Capturing the Sunrays

 


My inbox and social media feeds were filled with offers “$0 out of pocket for solar installations”, as I had recently searched for rooftop solar installation prices just out of curiosity. The “smart” marketing apps continued feeding these ads, unaware that we have had a solar installation for the past couple of years. Two years ago I would have cringed at these ads. But now, happy with our installation, I was more patient and willing to give them more credit.

Being an ardent follower of clean energy initiatives, we explored solar panel installations including a solar roof, many times over the last decade, years before they were ready for prime time. While we were still exploring, others around us were taking the plunge and reporting complete satisfaction with their installations. I was really impressed to see the system my cousin had installed in India, which powered all of his law office, which hosted 10+ employees, plus a part of his residence. Finally for us, the stars aligned almost two years ago when we got a ~12kWp rooftop solar panel system, with 36 panels expected to generate 13000kWh per year. With the satisfaction of generating and using clean energy, we couldn’t have been happier with our decision, and would recommend it to every clean energy enthusiast! There are enough options to meet every need.

Typically, before one installs a behind-the-meter photovoltaic (BTM PV, as it is commonly referred), it is best to have a home energy assessment with your provider (such as Eversource). There is a relatively larger economic as well as a carbon footprint advantage with simple energy efficiency changes. Newer built homes use energy efficient windows, appliances and insulation. The assessment may recommend changing to energy efficient LED lighting, power strips, and smart thermostats. Once satisfied with energy efficiency changes, one can start exploring the many options to get solar panel installation. 

Major concerns before deciding to go solar is the home’s resale, the risk to roof damage or the aesthetics of the home. “We were not looking to buy a home with solar panels and initially skeptical about it. In fact, we were apprehensive due to the risk to roof maintenance, if something were to go wrong. But so far we have not had any issues. We do have the convenience of pre-installed clean electricity.” says a neighbor, who bought a home with pre-installed Solar Panels about five years ago. Research indicates that solar panels are generally not a hindrance to the resale of a home, in fact in recent years it is being viewed as an asset. My concerns about roof damage were put to rest when our installer explained how the panels are rack mounted which requires less drilling. The panels seem to protect the roof from weather damage and also helps to keep the heat trapped in during winters. At first, I was a little disappointed that our home orientation would not allow for the panels to be hidden away in the back and was worried about the aesthetics. But I was delighted how the panels turned out well-aligned and ended up looking very clean and cohesive with the frontal view.

Folks who are hesitant to get rooftop installation for any of the above mentioned reasons, should check if their towns or neighborhoods have clean energy programs, which allow you to replace carbon based electricity with clean electricity. Acton offers a program called Acton Power Choice to switch to clean electricity at a comparable price. If you feel you are ready for rooftop installations, there is an option to either lease or buy. Due to the current economics of solar, buying has become a very attractive option. The economics of solar has become very competitive due to federal Investment Tax Credit (26% in 2020 and 22% in 2021) plus any state tax credit, long-term sustainable monthly payments (SMART program in MA for 10 years) and net metering credits for unused electricity generated by your system. For $0 down, there are numerous solar specific loans, or home equity loans where the installment may be lesser than your electricity bill. So within 5 to 7 years (life of the loan), depending on the size of the system, the owner can become cash positive on their clean energy generation. A feel good benefit is that one can gift extra net metering credits to friends and family or donate them such as this one to Habitat for Humanity.

It was a very cool experience when you get a “reverse meter” after a solar installation. With solar net metering, the meter keeps track of units being produced and fed to the grid, at which time the meter may actually be running backwards to indicate higher production than consumption. Any extra electricity produced than our consumption is stored at the grid as credits. These credits balance off the usage when the panels do not generate (at nights) or generate less (cloudy days). Twice a year the extra credits can be transferred to a beneficiary if so desired. Otherwise the credits have a lifetime accrual.

The Green New Deal and its impact to save my daughter’s generation from doom is a major topic of conversation at our home. “Start now. Unlike the novel coronavirus, for which I think we’ll have a vaccine next year, there is no two-year fix for climate change. It will take decades to develop and deploy all the clean-energy inventions we need.” writes Bill Gates, in his notes titled “COVID-19 is awful. Climate change could be worse”. I am paying more attention to this visionary thinker as he goes about drawing attention to world problems, while passion about climate change runs strong in our household. As if by providence, I came across the dramatic shift to renewable projects in the New England area identified by ISO New England. (ISO-NE is a non-profit that ensures New England has reliable, competitively priced wholesale electricity today and into the future). Among these global forces working towards making Earth a greener, cleaner place for the coming generations, I shifted my attention to the little rays of sunshine - Rooftop Solar Panels, that have become well within reach of every clean energy enthusiast.










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Local Impact

Image
“What’s up with the orange ribbon on your mailbox post?” I was glad for the question, as that was precisely the purpose of the tied up piece of ribbon.  The Orange Ribbon Campaign , a student led initiative started by the Luce family of Boxborough, amplified by AB Together Against Hate and AB United Way (ABUW), is a show of support and solidarity towards Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities. Recently two Black members of our town school committee experienced blatant racial attacks with use of slurs - on two separate occasions - during meetings held over zoom. There has been a widespread support for the orange ribbon initiative. “We realize that a ribbon campaign will not change hearts and minds or discriminatory practices, but we hope to amplify the many voices and groups that need to be heard” states the campaign. When a member of our community, Ananya Rao , reached out for 20 volunteers, the spots were full within no time. I was motivated by the fact that the ...
Read more

The Flight of an Empty Nester

Image
I settled down on the couch by the fireplace, wrapping myself with a warm blanket and a mug of hot ginger tea in hand, when my whatsapp notification dinged with a photo of my cousin Seema, receiving a trophy for a marathon run. Before I had a chance to read the details, our dog Smokey started pawing me vigorously - his unwavering, piercing stare reminding me that it was time for his walk. Six o’clock on a dark, cold, winter evening isn’t my favorite time to walk. However, it can be very difficult to explain to a dog, eager for his evening walk, about the lethargy of a cold, winter evening, that us humans experience. With the image of my marathoner cousin in the back of my head, and the love for my demanding doggie, I quickly gulped down the tea, admonishing Smokey to be patient.  Following the advice of a good friend, who was a dog owner before us, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes”, I layered myself with warm clothing, ready to face the bitter wind chill o...
Read more

The Undeniable Roots

Image
The grocery store was out of ginger root today. Usually ginger is a grocery item I can safely find in abundance, always filling up its designated area to capacity. On regular days, it seems like I am the only one stuffing my produce bag with four or five large roots. Ginger is an essential ingredient in Indian cooking. And those fond of the real Indian chai (tea) won't have it without a generous helping of ginger; it is known to fight colds and coughs and is supposed to bring warmth. I wasn’t surprised that today, with everyone guarding against COVID-19, the produce aisle which normally carries ginger was full of artichokes. If stores could be out of toilet paper, being out of ginger made way more sense. The sudden popularity of this root, which is such an integral part of my Indian roots, started me thinking of my roots. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I sit here, about 7500 miles away, across most of the Atlantic ocean, Europe and the middle-east, concerned abou...
Read more

74th Indian Independence Day

Image
Proud Indian Americans looked on with their heads held high as they witnessed the Indian Flag being raised at the Acton town hall, accompanied by Jana-Gana-Mana, the Indian National Anthem. The Indian Flag will fly for twenty four hours at the Acton Town Center to commemorate India’s 74th Independence Day, on August 15th 2020. This is happening for the first time in the history of Acton, thanks to the leadership of the Acton Board of Selectmen (BOS) and Sahana Purohit, a Finance Committee member, who stepped  up promptly in response to IAGB (India Association of Greater Boston http://www.iagb.org ) initiative to hoist the Indian flag in 35 New England cities including Nashua, Connecticut and Maine towns. In Acton, the occasion was graced by prominent town representatives such as Massachusetts State Senator Jamie Eldridge, Massachusetts Representatives Tami Gouveia and Dan Sena,  Acton Board of Selectmen (BOS) Chair Jon Benson and Vice Chair Dean Charter, Selectman David Mart...
Read more

Youth Junction

Image
Six years ago, after completing his business degree (BBA), a young apprentice started his business journey in the newly inaugurated family garment store called Youth Junction. There was excitement around this new store in the small farming community of Timarni, Madhya Pradesh, India. Now fashion-seeking youngsters did not have to make a four hour hike to nearby cities of Bhopal or Indore for trendy outfits. For the Gadres, especially Siddharth, Youth Junction is a bold endeavor; a family dream come true. Siddharth has been managing the store with his Dad, Upendra, for the past six years. On first meeting, Siddharth comes across as a shy youth, but once you get to know him better, he has much to share with you. Siddharth is an iron-willed lionheart. For the past 25 years, after thousands of physical therapy sessions; after a couple of surgeries and years of medical intervention; after trying out every other alternative medicine like homeopathy and ayurvedic, he says he has developed a ...
Read more

The Festival of Lights

Image
We had been in the US for just a few years when our then six-year-old walked into the house announcing how we must have a turkey dinner that Thanksgiving. Everyone at school was talking about it, and he had just learned some great stories about Thanksgiving. We nodded at the stories without complicating the conversation with the questionable origins of the holiday , as we were ready to give this family holiday tradition a try. After all life is about new experiences and what can be better than when food and the whole family are involved! Having been raised in India, growing up we were exposed to Christmas and Ramadan besides other holidays. On moving to the US we used to put up a Christmas tree with presents, got kids’ pictures with Santa and enjoyed a feast with the family on Christmas day. But we had never celebrated Thanksgiving at home, although we knew about it at work and in the context of Black Friday shopping. Being busy working parents with young children at that time, Indian ...
Read more

Journey to the Faraway Land

Image
In the early part of 2021, my friend Sunanda Sahay shared about a project she was spearheading as a part of and initiated by the Acton Historical Society (AHS) and the current co-president Doug Herrick. Over the past couple of decades, especially in the last decade, Acton has been getting a big influx of an Asian population, and the AHS wanted to record this journey through immigrant stories and experiences. The project focused on the two largest demographics, the Chinese American and the Indian American Actonians. The AHS hosted a session in May 2021 representing the Chinese American community that was led by Dawn Wang. A similar session, led by Sunanda, is planned to represent the Indian American on Sunday, Oct 3rd at 4 pm EST. When Sunanda explained the project to me in Jan 2021, I did a quick search to learn about the journeys of Indian American Actonians. About when and why they moved to Acton and what their experience was as a part of raising a family in Acton. I found next to n...
Read more

Eternal Love

Image
The school year 2016-17 in our town started with a dark fall season ending in a darker winter. The school community was mourning, grieving and learning to cope with the deaths of two current students and two past students who took their own lives. Then on a cold, dark winter evening in January when I entered my daughter’s room, she was in shock and unconsolable. “It’s a fifth grader....he is so young...only ten!” That evening is etched in my mind. If it took so much for our family to come to terms with this incident, I wondered what the boy’s family would have gone through. It has been more than four years since this incident, when quite coincidentally I noticed a page set up by a mother in the memory of her radiant boy. I was drawn to this duo and as I looked deeper caught sight of innumerable posts - some touching, some heartbreaking, but mostly inspiring, and tremendously positive in the face of an unthinkable tragedy. My throat tightened as I read “Sometimes it feels like he is jus...
Read more

Age is just a Number

Image
I wasn’t there to witness this amazing feat. But when I close my eyes, it is clear like it is happening right in front of my eyes! I have seen this happen before, however this time it is more exciting for him. His small frame hunched over the keyboard with keys so worn-out that the letters have disappeared, his glasses that need correction that sometimes he can see better without them when his face is up close to the monitor and keyboard, patiently typing with two fingers as he has no typing skills; but his memories are crystal clear and larger than life, pouring out and filling the empty pages of the document to bring the stories of legendary cricketers, whom he hero-worshipped in his youth, to life. My Dad, (whom I call Baba) at age 82, just finished writing and publishing a book of his dreams. While he wrote about the legends, in my eyes he himself has become a legend! In March 2020, when I wrote about Baba in my post “ The Undeniable Roots ” that “When I read motivational quotes ab...
Read more

The Whole Nine Yards

Image
As a child I found comfort in cuddling a soft, warm, dry and fluffy white mass. No, it wasn’t a puppy! It was my grandmother’s nine yard saree (“nauvari”; nau- nine, var - yard; in Marathi) stitched like a quilt. It was extremely soft, being well-worn cotton and washed hundreds of times, folded four times and stitched into a comfortable quilt of a little over 6 feet in length, hence named “chaughadi” (chau - four, ghadi - fold; in Marathi). In the Indian winters it would trap the body heat and provide just enough warmth, and in summers, the airy, light material was the perfect cover under a ceiling fan. Beyond the practical perfectness, it was my inseparable security blanket. So when I first heard the phrase “the whole nine yards” in the US, however bizarre it may sound now, I assumed it was borrowed from the length of the traditional Indian saree. To me the phrase made complete sense - to go the full length or detail into something, as compared to the more modern, and shorter, abridge...
Read more