From the energy dark ages to modern-day solar
Historically, the sun has been worshipped by cultures the world over for its role as a fountain of life and energy. Despite lacking the scientific instruments to make sense of the gear work behind how our giant ball of gas powers the planet, they understood what modern science has now demonstrated – all energy on Earth originates from the sun.
Fortunately, advances in modern science and engineering have allowed us to harness the sun’s kinetic potential to power our homes, businesses, satellites, and more – without having to resort to rituals and rain dances!
Solar energy has become the go-to solution for the staggering number of people who have grown dissatisfied with the rising rates, unreliable infrastructure, and disastrous environmental impact of conventional energy sources. In recent years the green revolution has taken wing with renewable technologies offering an alternative solution to their fossil-based competitors.
As a result, it’s unlikely that the world’s interest in non-renewables will ever be renewed.
With solar offering reduced heating and cooling bills, lucrative government incentives, and a smaller carbon footprint, it is truly the best choice for energy in the 21st century.
As technology evolves, so do our energy sources. But as long as older technology remains, you will always have the choice whether to use the best solution for powering your home or an inferior one.
Let’s look at the antiquated technology from which solar progressed.
The old, expensive, conventional power grid
At the top of the power-provider food chain are conventional, centralized utility companies. These corporate goliaths generate electricity and then deliver it at a cost to their customers.
The ugly bad side of conventional electricity
Expensive Energy
With 68% of Massachusetts’ electricity derived from natural gas, electric company’s rates rest atop the naturally volatile substrate that is winter gas prices. Moreover, despite being public utilities subject to government regulation, the top 3 electric companies in the state have managed to successfully get approval for massive rate hikes every year for the past three years. At the national level, electric bills have swelled by an average of 4% each year over the past decade – signifying that they’re unlikely to lose their upwards momentum anytime soon
Unreliable Energy
It’s not just the cost of being on the grid, however, that users find troublesome. After a major weather event, customers can find themselves disconnected for days, as utility companies race to administer repairs to aging, vulnerable infrastructure. The inherent dependency that accompanies relying on power generated by a centralized utility can be frustrating at best, and – as generator costs mount in the aftermath of a winter storm – costly at worst.
Toxic Energy
For customers concerned with being responsible stewards of the Earth, the disastrous cloud of industrial pollutants and carbon emissions that electric plants generate is difficult to reconcile. Amongst the slew of spewed toxic by-products arising from the usage of coal in the generation of electricity is mercury. This heavy metal (a known carcinogen and neurotoxin) has a poisonous fingerprint can be observed both in the irreversible effects it causes in people and its large-scale degradation of wildlife habitats and ecosystems.With coal combustion produced by electric plants ranking as the second greatest contributor to airborne mercury emissions, it’s clear keeping the lights on through conventional utility companies is a pathway to a dark future for the planet.
Technology evolves: solar to the rescue
In contrast to those dependent upon the grid, consumers of solar and other renewable forms of energy do not rely on a centralized utility company to provide them with electricity. Instead, they own or lease the electrical installation, and serve as their own, private utility company.
The most commonly available types of renewable energy include hydroelectric, wind, geothermal, and photovoltaic, or as it’s commonly known – solar! While all of these methods of cultivating clean, green, renewable energy are effective, the reality is that few of them are available at affordable rates for residential use.
For example, purchasing a 100 kW wind turbine would set you back a cool $350,000. Similarly, establishing a personal hydroelectric dam would require that you first drain your bank account, leaving your finances as damned as the body of water from which you were drawing your energy.
The great rewards of solar energy
Affordable Solar
The one green technology that bucks the trend of massive upfront costs is photovoltaic, or solar energy. Thanks to an upswing in developmental momentum, solar energy has evolved to a point of efficiency that makes it affordable on any budget. Moreover, Neeeco’s innovative leasing options have made switching to Solar immediately with no money down and zero risk a possibility for the Bay State.
Clean Solar
Unlike coal-burning electric plants, solar panels generate electricity in an environmentally-friendly way, without releasing harmful by-products. Instead of releasing contaminants and emissions, solar panels simply use light particles known as photons to dislodge electrons from atoms. (If you want to get really technical: The variable direct current (DC) that this sequence creates is then run through a solar inverter that transforms it into an alternating current (AC) which can then be run through household electrical networks to power daily devices).
Reliable Solar
In stark contrast to conventional utilities’ infrastructure, the sun doesn’t become disabled after a storm, ensuring that your family continues to enjoy uninterrupted power even in the wake of a powerful climatological event. For added security, you can purchase a Brightbox battery that serves as a reservoir of solar power and provides pure, sustainable energy for up to ten hours. Since it gets recharged every time the sun comes out, its power potential is virtually unlimited!
Solar is the affordable, clean, and reliable way of keeping energy in your house running on your terms independent of the grid.
Join the 21st century solar energy revolution
Solar is the one form of renewable that works at every budget level and allows for complete energy independence from outdated, centralized utilities. Whether you want to dive-in head-first by buying your solar array or get your feet wet first by leasing, Neeeco’s customer-oriented solutions can provide you with the blueprint you need to go green.Give us a call today to get started on saving with no money down, locked-in, market-proof solar.
The green revolution is already in motion – don’t let it pass you by!
Call (781) 514-5882 or contact us to get started with a no-cost Mass Save® home energy assessment.