Free Tours of Texas Solar Homes This Weekend
Eric Galatas, Public News Service – TX
AUSTIN, Texas – This weekend, homeowners in Texas and all 50 states
are opening their homes to friends, neighbors or anyone curious about
adding solar energy to power homes.
Texas ranks sixth nationally for total installed solar capacity, but
most solar arrays are at utility scale, not on individual rooftops.
Hanna Mitchell is Texas program director of Solar United Neighbors, the group behind the tour. She says so far, more than 850 solar houses across the nation have signed on.
“We’re really excited to see about 75 homes participating in Texas,” she
states. “This is a chance to see solar energy on a home in action in
your state and in your town.”
Texans can check out their neighbors’ solar panels, the inverter and
electric box, which is what captures and transmits the power from the
sun and converts it into electricity.
Mitchell says solar is one of the fastest growing segments of the clean
energy industry, in part because costs have dropped far enough to make
solar less expensive than older technologies.
Homeowners also will share their electric bills, before and after installing solar, showing how much money they’re saving.
According to Mitchell, installing rooftop solar benefits all electricity customers, especially during high spikes in demand.
“In fact, having more distributed generation adds to grid viability and
prevents the need to bring on more expensive power plants, which is what
causes those price spikes that we can see, especially in summer
months,” she points out.
This is the second year Solar United Neighbors has partnered with the American Solar Energy Society in a national solar tour.
Mitchell says the goal is to help people learn more about how solar
energy works, so they can make informed decisions about their energy
choices.
To find an open solar home near you, visit nationalsolartour.org.