Op-ed Series - Rhone Resch: Everyday Solar

August 24, 3:26 PMDC Green Business ExaminerMatt Roberts

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the DC Green Business Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Rhone Resch, President of SEIA

This article is next in the continuing summer op-ed series which asks leaders in the renewable energy and sustainability industries to speak about where we are today, and where we will be going tomorrow.

By: Rhone Resch, President, Solar Energy Industry Association

Everyday, I like to check to see if my electric meter is running backwards, if I’m selling excess electricity to my power company and if I’m earning extra money for my family’s summer vacation. How? I have a solar energy system on my roof.

There are thousands of Americans across the country that are doing the same thing everyday.

Incentives and grants from federal, state, and local governments mean there has never been a better time to go solar. The most effective incentive yet, the federal solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) creates a 30 percent credit for families and businesses buying solar energy systems, eliminates outdated prohibitions on utilities using the credit and authorizes millions in clean energy bonds to drive down costs and spur greater use of solar.

The ITC puts a "sale" sign on solar energy systems of up to 30 percent off, making your energy use more efficient, saving you money on your bills, and earning you extra cash on the electricity you don’t use by selling back to the power companies.

In setting up financial tools for average Americans to buy solar panels, this tax credit directly pours millions of investment dollars into the industry, driving down material costs and making solar products more affordable. This growth in solar installations is also creating jobs and spurring economic growth in all 50 states. We are putting people back to work in America’s factories manufacturing solar components and we are creating more jobs for America’s trades, including electricians, carpenters and plumbers.

And the ITC is only the beginning. The stimulus package passed by Congress in February is adding to the sunny forecast for solar. In July, the Treasury Department announced $3 billion to be invested in renewable energy projects outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This will lead to the creation of jobs installing solar panels on the roofs of homes and businesses and construct new pollution-free utility-scale solar power plants to replace older plants that use the dirty fuels of the past.

The climate change bill making its way through Congress would establish for the first time a national renewable portfolio standard, create new opportunities to get solar energy to markets, protect the air we breathe, and finally allow the federal government to enter into 20-year contracts for clean, reliable solar energy. These are the right policies to create a stable investment climate for the solar industry, just as the government has done for every other energy source, including coal, oil, and nuclear. The House has passed its bill and we are currently working with the U.S. Senate to strengthen this historic legislation and get it to President Obama’s desk for his signature.

Solar is ready now to meet America’s growing energy needs and create much-needed economic and job growth. The rooftop panels like the ones on my house, known as photovoltaic solar or PV, are probably what you think of when you hear about solar. However, there are numerous other types of solar that are making their way into our power sockets, lighting fixtures, and even our sink faucets and showerheads.

Concentrated solar power, for example, uses huge fields of mirrors that "concentrate" the sun’s heat to warm a liquid that generates steam to drive a turbine to produce electricity. The intensity of the sun in places like the American Southwest is so strong that these states can start exporting power instead of jobs. By updating our electric grid and streamlining the siting processes, concentrated solar plants can provide power where it is most needed in the United States.

Already, plants like these are in the construction pipeline in places like California, Nevada and New Mexico. With the right policies, these plants will move us towards energy independence and provide you and your family with clean solar energy.

Solar water heating may not generate electricity, but when you consider the cost of heating water for just hot showers and warm sink water you will know how much electricity it will save. An installation on top of your roof can heat water for a whole day’s needs, saving thousands on your energy bills over the years.

According to a poll conducted by Kelton Research, 94 percent of Americans support the use and development of solar technology. Even President Obama chose a solar installation in Colorado for the ceremony to sign the economic stimulus bill into law, highlighting his support of solar energy as an emerging jobs engine for the country.

Though no industry is immune when the economy as a whole is suffering, solar is one of America’s few industry bright spots. The Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) 2008 Solar Industry Year in Review found that total U.S. installed solar as grew by 16 percent. By adding 1,256 megawatts in 2008, America now has a total of 9,183 megawatts of solar capacity, enough to power approximately 2 million homes. Additionally, there are 6,000 megawatts of concentrated solar power plants in the development pipeline, enough to power another 1.5 million households.

U.S. solar manufacturing capacity increased by 65 percent in 2008, reporting an industry total job increase of 71 percent. States such as California, New Jersey, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New York, and Connecticut are pulling America out of its recent slump one job at a time. In just this past year, photovoltaic solar clocked a growth rate of 81 percent. Solar water heating installations grew by 50 percent. With this dynamic growth in 2008, the United States leapfrogged Japan, moving to third in the world after Spain and Germany for the total amount of new solar capacity. With the right policies out of Washington, it won’t be long before we surpass Spain and Germany as well.

A September 2008 study by Navigant Consulting showed that in 2016, the solar industry expects to support 440,000 America jobs. The 2009 stimulus bill alone will create 60,000 additional jobs in the solar industry this year and a total of 110,000 jobs by the end of 2010. As the solar industry continues to grow, so will American prosperity and sustainability.

Three years ago, I installed PV panels on my roof because I wanted my children to breathe cleaner air and live in a country that has a strong economy and is energy independent. You can do your part too. Contact your local solar installer to see what solar energy can do to reduce your electricity bill while reducing pollution. Contact your legislators to see what they are doing to create jobs and decrease our reliance on foreign fuels though solar energy. Like no other energy source, you can use solar everyday to make a difference.

For more info: You can leave your questions in the comment section, or forward them to me at DCGreenExaminer@gmail.com.

About the Author:

Rhone Resch is the president of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the national trade association of the solar energy industry. Resch has more than 15 years of experience in clean energy and energy efficiency, both in the private sector and the federal government. Prior to coming to SEIA, he was senior vice president of the Natural Gas Supply Association, a trade association that represents both major and independent companies that produce and market natural gas. In addition, he has served as program manager at the EPA’s Climate Protection Division in the Office of Air and Radiation, where he developed and implemented energy programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and hazardous air pollutants from the petroleum industry.