I came from the Midwest. I lived there for 18 years. I can remember summers that were hot and muggy and the bugs would eat you alive. I remember those summers as being short and sweet. The winters were long and cold. I can remember terrible snow storms in May and an occasional Halloween where I didn’t have to wear layers of clothes to keep warm. But for the most part more dreary weather days than sunny bright ones.
I came to Las Vegas over thirty years ago. I know how spoiled we are here when it comes to weather. The sun shines 90 % of the year. Even on the coldest days of the year (except on rare occasions) we are not trudging through sleet, snow, hail or for that matter rain. And whenever I want those winter time sports like skiing or tobogganing, or that break from the heat of summer, I can hop in the car and take a drive to the surrounding mountains.
So I’m wondering as people become more conscious of their carbon foot print why we aren’t the leading area for solar power. And as I research this for my own personal use, I realize one reason is cost. For the average home owner in Las Vegas the cost of putting an average 3kw system on the roof would be about $ 26,000. The other reason was our power facility was not solar friendly until recently. For the most part power wasn’t produced here, it was purchased from other companies. With the merging of three companies to become the one we have now, they are starting to look for ways to produce their own power. Which should be exciting news, as solar becomes more widely used solar products will become more affordable. And we have more options to start out small, from a solar cell phone charger to a portable solar panel kit. I was looking at the Sun force 50044 four panel kit. It runs for around $290.00 on Amazon. The reviews rate it high, 4.3 out of 5. So for 300.00 you could get a taste of solar in your home now. As you can afford more kits these can all be linked together. We could reduce our power bills, reduce the carbon foot print of our home and see if solar is the renewable source fit for you without spending the kid’s college education fund.
