SolarCity Renewable Solar Power
One EcoStilettoista among us, let’s call her R, is obsessed with solar panels. Off the grid! Watch your electric meter run backwards! She tends to go on and on. Yet the one time she had a consultation on the actual implementation of her pipe dream, her hopes were irrevocably dashed. Because you see, R’s house is shaded by a gigantic tree. And though that tree keeps her home cool in the Southern California climate, it’s a total buzz kill for solar panels. The consultant’s suggestion? Invest in the panels and cut it down. Doesn’t seem to make much sense, do it?
So R was thrilled to see that SolarCity is expanding its territory to more than 300 communities in California, Arizona and Oregon, and setting its sights on solar-powering the whole gdamned country. The company is already a national leader in solar power system design, financing, installation and monitoring, and is California’s top residential solar power provider according to records kept by the California Public Utilities Commission. And it offers the first-of-its-kind SolarLease that lets homeowners switch to solar power for less money than they currently pay for electric—with no money down and no installation costs—so that customers start using renewable energy and saving money the day their solar systems are connected.
But here’s the kicker: Electricity rates are expected to rise by as much as 20 percent in California next year. Maybe it’s time to take a second look at that tree.
