Solar power done cheap

http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/28/news/economy/solar_city/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin

By Steve Hargreaves, Senior writerJune 28, 2010: 4:28 PM ET


LOS ANGELES (CNNMoney.com ) -- In a construction van winding through Los Angeles' crowded streets one hot spring morning, 25-year old Tim Morris laid bare his contribution to changing America's dirty, fossil fuel-based economy.

"I'd like to see America and the world become sustainable," said Morris, a transplant from Flint, Mich., who's been in L.A. just a little over four months. "Solar is the biggest difference I can make with what's on the market."

By Steve Hargreaves, Senior writerJune 28, 2010: 4:28 PM ET


LOS ANGELES (CNNMoney.com ) -- In a construction van winding through Los Angeles' crowded streets one hot spring morning, 25-year old Tim Morris laid bare his contribution to changing America's dirty, fossil fuel-based economy.

"I'd like to see America and the world become sustainable," said Morris, a transplant from Flint, Mich., who's been in L.A. just a little over four months. "Solar is the biggest difference I can make with what's on the market."

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Holder, 44-years old and an electrical engineer with the Los Angeles sanitation department, uses a lot of power.

Between him, his wife and their two kids Holder says the washer and dryer get a constant workout. Plus, the family has a salt water pool the requires the filter to run nearly non-stop.

The result was an electric bill that reached nearly $600 a month last year, said Holder.

That's when he decided to call SolarCity. Now, he says he pays about $300 a month to the utility, and another $180 to SolarCity, with no change in electricity use.

"It was a no-brainier," he said. "and the only thing I have to do is hose off the panels every once in a while."

Other customers do it more for the environment.

On a hillside overlooking nearly all of Los Angeles, Andrea Kreuzhage recently put down $1,000 to install a SolarCity system on her roof.

Kreuzhage, a 47-year old documentary film maker, is not a big user of power. Before her solar system, her monthly electric bill was about $50 a month. Her lease with SolarCity is $55, although her solar panels now actually produce more power than she uses. (Local law doesn't yet allow her to sell that power back to the utility, although people are working to change that.)

But for her, the extra $5 a month is well worth it.

"The idea is to walk the walk, to be active, to do more," she said. And besides, "I'd rather pay a green business instead of a huge utility."

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