The City of South Miami Mayor and Commission made history in
September 2017 by passing a law that requires residential solar power be
installed in certain circumstances and, in doing so, they provide residents the
promise of saving a significant amount of money while also helping protect our
environment.
The mayor and commissioners should be commended for their
vision and while I am proud that South Miami’s leaders took this important
step, the impact of the law being the first of its kind in Florida, and just
the fourth City in the U.S. with such a law, sends a powerful and important
message to the world.
Implementing this landmark law took tremendous vision and I
am deeply proud of the incredible support that the South Miami Commission and
staff offered through the entire process. Over the course of nearly a year and
a half of work it was clear that following one 5/0 vote after another in favor
of the law during the review process that the commission was committed to
lowering residents’ energy costs and for that they are to be commended.
When the commission made history with its 4/1 vote last July
in favor of the law it is my belief that the city laid a foundation for a
future filled with savings not only in South Miami but the State of Florida and
all across the United States. Based on the response I’ve gotten in the months
since the law was enacted I can share that our country, and the world, was
watching and is proud of what South Miami has accomplished.
There are many reasons why this new law is important for
local residents, all Americans, and people all around the world.
First, there is the obvious advantage to a homeowner that
installs a solar system – saving money. Take, for example, the findings from
the University of Central Florida’s Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) which
concluded that installing a solar system on one’s home produces a 14.2 percent
return on investment. The University calculates that a 5-Kilowatt solar system
will save a homeowner about $844 per year and that a 9 KW system saves about
$1,500 per year.
Experts have also concluded that the average new solar
system fully pays for itself within seven years and since today’s
solar panels performance are warrantied for 30 years by manufacturers those
savings will continue for decades with little to no maintenance.
My family owns a solar powered home that is connected to our
local power company so that we can sell our surplus solar power back to the
utility through something called net solar metering. Our home produces so much
power every day from the sun through our solar system, for free, that our
monthly bill from power company ranges $7-$15. Without our solar system our
bill would easily be hundreds of dollars per month, every month.
Interestingly, given the growth in electric cars, the
University of Central Florida has also studied the cost of fueling a car with
gasoline versus charging an electrical car. They’ve even studied the economic
benefit of combining an electric car that’s charged by a home with a solar
power system and the result is simply amazing. FSEC has calculated that the
annual cost to fuel the average car with gasoline is $964.00, while the cost to
fuel an electric car powered with energy supplied by the local power company is
$385.00 per year. And here is the best part, the cost to power an
electric car with energy from a solar system on one’s home is just $279.00 per
year, which saves $685.00 per year (71%) versus using gasoline!
Florida ranks 3rd in potential to generate power from the
sun.
Florida ranks 3rd in the U.S. for its potential to
generate energy from solar power but is only 17th in actual solar power
production. For a place called “The Sunshine State” to only be 17th makes
no sense but the South Miami law helps pave the way for others in Florida to
follow by leveraging the free power the sun offers us every day.
And for those who need an incentive to see why this is so
important then consider that experts predict that half of all of Florida’s
power needs can come from solar power by about 2045 if we just start to take
solar power seriously. South Miami’s new law is a serious step in the
right direction.
Candidly, it’s these types of savings that consumers can
enjoy that explain why our local power company, FP&L, is so interested in South
Miami’s new solar law. They see consumer generated solar power as a threat to
the future of their business because of the savings – and freedom – it provides
to homeowners. It’s a lot like one using Netflix over cable, its simply better.
While FP&L has all of a sudden begun touting their supposed commitment to
solar power in expensive TV ads the truth is that they are not committed to
solar power. Not at all.
According to FP&L’s own annual report, they generate
less than half of 1 percent of their power from solar power. And that’s after
being in business for nearly 100 years in the “Sunshine State.” And while
FP&L is all of a sudden happy to tout solar power in its advertising the
utility actually spent over $14 million in Florida in 2016 fighting Amendment
4, a law that sought to expand solar.
It took an amazing grassroots effort to educate people about
the truth before voters fought back and defeated FP&L’s attempt to limit
and control solar power. No, they are not in favor of solar power or other
sustainable energy solutions and would, instead, rather invest in
ultra-expensive nuclear power. So the next time you see one of those fancy ads
from FP&L telling you how much they love solar power or how low their bills
are please remember that figure, half of 1 percent and also remember that they
are fighting consumer-produced solar because they see it for what it is – a
low-to-no cost threat to their expensive power bills and business.
Another positive benefit to a residential solar system comes
when you decide to sell your home. Solar has also been embraced by the real
estate industry because it increases the value of a home and makes it more
attractive to buyers than a home without solar. The Colorado Energy Office, for
example, recently issued a report entitled The Impact of Photovoltaic Systems
on Market Value & Marketability which concluded that; ‘The overwhelming
majority of Realtors surveyed believe that owned PV systems increase the market
value and marketability of homes’. That sounds like a pretty positive impact to
me.
And given Hurricane Irma’s devastating impact to our region
just a few months ago, allow me to share another “only in South Florida”
positive impact of a rooftop solar system; those panels help protect your roof
and home. Although our home is located at ground zero where Irma’s eye landed
our solar panels remained in place, undamaged, and worked perfectly. They also
most certainly helped keep our roof attached to our home at a time when some
neighbors without rooftop solar lost their roofs and, in some cases, their
entire homes. I’ve recently seen with my own eyes that a well installed rooftop
solar system helps protect your home from a hurricane and in a place like South
Florida that’s yet another positive benefit of owing a solar system.
Admittedly, South Miami’s new solar law is intentionally
modest in that it will only impact a couple of homes, at most, a year – but it
is an important start in the right direction. The new law only impacts a new
home that’s at least 1,100 square feet in size or in existing homes where the
majority, 75 percent or more, of the home is being replaced or rebuilt.
While working on the creation of this law, South Miami’s
building director explained that the impact of the law would be minimal and
when I asked him how many existing homes would be impacted he said, “We do not
believe that there would be many of those.”
To further mitigate the impact to existing homeowners, it’s
important to know that South Miami’s law also includes a provision that
excludes homes that are rebuilt after a natural disaster such as Hurricane
Irma. The thinking by the commission and mayor was that folks already have
enough to worry about after a storm so in the event one has to rebuild after a
storm they will not be required to install solar no matter the extent or size
of their renovation.
No comments:
Post a Comment