This article was originally published on Climate Progress and has been reposted with permission.
by Zachary Rybarczyk and Stephen Lacey
Republican presidential front runner Mitt Romney makes more money in one day than the average American makes in a year. With $20.9 million in income last year and a lower tax rate than most middle-class Americans, perhaps he’d be willing to join the thousands of homeowners around the country who are investing in solar?
A new analysis from the solar financing and installation company SunRun finds that it could be a fruitful investment not just for Romney, but for all the other Republican candidates. The company evaluated the solar resources, siting potential and electricity rates at each of the candidates’ primary homes (not second and third homes, in the case of Mitt Romney) and found that they could cumulatively save more than $300,000 over a 20-year period with a solar financing package:
This is assuming, of course, that one of these candidates doesn’t move into the White House. If so, perhaps they’ll speed up the installation of a system on the White House that was supposed to happen in April of last year.
Romney has made some strange comments about solar lately. Before the New Hampshire primary, he falsely claimed that the federal loan guarantee program has caused investors to “pull back” from the solar industry. In fact, the exact opposite happened: Solar installations more than doubled in 2011.
Maybe if the candidates make a personal investment in solar, they’ll change their tune.
Heck, even Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly said late last year that he would consider installing solar. Will the presidential candidates?
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