Celebrating summer with a chill song by Natty. It's officially monsoon season! Last week Kolkata finally got hit with the heavy rains that cooled the city down and brought a refreshing breeze for a few days. On Thursday, the main road I walk along to get to the metro was flooded, so I ended up wading through a foot deep, very questionable murky water. Ugh.
Google's newest clean energy project: solar leasing. Google announced this week that it’s investing $280 million in SolarCity, a company that installs and maintains residential-scale solar panels. Customers pay a fee for this service, either up-front or at a monthly rate—and end up saving less money on electricity than they would if they were to buy and install the panels themselves—but they avoid the risk and long-term commitment of ownership. It's good to see solar becoming more accessible and affordable on the consumer level.
"If you’re like me, Google already backs everything else in life; why not let them help you save on your electricity bill as well?"
In NYC, The Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning Sustainability, sent a plane over the city to capture its every contour with a system of lasers, which created a map showing how much energy rooftops would be generating if they had solar panels installed. If the city’s solar potential were realized, the study showed, New York City could get half of the electricity it needs at peak times from rooftop installations. However, due to the high cost of solar, in many cases the resulting savings per apartment per year aren't yet substantial enough to motivate landlords to invest in rooftop systems. The good news though, is that the city is beginning to offer a new type of lease that would allow landlords to earn back their investments in green improvements quicker. 