Why aren't we all talking about community solar?

Despite Trump, we can still change the systems

Let’s talk solar.

In California, our family took out a loan and had solar panels installed on our new roof. Why new roof? Because our old one wasn’t stable enough for solar. What I need you to know is that we were committed to getting solar; climate scientists were predicting an unfathomable future and we had a small child. We had to do something.

But we had a small child—with the attending childcare costs—and now we also had solar/roof loans. Plus, the mortgage. It was maddening that people had to take out loans to ensure humanity’s survival. However, if you think about it, it’s also shocking that more of us aren’t doing so.

Livable Future > Personal Finances. Math checks out.

But here’s where our CA story takes a happy turn: we got our first non-electric bill and discovered solar wasn’t just good for the environment, it was financially smart. I was genuinely surprised. Our panels powered our house, and our monthly solar/roof loan payments were less than our neighbors’ electric bills. Plus, our loan payments were predictable, and electric bills were very much not. I told all my home owning friends that even with two additional loans to pay off, solar was saving us money. If they lived in CA, they should get solar. A couple families did. For most, the status quo—even a disadvantageous one—felt simpler or less scary. We’re all busy and change is hard.

Our former teal cottage in California with solar panels on the roof.

Now, we live in central New York and our roof is too shady for solar. Since humanity still hasn’t solved climate change (What’s up with that?), we took out a loan, this time for a heat pump. We disconnected from the gas line and stopped getting a gas bill. Yay! But since heat pumps don’t generate energy, we had an electric bill and as you know, both gas and electric bills were brutal this winter. The math, though, still checks out. Livable Future > Personal Finances

When I wrote about heat pumps on social media, someone replied with a version of: Haha! You’re stupid. Your electricity still comes from gas. Our electricity did still come from gas. What’s worse, New York’s Democratic governor was working to dismantle the state’s climate bill, slow rolling the grid’s transition to renewable energy. With that backdrop, our family’s decision actually felt more essential. As Yale Climate Connection noted: “If every American home with gas, oil or inefficient electric-resistance heating were to swap it right now for heat-pump heating, the emissions of the entire U.S. economy would shrink by 5% to 9%. That’s how powerful a decarbonizing tool heat pumps are.”

But what if our electricity also came from solar?

Turns out: It could. In January, our family signed up for community solar. Cost to us: $0. Savings on our electric bill: $6. Enough to buy one native plant this spring! Though we should see more savings on future bills, participating in community solar isn’t going to fund our child’s college savings—or drain it either, I should point out. What it will do is move New York’s grid toward renewable energy by one household. Despite Trump’s wrongheaded campaign to lock the United States into coal and gas, our family was able to transition to mostly renewable energy.

The science is there. Our government should be transitioning our grid to renewable energy, thus lowering electric bills and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Our politicians don’t because they accept donations from gas companies and vote accordingly. It’s up to us ordinary citizens to research and then implement our own energy transition. That’s the bad news. The good news is that it’s totally possible, and you could even see a modest reduction in your electric bill.

Climate Action: Find a community solar project in your state and sign up. Household by household, we can add renewable energy to the grid.

Who is it for: Community solar is for renters, people with solar-restrictive HOAs, homeowners with shady roofs (or old roofs), folks who don’t want to take out a loan, and all folks who want to see the grid transition to renewable energy.

Getting signed up for community solar is relatively straightforward. To find community solar in your town, google “Community solar” and the name of your state or town or electric company. If you live in New York state, you can find community solar information here.

As this Earth Day article notes:

Community solar offers something rare in today’s political climate: a solution that lowers bills, reduces emissions, strengthens grid resilience, and expands economic opportunity all at once. It turns clean energy from a private upgrade into shared infrastructure.

Why It Matters: Climate change is happening faster than even anxious climate scientists were predicting.

2026 temperatures are already eye-popping

Why everyone should consider community solar:

• Climate change is driven by fossil fuels

• Solar energy doesn’t pass through the Straight of Hormuz

• Trump’s war is going to increase the cost of natural gas

• Politicians are making terrible environmental decisions

• Signing up for community solar is an immediate way to enact change

• As billionaires try to tie you to fossil fuels, you can circumnavigated them

• Solar energy reduces pollution in your community

• Solar energy slows down climate change

P.S. If you’re a home owner, you should absolutely consider rooftop solar. It saves significant money, as evidenced by the number of Republican reps with solar on their roofs. Senator Tim Sheehy, for example, called solar “green energy crap,” but later admitted to POLITICO that he had solar panels on his roof, adding, “It’s my personal home, so it’s not really any of your business.”

To which I say, HA!

If I were president of the world, I would put solar panels on every hospital roof, every government building, every warehouse, and over every parking lot. It’s ridiculous that we’re not building solar panels on available spaces within towns. But it is what it is. And I’m heartened that solar farms can have benefits for the ecosystems they’re built on, even if I would rather solar panels be de-coupled from capitalism and built in the places where they’re being used. You can tell yourself, what I tell myself: Sari, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We’re in a climate emergency and need to personally lean into renewable energy such as it is, not how we wish it were.

If you have solar panels or are thinking about them, let me know in the comments. And if you’re currently signed up for community solar, let me know that, too, and/or ask any community solar questions you have, and I’ll try to answer them. And please, tell me what you think about Sen Sheehy. I mean, it is our business, right??

Link Round Up

• Fascinating NPR piece about the next solar frontier: Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them

• Throwback piece I wrote about being an older parent: Waiting

• Mystery/comedy show I recommend: How to Get to Heaven from Belfast