How to Go Solar by Using Community Solar or Solar Panels

These ground-mounted solar panels are providing renewable energy on the campus of Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Illinois. Photo by Jenifer Garlitz.

When many of us think about using solar energy, we usually think of putting solar panels on our roof. If you cannot put solar panels on your roof, or you don’t want them, community solar is another way to join the solar energy wave. The owners of community solar projects pay the cost to build and maintain the solar panels of their solar farms. When we sign up with a community solar project, we are signing up for a portion of the solar project’s monthly energy output. The community solar company will use our home’s energy consumption to ascertain the size of our subscription. Each month, we pay the solar company for how much electricity comes from our subscription. The company reports our solar energy output to our electric company. Then our electric company adds credits to our electric bill. The nonprofit organization Citizens Utility Board (CUB) has a comparison chart for us to evaluate different community solar companies. Subscribing to community solar will probably lower our electric bill, and it is a way to support clean and renewable energy. I have subscribed to a community solar project. It will be operational soon, and I can hardly wait until I see those solar credits on my electric bill.

If we have a house roof or garage roof that is in full sun, it is definitely worth looking into installing solar panels on our property. If we can’t install solar panels on a roof, another option is to install solar panels that are mounted on the ground instead of on a roof. To investigate buying solar panels for our roof or land, contact a few solar companies for a free quote. The solar companies use Google maps to view the sun exposure on our roof. The companies will ask how much electricity we are using. Based on that information, the companies will tell us how many solar panels we need and give us a cost estimate. If our roof is more than ten years old, we may want to consider a roof replacement before installing solar panels.

There are a few incentives to buying solar panels, besides the obvious benefits of saving money on our electric bill and doing something important to mitigate climate change. If we own our own solar panels, we can deduct a percentage of the cost of our solar panels from our federal income taxes. This is called the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit. Also, when our solar panels create more energy than we are using, the extra electricity is sent back to the grid, and we receive credit on our electric bill for the electricity. This is called “net metering”. ComEd, Ameren, and MidAmerican are required by IL law to provide net metering. Net metering helps cover our electricity costs on cloudy days and at night when our solar panels are not producing energy. It may be possible for us to install solar panels with no upfront cost by leasing or through a Power Purchase Agreement. Usually customers have the option of buying the solar system at some point in their contract. For more information on installing solar panels click on this link to CUB’s website.

Join the clean energy wave by subscribing to community solar or installing solar panels. Community solar makes solar energy accessible to everyone. This is fantastic news for all of us who want to do something to reverse climate change and do something to help clean up our air!

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Helping Mother Earth and Each Other Through Our Investments

Through socially responsible investing we can use our money to invest in companies that are improving our environment through clean renewable energy, and companies that are improving our society in some way. Socially responsible investing (SRI) also excludes companies making a negative impact on our planet and society. For example, coal companies, weapons and firearms manufacturers, tobacco companies, and for-profit prisons may be excluded in an SRI mutual fund.

The over 300 SRI funds vary in their investment priorities, so it is worth taking some time to find an SRI that is aligned with your values. I wasn’t choosy about my SRI mutual fund because I couldn’t be. I was limited in my choices due to investment parameters set by my employer. However, I was thrilled when I had the opportunity to invest money in an SRI fund, because it is much more aligned with my values than a traditional mutual fund.

Do SRI investments perform well compared to standard investments? Yes they do. A 2020 research analysis from Arabesque Partners found that in 80% of the reviewed studies, sustainable investments had a positive affect on the performance of the investments. Also, SRI mutual funds may be more stable than standard funds, according to studies.

Charitable giving is a way that we take care of each other and our Earth. Another way to put our money where our values are is with socially responsible investments. Let your financial investments work for positive change in the world while building up your savings for retirement.

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Take the 30-Day Plant-Based Eating Challenge

Roasted vegetables are a quick and delicious plant-based dinner. For this dinner I roasted sweet potatoes, white potatoes, Brussel sprouts, and asparagus.

Veganism is an adventure into the land of yummy plant-based cooking and eating. It is not boring! In fact, food can get a lot more interesting without the meat. I’ve been on a vegan journey for the last 14 years. I will be totally honest. I need to say that I am a vegetarian trying to be vegan. I eat very little dairy, but I do eat small amounts of cheese and I also occasionally eat eggs. I’m not writing as someone who has arrived, but as a person on a journey to eat in a more sustainable way. I do not feel deprived in any way eating a plant-based diet because I eat non-dairy ice cream, chocolate, and other treats.

Eating semi-vegan has had positive outcomes in my life. First, I enjoy cooking more, and I am a more creative cook. Until I stopped cooking meat, I didn’t realize how it caused me to dislike cooking. Second, my health improved. The colds that I used to get a few times a year, I only get once a year. I went for many years without going to a doctor because I was sick. This is a significant health outcome because I work as a reading specialist in an elementary school. The third positive result is that I have the satisfaction of knowing that the way I am eating is helping the environment.

Researchers from the University of Oxford found that eliminating meat and dairy products can reduce a person’s carbon footprint from food by up to 73 percent. Put another way, one calorie of animal protein requires 11 times as much fossil fuel as one calorie of plant protein. Comparing eating vegan with driving a hybrid car, eating vegan reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 1.5 tons per year; driving a hybrid car reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 1 ton per year. That is a huge effect!

Methane and nitrous oxide emissions are much more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. Chickens, turkeys, and livestock are the largest producers of methane in the U.S. The meat, egg, and dairy industry produce 65% of nitrous oxide emissions in the world. Eating vegan will reduce multiple sources of greenhouse gases that are causing climate change.

According to statistics from culinaryschools.org, almost half of the water used in our country goes to raising animals for food. To compare wheat and meat, one pound of wheat needs 25 gallons of water and one pound of meat uses 2,400 gallons of water. To put this in a concrete visualization, you would save more water by not eating one pound of meat than by not showering for 6 months!

I recommend watching Vegan 2020 − The Film on YouTube. The film states that before the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists predicted a pandemic resulting from our treatment of animals in wet markets and factory farms, due to animals being in very close contact with each other and with people. This is another reason to eat a plant-based diet. We need to prevent zoonotic infectious diseases. Animals in factory farms are usually over-crowded and not treated well, a fact to consider aside from the risk of zoonotic diseases.

Also in the film Vegan 2020, David Attenborough states that there has been a huge loss of wildlife and biodiversity in the past 50 years. As more people start eating a plant-based diet, global land used for farming will be reduced, providing more land for wildlife.

For many people, eating a healthier diet is a goal. Dr. Neal Barnard is an advocate for a plant-based diet. He says that a plant-based diet reduces the risk of all chronic diseases. There are numerous books written about the health benefits of a vegan diet. Dr. T. Colin Campbell was one of the first researchers and writers on the benefits of a plant-based diet. One of his books about his research is The China Study.

Challenge yourself to 30 days of eating a plant-based diet. You might decide after the 30 days to keep on going! There are many sources of plant-based recipes on the internet and in cookbooks. It will be a cooking and eating adventure that will yield many benefits to you and our environment.

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Why I Support the Clean Energy Jobs Act

The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA), known as Senate Bill 2132 and House Bill 3624, is a comprehensive package of clean energy legislation that was introduced before the Illinois General Assembly in February 2019. It has yet to be passed into law.

CEJA is expected to ramp up renewable energy development in Illinois, save consumers money on their energy bills, and create more accountability for utility companies operating in Illinois.

CARE is encouraging everyone to write to Governor Pritzker, their state senator, and their state representative to urge them to pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act legislation in Illinois. We need to do everything we can so that CEJA becomes a reality!

The following letter was submitted by CARE member Joe Turrise to Governor Pritzker.

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Governor J.B. Pritzker
Office of the Governor
James R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph 16-100
Chicago, IL 60601

Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706

Dear Governor Pritzker,

I am retired, and was a lead machinist for Kraft Foods, Chicago Bakeries. I was born in and lived in Illinois my entire life, with the exception of my time spent in the United States Army. I am a member of the Homer Glen Environment Committee, Will County Citizens Against Ruining the Environment, and the Sierra Club.  

I voted for you and have supported you. Now I am asking you to support the Clean Energy Jobs Act (Senate Bill 2132/House Bill 3624).

The reasons I am asking you to support this bill are:

1 | My wife and two of my three daughters have asthma. A few years ago, my wife had an asthma attack and was rushed by ambulance to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox. She was put on a ventilator and kept in the ICU for six days. CEJA would improve air quality and it would also reduce the risk and susceptibility to Covid-19.

2 | It would put Illinois on the path to 100% renewable energy by 2050 and cut carbon emissions significantly by 2030.

3 | It would create good paying jobs, with benefits like health insurance for employees and their families, and a retirement package for their senior years.

I recall in my younger days being laid off from my employer. I went out looking for new employment on a Friday. At the end of the day, I was told by eight employers that I could start working at a competitive wage with their company the following week on Monday. Jobs were plentiful. Today, those companies are no longer there.

The Kraft Foods plant I was employed at for thirty-two years was originally Nabisco. The plant opened in 1952. I began my employment there in 1976. There were 4,600 people employed there at that time, all with a decent paying job and good benefits. Today, I am told there are only 300 people at the plant. There was a time when people moved to Illinois because of jobs. For the past decade now, they are leaving the state.  

Governor Pritzker,  I strongly recommend that you support the Clean Energy Jobs Act.

Cordially,

Joseph Turrise

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