There is a well know
acronym, K.I.S.S., that reminds us to keep things simple. However,
all too often, when our government gets involved with matters, they
find a way to make the simple far more complicated than it has to be.
If you do not believe me, try making sense of our tax code or the
Affordable Care Act.
In California, we have
found a way to take our abundant sunshine, and the inexpensive energy
potential it offers, and made it far more complex and expensive to
make solar energy worth pursuing. By creating numerous barriers to
its development and catering to large power suppliers like Southern
California Edison or Pacific Gas and Electric, our state is missing
out on a golden opportunity to assert itself in the filed of energy
production. This failure is costing us jobs, energy revenue, and
much needed affordable energy.
I am not an expert in
solar energy but it seems to me a simple process. You install solar
panels that collect the sun's energy and stores it in a source that
can distribute that energy in the form of electricity. I do know the
solar lights I have in my backyard are connected to a battery that
clicks on each evening at dusk and shuts off the following morning
before sunrise. Their total cost was less than twenty bucks at my
local Big Lots.
It's that simplicity
that concerns our power suppliers. They have invested much into our
state's current power system and do not want to see it come crashing
to an end by having each home owner tap into their own cheap source
of energy. It is why our state no longer allows home owners to
produce more energy than they can use while selling the remaining
back to the state to use. It is also why home owners like me who
manage to keep down their energy bills do not convert to solar power.
The industry is designed to make the price of converting to solar
power so expensive, it is not worth it over the lifetime the average
home owner will spend in their house.
Most of us understand
the game played between the state and its major energy suppliers and
while our state may not fall apart if we were all able to cheaply
convert to solar energy, our energy suppliers are right when they say
it would cost a lot of people their jobs. We already have enough
people in this state collecting unemployment and do not need more.
However, under a simpler plan, our energy suppliers would not be
adversely affected and jobs in the field would remain plentiful.
We also have to take
into account environmentalists who have worked hard to block the
development of major solar farm construction in our desert. While
their claims may be exaggerated, there is some degree of truth to
their concerns.
So how does our state
develop affordable solar energy that does not destroy the existing
power companies or environment while still helping citizens when
their bill arrives? It's simple.
We begin by offering
home owners like me a tax credit for donating their roof top to the
state so they can install solar panels. When you factor in the
amount of south facing roof my house has along with the same south
facing roof my detached garage has, the state could provide enough
solar energy to take care of the needs of most of my neighborhood. I
would get a much needed tax break, the state would collect and store
the solar energy while also maintaining and up dating the equipment,
and the energy collected would be stored in a distribution site or
plant built and owned by a power company. The source of collecting
the energy is far cheaper and friendlier to the environment than
constructing more hydroelectric dams and with over six million homes
owned in the state, we would have plenty of cheap energy available
for use.
Next, we require all
new home construction to include enough solar collecting panels to
meet the needs of two homes. Again, this can easily be done with
solar friendly home designs with south facing roofs as well as with
solar collecting panels strategically located on power poles, fence
lines, and even mailboxes. There is no sane reason new home
developments can not be 100 percent solar powered. Besides, the most
affordable way to install solar panels is with new construction.
The state also needs to
require the same with all new business construction. If Wal Mart
wants to come to a town with a new super center, it must be able to
meet the energy needs it requires. With the technology we have
today, there just isn't an argument that companies can make that
justifies not installing solar collecting panels on their roof tops.
From there, the state
should offer existing businesses a tax credit to donate their roof
lines just as they would offer private home owners. Just think of
all the solar energy our state could collect by installing solar
collectors at all our shopping centers and business centers, not to
mention government buildings . Added to the energy collected from
existing and new home construction and new business construction, the
state would find itself with enough energy to meet its needs for
several lifetimes to come. This also allows the state time to work
more closely with environmental groups for the construction of future
solar collecting fields that would be more environmentally friendly,
resulting in fewer lawsuits and delays.
The end result will be
a new era in which California once again becomes the Golden State it
once was. Only this time, it would become a major collector and
supplier of cheap energy that is in turn sold to other energy
deficient states rather than remaining one dependent on others to
help meet our needs. It is not inconceivable to see a state in which
we are counted on to supply much of the nation with energy. Jobs
will be plentiful in the energy field while Southern California
Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric become even larger energy
providers. And while we are profiting from the sale of our excess
energy to other states, Californians can also rejoice in having the
most affordable energy bills in the nation.
It is possible to
develop a simple energy plan that benefits everyone in the state.
However, it requires a generation of leaders who refuse to take the
simple and make it more complex than it has to be. That,
unfortunately, may be a bigger task than solving our energy woes.
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