In Massachusetts, solar power is truly the people’s power, according to a recent survey from New England Clean Energy (PDF). The small but telling study of NECE customers found that 67 percent of its 250 respondents pulled down less than $150,000 a year, while only 13 percent earned over $200,000 or more. More than a third earned under $100,000, and 10 percent earned under $50,000, illustrating quite clearly that solarization in Massachusetts — “with or without financing,” NECE noted — isn’t just a one-percenter phenomenon. Home solar is for everyone, especially the middle class.
“Anti-solar forces in Arizona and other states are claiming solar policies — in particular net metering, which compensates solar owners for their production at retail — benefit the rich at the expense of the poor,” NECE president Mark Durrenberger explained in a press release. “This argument assumes only the rich can install solar.”
But the truth is that in “states with progressive solar policies, like Massachusetts, solar is accessible to virtually anyone with decent credit,” he added. “Even those without the necessary credit rating, and those with bad roofs or who rent, can access solar today, through community solar gardens and virtual net metering.”
Massachusetts’ ability to solarize across income brackets could be an issue going forward, now the Bay State has elected Republican Charlie Baker as governor. While there is some indication that Baker’s stance on climate change and renewable is more realistic than the oil-, gas- and coal-friendly GOP’s in general, until he takes office in 2015, that stance remains short on specifics and long on speculation.
Overall, the GOP comeback in the 2014 midterm elections may indeed “bode ill for renewable energy,” according to PV Magazine. But the solar genie is out of the bottle, as NECE’s surgery clearly shows.
With or without financing, global solarization and divestment from fossil fuels continues apace. While the trajectory to a cleantech future may not be exponentially upward, as it has been in the years since President Obama took office, it’s too late to turn back now.
This article appeared at Solar Energy