Going Solar Simplest & Biggest Action Anyone Can Make, Says SolarCity

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Going solar is the simplest and biggest action a home or business can make to reduce its carbon footprint, says US residential solar company, SolarCity.

In a recent piece written for its website, SolarCity has highlighted the role that rooftop solar can have in putting “a dent in climate change.” Many people are rightfully skeptical that putting solar on their own roofs isn’t going to have much of an impact — but SolarCity disagrees.

Simply put, when communities and businesses make the decision to go solar, it is another step in a long chain of people doing the same thing — and a chain that will continue. With 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions coming from energy-related sources like electricity production, heating, and transportation, beginning to modify this at home is just common sense.

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SolarCity claims that “making electricity with solar panels, for example, entails 91% less CO2 pollution than using natural gas, and 96% less CO2 than coal” — referencing figures provided by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Going solar is the simplest and biggest action a home or organization can take to reduce its carbon footprint. 

In attempting to answer whether solar power can “move the needle on climate change,” SolarCity comes up with the following points:

Analysts believe that solar will be integral to the future of the globe’s energy mix, and it has the momentum to back it up.

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Distributed solar is also “shaping up to be a major part of solar’s growth,” accounting for more than half or more of a country’s installed solar PV capacity in many countries around the world.

But “realizing solar power’s full potential to cut CO2 pollution is a matter of choice and policy,” and SolarCity is right in saying that “we need policies and business models that embrace all forms of low-carbon energy,” rather than policies and utilities looking to stifle the growth of solar and other renewable energy technologies.

The full SolarCity piece can be found here


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Joshua S Hill

I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

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