Bright Future: How Going Solar Benefits Cities

Cities all over the world are embracing the many advantages of solar. From energy independence to improved air quality, cities can benefit immensely from implementing solar energy and diversifying their energy portfolios. With new legislation, advancing technologies, and lower prices, it just keeps getting easier for homes, businesses, and cities to go solar and reap the benefits! 

Clean Air
Solar energy has a significantly smaller carbon footprint than fossil fuels. Coal power and other fossil fuels create a lot of pollution, which leads to health and environmental risks. From smog to acid rain, these nonrenewable fossil fuels pose a huge threat to a city’s air quality and overall public health. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind do not give off any harmful emissions when producing energy, and have even been shown to reduce the amount of premature air quality deaths in communities. If 1.9 billion trees were planted, that would equal the amount of carbon emissions reduced by the solar industry as of 2018. How’s that for a breath of fresh air?!
 
Reliable Power
Since the sun will always be shining, incorporating solar into a city’s energy portfolio means more energy independence and a reliable power source. Investing in solar can provide a great backup power source for cities that experience natural disasters, cyber-attacks, or other disruptions to the traditional energy grid. Communities that never had electricity to begin with are also gaining energy independence through the use of solar. Solar installation is possible nearly anywhere, even with little existing power infrastructure. Solar gives cities a chance to utilize an extremely efficient, ethical and clean energy source that is affordable and requires little maintenance. Through various efforts across the country and the world, many rural communities have been able to utilize electricity from solar generation.
 
Economic Benefits
Solar energy is great for the economy in many ways. It provides jobs, reduces the cost of energy per unit, and can save homeowners and business owners money on their monthly bills, and even their taxes. With each new and existing project, jobs are added daily. As of 2018, the solar industry has added more jobs to the market than coal or oil industries, totaling 50% more than those two industries combined. In the past seven years, we have seen solar industry jobs increase by 168%. This is a huge win for cities, their residents, and their economies! 
 
In Arizona, legislation recently passed that will make it even more beneficial for residents, businesses, schools and more to go solar. Gov. Doug Ducey signed HB 2493 earlier this month, which will help Arizona solar customers save more money and expand the solar industry in our state. Essentially, this legislation will make it even more desirable to have solar panels by implementing a tax incentive larger than ever before. The average residential solar customer will see their tax responsibility drop from $300 per year to $15 dollars per year, and commercial solar customers will see their taxes drop thousands of dollars over the lifetime of their solar system. This is a big win for Arizona’s solar industry, and cities across our state! 
 
Solar power is a great way to solve energy efficiency, energy reliability, and clean air issues in cities across the country and the world. To learn more about how you can go solar at your home or business, get in touch today!