Sun Is The Future

Dear Friends, Visitors/Viewers/Readers,

(Please click on red links below)
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Updates on our Solar-FIT For Sunshine State petition: 165 signatures strong. We need more! Please help us to spread more sunshine by signing this petition and sharing it with others. It is our shared responsibility to move toward the renewable energy age and Sunshine is the cleanest, healthiest, and least war-prone way to go!
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After having learned more about what other communities in various states of USA have done with Community Solar Garden/Farm programs, I could not contain myself and went for a walk in my neighborhood to share these information, hoping there will be  people in my community who are also concerned about our environment and are interested in making smart investment. I found out there are several issues that needed clarification regarding Community Solar Garden/Farm:

1. It is a separate issue from Feed-In-Tariff (FIT).  Although it may work in conjunction with FIT, it is not necessary to involve or require FIT.
2. Participation in Community Solar Garden or Farm is a form of investment, with certainty in rate of return. Think of investing with greater certainty than investing in the stock market.
3. Participation in Community Solar Garden or Farm does not require some one to live in the community forever. As a matter of fact, this is one of the appealing aspects of CSF (Community Solar Farm) program. The solar farm/panels will be maintained by a company. Those who participate in CSF simply function as investors.
4. Participation in CSF does not mean that one is unhappy with the government. It simply means one is interested in having a clean, healthy, and secure environment for our future generations while making smart investment decision.
5. Participation in CSF does not mean that one is unhappy with the power/utility company. It actually is necessary for the CSF group to work or negotiate with the power company for a contract that would be mutually beneficial, before the project may even began. This may all be handled by an experienced company.
6. This form of participation in solar is actually helpful for the power companies to remain in the game, in the long run.  Allow me to explain: cost of solar has already dropped so much that in many areas it’s already reached grid parity (it is economical to go solar). Within five to ten years, we will be seeing storage/battery technology advance to the point that it will allow sufficient amount of power stored for night time use. Right now, at this critical juncture, power companies still have the time to come in to negotiate with consumers to provide incentive for consumers to remain connected to the grid. If power/utility companies do not take advantage of this precious time to cooperate with consumers, good portion of power companies’ best clients will be going off the grid within the decade. Then, it will not be good for the power companies nor for those remaining clients.
7. Yes, it is necessary to negotiate with both HOA (Home Owner Association, if there is one is one’s community) and power company of one’s particular community before the Community Solar Garden may begin. But keep in mind that it will be beneficial for both the HOA and power company that this form of participation is encouraged. Negotiation process may be taken care of by experienced people/company.
8. Yes, it is necessary that there is potential sites in one’s community for the garden/farm to take place. It may surprise many that a solar farm/garden does not have to take much space. Look around in your community and see if there are spaces not fully utilized at the moment.  In my community, I can see multiple areas that may be considered, below:

Potential Community Solar Garden site (credit: Sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker,Creative Commons, GNU free documentation license)

Hope you will be successful in starting your community solar garden. This form of participation in solar is good for the environment, our future generations, and our pocket book. It’s a No  Brainer. For more information on community solar garden/farm program, please feel free to visit these posts below for reports,  and videos for further explanations:

June 17, 2013,    June 18, 2013,     June 19, 2013

Potential Community Solar Garden site (credit: Sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker,Creative Commons, GNU free documentation license)

~have a bright and sunny day~

any of your comments, suggestions, or need of encouragement will be welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com

Homepage:  http://www.sunisthefuture.net

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Tags: community solar garden, farm, program, Sun Is The Future, sunisthefuture, sunisthefuture.net, susan sun nunamaker

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 at 3:20 PM and is filed under Educational. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.