Something to think about while you’re under the mistletoe this week of Christmas. When approaching the complex issue of sustainability, it’s best to keep it simple!

Earlier this week at the Solar Austin Happy Hour, UT-Austin Assistant Professor of Public Affairs, Dr. Varun Rai, shared opportunities and uncertainties in the arena of distributed solar or solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on home and business rooftops. Here are a few insights I took away from his presentation.

 

1. Strategies for Deployment: The number of homes in a given neighborhood with solar panels isn’t just tied to income and education levels. Peer influence is a big factor. Buyers of PV systems choose to sign installation contracts much more quickly, if they talk with other PV owners (e.g. neighbors). The average buyer takes about nine months to sign an installation contract after they initially inquire into it. Their decision time can be reduced by about half if they confer with other people who already have a system on their roof. In contrast, those who lease a PV system typically take a lot less time than buyers to sign on the dotted line, usually a few months. This is because the overall cost of the system to the leaser is generally less. PV owners sharing their experience plus encouraging the lease of PV systems seem to be excellent ways to spread the sunshine of solar energy.
2. Opportunities for Innovation: The cost of solar rooftop systems is coming down. The biggest opportunities for innovation and cost savings lie in the cost of everything else, but the panels themselves. The PV panels only account for about 20-40% of the total system cost. Research and development should focus on things like the panel racks/mounting methods, inverters (equipment that converts DC to AC electricity for grid) and design/installation approaches.
3. Uncertainty for Utilities: Clouds of uncertainty seem yet to hang over distributed solar for the major U.S. electric utilities surveyed. They seem to be either view distributed solar as a cost rather than a benefit to their business, or were neutral on the subject. Dr. Rai also noted that the discussion on rates paid to utility customers with PV on their roofs is only “going to get more technical.” Some electric utilities – including Austin Energy – are now going to a complex formula to calculate the amount paid to PV customer/generators called the “value of solar tariff” (VOST). There is debate on how to do VOST and how it compares to a simpler approach called net metering. Net metering usually involves paying PV-owning customers a standard residential or commercial rate per kilowatt-hour for the excess electricity they produce.

We shall see what the New Year brings for solar. I’d say the future is mostly sunny.

In my favorite Doctor Who Christmas special, aliens use blood control to put billions of people worldwide teetering on the edge of rooftops and the Doctor challenges the alien leader to a sword duel for the planet. Like the Doctor we all need to take a stand for the planet. The real challenge is this: We’re using our limited resources on the Earth too fast to support our growing population and economic development. Yet many of us walk around like we’re under alien mind control not doing much about it.

But how can the average person make a real impact on this global threat? There are steps every human being is capable of taking. I am an early-adopter of many green living strategies even though I’m blood type A+ and should be susceptible to “alien control”. As an early-adopter, I’ve experienced the steps toward more sustainable living. Here are the steps as they occurred for me and how they can work for you:

1. Get inspired. Find the Doctor in your life to inspire and motivate you. The major spark for me came from a “consumer conservation” course offered at my workplace. Beyond strategies to conserve energy, water and materials while saving money, the instructors shared green living strategies that worked for them at home and work. Look for people events and organizations that embrace green. Connect with people who are actually doing the kind of projects that capture your imagination and see how they make it work in real life. In the Austin area, AustinEcoNetwork.com is a great place to start.
2. Get others on-board. The Doctor always has a companion, or two. Get a friend, co-worker, or family member on-board with you. I was so excited after the consumer conservation course, I
   shared the eco-projects I committed to tackling in the course with my husband. Through this sharing, my initial goals actually grew bigger and grander. I started with goals of buying wind energy and a hybrid car, and ended up with solar panels on my roof and an all-electric car! Share your dreams of a greener home and/or workplace. Other people may surprise you and help you achieve something even greater.
3. Figure out how to make “green” work for you. The Doctor is always hatching crazy plans that seem impossible, but work. A fully electric car at first seemed out of reach. When we looked at our driving habits and found AustinEV, it became possible. Even when we had lead acid batteries in the car, it still was our primary vehicle
4. Share results. The Doctor’s traveling companions eventually end up going back to “ordinary” lives, but they learned through their extraordinary experience with those around them. Our duplex transformed into a green home was on the Texas Solar Energy Society’s Austin Cool House Tour in 2010. We’ve shown our car at the Renewable Energy Roundup in Fredericksburg, TX multiple times and at several other events as well. Share what you do for the planet and help others get how they can do it, too.

There’s no big red button to push that will release us from walking around as though controlled by aliens. These four steps above are the best way I’ve found to build awareness and spur action on the sustainability issue. Let’s do it for the planet . . . and one another. We’re all on this rock hurtling through space together!