In our never ending quest to find renewable forms of energy, we stumbled upon a gem of a site. Cooler Planet has the largest network of solar installers available online and a valuable resource section where consumers can learn about local rebates and incentives.
Cooler Planet is a Seattle-based company created and run by passionate environmentalists with backgrounds in software engineering and online marketing. They created the site to help consumers and small business owners reduce their contribution to global climate change while saving both time and money.
The site also has some great tools. Their Solar Calculator can estimate the approximate system size and cost for a full or partial solar installation. Once you’ve discovered your cost and any incentives that might apply in your area, click over to the Live Solar Feed to see what other users across the country are finding they can save by installing a solar panel system.
Need to get caught up on Solar News? Cooler Planet has you covered. They have up-to-the-minute news on all things solar.
They’ve also put some Solar Savings into Numbers for us. For example:
Energy usage facts (All figures in this article are from the EPA unless otherwise noted.)
- National figures show an annual average electricity use of 11,000 kWh (kilowatt-hours), a bit over 900 kWh monthly.
- The approximate average cost of energy is $200.00 each month.
- The average American home emits over 16,000 pounds of CO2 annually. It takes 24 trees to offset that.
The figures seem even more compelling when you compare them with auto use.
- The average person drives 12,000 miles each year with an approximate rating of 20 MPG. this “average car” will use 600 gallons of gas in a year.
- The EPA estimates 19.4 lbs. CO2 produced per gallon used.
- 19.4 lbs. CO2 / gallon x 600 gallons of Fuel = 11,640 pounds CO2 emitted.
If you go solar for all your electricity use, you are taking the equivalent of 1.37 cars off the road. Think what an impact just your neighborhood, much less your city, could have on carbon emissions by installing solar power systems!
If you are considering solar power or want some additional information, visit Cooler Planet.
Wendy Gabriel is the founder of My Green Side.org, a columnist for Examiner.com and a weekly on-air contributor to The Christopher Gabriel Program. You can listen to her Wednesdays on AM970 WDAY where she talks about Simple Tips for Green Living.
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