So today I heard an ad for a solar installer trying to encourage people to install solar panels and I just commented on a YouTube video, talking about Solar and Wind Power. In the commercial, the guy mentioned how Los Angeles has some of the best exposure to sunlight than most places on the planet, and also how we have more rooftops than probably any city in the country. I thought about this, and this may actually be one incredible advantage for Los Angeles County that most people sometimes consider a disadvantage. That is, that unlike most other major cities in the country and the world ... Los Angeles is just a big sprawl. There's the handful of skyscrapers in downtown, a few, much smaller buildings in West L.A. and places, but for the most part it's the huge suburban sprawl going way North into the Santa Clarita Valley, all the way West along the coast, all the way South down to the tip of Orange County, and all the way East until it turns into open desert. It is an incredibly massive area, and nearly all of it is covered with rooftops. Rooftops which can be fitted with solar panels, especially since by the end of this year/beginning of next year there should be thin film, so-called Power Plastic solar cells that are as efficient or better than current solar panels, but 1/10 the cost or less, making solar panels an economically feasible option for the majority of Americans and businesses. And with that.. every house and every business could install enough solar cells to cover their entire power needs with plenty of excess which they could sell back to the grid and get paid for.
The entire Greater Los Angeles Area would become 100% energy independent on its own, every single house and buiding would be a mini power plant, the monthly or yearly paychecks that home owners and business owners would get would be like a permanent stimulus check, as well, the $100, $200, $300 or more monthly electricity bill would be eliminated, which would be just that much more money every month that people have to help pay down debt, add to savings, use for vacations, presents, whatever. Blackouts would be a thing of the past. And if this is all done in addition to the massive solar plants that the city is building on it's own, then those plants could become sources of free money for the city, as they would have massive excesses because the city's buildings would provide energy themselves, meaning the city would really have no other option but to sell their excess energy to other cities, states, or even neighboring countries.
This would mean that perhaps things like parking meters could be eliminated throughout the Greater Los Angeles Area. Or perhaps the savings would mean property taxes could be lowered. Or perhaps these savings would mean that Los Angeles City as well as all the smaller suburb cities would have more money to spend on our public schools or on paying our teachers more or on improving our health facilities. Perhaps if similar things were done throughout California, there would be enough savings and enough new revenue generated to completely fund a comprehensive universal healthcare system for the State of California, meaning any new Federal health system would have much more money to give to other states ... not in California's unique situation ... to spend on providing all of their citizens comprehensive healthcare coverage.
The potential longterm benefits are amazing. Something seemingly as simple as homeowners putting solar panels on their roofs to help lower or eliminate their energy bill and to "do their part" to save the environment ... could radically change the way we live our lives in this city, this country, and this planet. Aside from things like phone bills and possibly water bills (though a rain water trapment system could eliminate or at least dramatically reduce water bills) that people would still have to pay ... if you switched to energy efficient washer/dryers & refrigerators, and switched from gas burning stoves to electric or magnetic induction stovetops as well as electric/induction ovens and solar water heating systems with electric water heaters as a backup ... you could eliminate virtually every major bill you have on your house, except the rent/mortgage or course, and be able to save several hundred dollars a month and several thousand dollars a year. So you could pay off your house that much quicker or travel the world in a little bit nicer fashion or take vacations more often than you could before. I mean... think about it... our children who are alive today and for every subsequent generation after theirs... could never have to pay an "electric bill" their entire life. In a generation, the entire idea of an "electric bill" could be a forgotten thing of the past; looked on as one of the hardships previous generations had to endure before the Clean Energy Revolution.
I could go on of course, but since it's late and since no one is probably reading this... I'll stop.
But if you are reading this... think about it, learn about it, buy and install solar panels, tell your friends and families to install solar panels or wind turbines.
The "Clean Energy Revolution" is not some natural cycle like the leaves falling or bears going into hibernation. It, like everything in life, is not some inevitability that is simply going to happen because you hear (a few) powerful people talking about it. The Clean Energy Revolution will only happen if we make it happen by doing things like this and how long it takes to happen depends solely on how quickly well all get off our asses and start buying solar panels or wind turbines.. even if you can only afford one or two a year, by the time Obama is running for re relection you could have an energy independent home that is generating free money for you. It will only happen when we make it happen, so let's make it happen now, today. Enough talking, we need more doing. The materials are here, they have been here for decades, we just need the will to do it. We were able to put a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth in less than 8 years and when we started on that journey, most of the technology we used didn't even exist yet! We have the technology, we simply need the collective will to do it. And if we do, then assuming President Obama serves two terms... by the time Obama leaves office, The United States could be 100% energy independent. Not to mention the millions and millions of tons of carbon dioxide and other harmful gasses we would no longer be sending into the atmosphere every year.
Viva la Revolucion!
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