Back in the mid 2010’s I drove a Nissan LEAF for my solar estimating and canvassing work. It had a nice graphic wrap and was great advertising for the electrified future!
An Igloo cooler submerged streetside. It held an extension cord plug for the EV!
In 2017 I wrote a blog post about costs to charge an electric car. There were no city charging options near my apartment building.
Since the 2010’s we have seen many customized streetside solutions. E.g. EV owners running electricity to the curb themselves.
This year Seattle City Light plans to install a Level 2 charger 3 blocks from my apartment building. What a great “start” – pun intended!
Here is the list of new EV charging locations. Can’t wait to see it happen in Upper Fremont!
Folks have had to get creative!
This block in Fremont will soon have an EV charging station.
I am entering my 11th year in the solar industry! The US has seen 33% growth in this last decade1.
As the climate becomes unpredictable, solar adoption has been on the rise.
The reasons to “go solar” are not just financial. Fossil fuels are finite, polluting resources that are burned and disposed of into our air. This has and will destabilize historical climatic conditions. Dependable energy from renewable sources, like solar, is the foresight and trend we should follow.
Storm clouds over Coastal South Carolina
Why use solar power?
Alternative to coal-fired power
Diversify our energy sources
Bring energy source closer to the energy consumers
Possibility of energy storage for emergency use
Quiet, clean electricity for home and transportation
Plug your EV into the wall outlet. Drive on full tank the next day!
Add value to home/property
Tax credits and tax forfeiture available
Reduce electric bills
Fully recoup your investment in your solar upgrade
Wave surge brought sand onto the buffer dunes.
Steps down to the beach now part of the beach!
Generating solar electricity in the community makes a lot of sense. Power is produced and used locally. Sea levels are rising and will not stop until we slow and reverse the trend.
Ask me about your solar potential and start saving money and the climate as soon as possible!
There are 800 member-owned electrical co-ops in the USA. 40 million people get their power from an Electric Co-op! Principally in rural areas, these Cooperatives cover 56% of the populated land mass in the 50 states.
Rural Electric Cooperatives began in 1876. They are consumer-owned, non-profit utilities. FDR’s New Deal created work projects in the 1930s and this brought electricity to rural areas. In 1942 the rural electrical co-ops of WA State formed a coalition. To this day the WRECA represent those member co-ops in Olympia.
Metal barn roof with cool cupolas on top!
Ratepayers to the Co-ops are not customers, they are owners. They have a say in the supply of electricity. Lately these member-owners have been interested in local renewables like wind and solar. Grid resiliency and enhanced services are priorities via rural microgrid projects, and deployment of broadband (internet) service.
The Palmetto State is a sunny place, with beaches that ribbon the eastern shore. Like other coastal areas, flooding and onshore storm damage is a growing threat.
In my previous post I discuss the state’s solar industry. The emergence of local solar installs in coastal communities is coinciding with the visual evidence of climate change.
Pawley’s Island, road’s end, March 2020
It will be public funding and budgets that will mitigate, prepare and repair the coastal areas. To save places like Pawley’s Island, a breezy retreat settlement from the antebellum period, they will use public subsidy, i.e. taxpayer investment. Should they instead charge the companies that caused climate change or some other thoughtful solution?
Flooding in Charlestown SC, March 2020
In coastal flooding records beginning 1953, 22 of the 32 major or greater flooding events have happened since 20152. More frequent and intense storms ravage and flood South Carolina.
The state’s aquatic conditions and their politics coincided to make the Charleston area a human slavery trade hub in America’s founding. Places made possible rather quickly and majestically by relying upon and exploiting a slave economy and labor market.
If money is invested to save water-side mansions, what about the coastal areas where the Gullah Geechee still live? Or the places that are less symbolic than Old Charleston or Pawleys Island? The residences of poorer people lacking the resources to move or repair damage done by these weather events?
Generating solar electricity in the community makes a lot of sense. Through honest debate, we can collectively heed the science. Establish progressive policy to power our lives with limited harm to ourselves and the world we live in.
Sources:
www.ClimateToothpaste.com boxes with “patented blend of humor”!
– 26% Federal Tax Credit expires Dec. 31, 2022. Average of ~$5000 per Residence. – Net Metering, aka Bill credit from the electric utility. No expiration date. – No sales tax. – Increased home value. Also, property tax assessment exempt. – Associated electrical upgrades, e.g. batteries, also qualify for the 26% Federal Tax Credit.
His answer: “Oh, well, I’d say electricity.” And there was immediate verve in the studio!
Johnny Carson grew up in Nebraska. He responded: “Well people forget … I remember going to my grandparents’ home where they didn’t – they had the kerosene lamps …”
Merritt Heaton: “Exactly, maybe had a few candles around?”
Johnny Carson: “Ab-solutely”
In the mid 1930’s, 90% of rural America lacked electricity. By 1950 just 20% of rural America lacked electricity. What happened in 15 short years!?
Beginning in the mid ’30’s, new transmission towers and lines began to dot and thread the landscape. A new vista on the horizon, and new illumination for the farms and rural folk. Imagine the incredulity of these large metal structures, promising 24/7 electricity to remote areas.
Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in 1933. FDR’s New Deal was a plan to take the country out of its economic and unemployment woes. The Great Depression lasted from 1929-1939.
In 1935 FDR formed the Rural Electrification Administration, now known as Rural Utilities Services. A year later Congress passed the Rural Electrification Act (REA)
Funding electric projects in rural America was a priority for the US Dep’t of Agriculture. Loans were distributed via the money allocated in the 1936 Rural Electrification Act. The effort trained and employed physical laborers, electricians, and those that would help administer 1000s of miles of new electrical lines.
– 26% Federal Tax Credit. Average value ~$5000 per Residence. – Free power, aka Bill credit from the electric utility. No expiration date. – No sales tax. – Increased home value. More good news: Property tax assessment exempt. – Associated electrical upgrades also qualify for the 26% Federal Tax Credit.
On Dec. 21, 2020, Congress passed an omnibus spending and COVID relief bill. The bill was thousands of pages long. It included a new schedule for residential and commercial Solar Investment Tax Credits (ITCs).
The 26% Solar ITC is now being offered through the end of 2022. It also applies to storage, aka batteries, included with your solar project. That’s extra good news!
Solar’s Federal Tax Credit was slated to drop to 22% at the end of 2020. Industry advocates and their friends in Congress came to the rescue!
Add this home improvement and in the long run, save money and add value.
Free electricity from the solar install!
No WA State Sales Tax
Exempt from Property Tax Assessment
A 26% Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (must be installed before Dec. 31, 2022)
Detached Auxiliary Dwelling Unit (DADU) with PV array
Applicable Solar Incentives:
26% of the total solar invoice is equal to the Tax Credit. For example, a $20,000 solar install would be a $4400 Tax Credit.
Your Residential Rental property is classified as a Business, or income-generating. The 26% becomes a Line Item Credit on your tax liability. This is the same percentage amount as the Solar Tax Credit that residential homeowners enjoy. The IRS wants you to file the Tax Credit differently but the total credit percentage is the same.
Typical Wall-mounted components, incl. energy storage.
Additional Cost Recovery:
If your rental property is a qualified business then it’s likely you can depreciate, or “write off” your investment in Solar. There are limits on how much credit can be taken in a year. I can provide all of paperwork needed to pursue this. Let’s be sure and consult with your accountant first, for instruction and advice regarding this possibility. See #1 below, IRC Section 48 – Energy Credit, MACRS and Accelerated Depreciation Schedule.
