Solar and the environment

The effects of climate change are being seen all across the globe and aware citizens are looking to reduce their carbon footprint. Studies show most Americans want to protect our air, water, and land from pollution. According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, more than six out of ten Americans would like to see the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s powers preserved or strengthened. The problem is, limiting restrictions on polluting is profitable for big polluters, including the fossil fuel industry, and they seem to be in control currently. 

Clean energy groups on the march despite the Trump administration

Environmental groups are tracking these reversals. The scale of these changes is truly alarming. As of January 2018, a whopping 67 Environmental Rules have been reversed since the 2016 elections. New reversals are coming in every day, from allowing new fossil fuel drilling in previously protected parks to making it legal now for coal companies to release sludge into rivers and streams. The current administration is adamant about overturning most Obama-era environmental legislation. Politicians who benefit from their relationships with oil or gas companies and big industrial polluters like chemical companies argue that environmental regulations are burdensome because these protections cause job loss. The truth does not support that view, however.

Solar technologies employ thousands

According to the U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USER) from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2016, solar technologies employed more people than traditional coal, gas, and oil combined and created new jobs at an unprecedented pace. In 2017 NRDC reported that all US clean energy jobs combined surpassed fossil fuel employment. Claims that environmental protections are destroying jobs for coal miners have also been proven untrue. Automation, cheaper clean energy, and cheaper natural gas have had the most effect on the decline of coal. In fact, the most recent trends are showing coal’s share of the power mix is still declining, 
Many Americans are frustrated by the massive removal of environmental protections, and the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions (almost 30 percent) comes from electricity production used to power homes and businesses and approximately 67 percent of that electricity production originates from burning fossil fuels. So, homes and other buildings still produce the lion's share of GHG. Despite the fact that the majority of people, including pro-environment homeowners and business owners, would prefer not to be contributing more pollutants to our earth, many individuals don’t change anything because misconceptions still exist that it is too expensive to switch to renewable energy like solar electricity. But the falling cost of solar panels makes them a more enticing project of homeowners to consider.

There has never been a better time to become part of the renewable energy revolution!

Solar power is here to stay, and the sooner you explore how much you can save, the sooner you can enjoy the benefits of residential solar power. Go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. It tells you how much solar power you need, and how much you can save.

Please visit our solar blog to find out more about the benefits of going solar.