
Photo credit: pixabay.com