One hundred tons — that’s the amount of carbon saved from escaping into the environment by installing the typical rooftop solar system. And when you go with Solaron, you only receive the most efficient solar panel on the commercial market — a panel made by SunPower. As a result, the electricity you produce goes up, and your carbon savings are even higher.
Does It Take Carbon To Make Solar Panels?
It is true that solar panels currently require the use of fossil fuels in their manufacture. At this time, the production of metal, glass, and wiring to make a photovoltaic array does require the use of fossil fuels. And those panels need to be transported and installed, which usually represents more oil or gas burned to get panels from one point to another.
Some people assert that the lifetime carbon savings of a solar system is only equal to its production cost, but this is false! Researchers estimate that a highly efficient solar system covers its own carbon cost in about 18 months. And panels made by SunPower are designed to last for at least 25 years!
What is 100 Tons?
Imagine some of the things that weigh 100 metric tons. Here’s a list:
- A small blue whale, the largest animal on Earth,
- 100 tons is as much as a small house,
- Nine cruise ship anchors weigh about 100 tons,
- Sixteen Tyrannosaurus Rexes,
- 10,000 dachshunds (which begs the question of which would win a fight between sixteen T. Rex’s or a myriad of tiny, skinny dogs?),
- Seventeen elephants,
- Thirty hippos,
- Two hundred grand pianos.
So imagine any of these things in your front yard, but instead they are a huge pile of carbon soot that you blast into the atmosphere. That’s the approximate amount of carbon that your solar panels will save you and your neighbors from breathing over twenty to thirty years.
In addition, your solar panels also equalize the carbon emissions of one car driven the average amount of miles over the course of a year. While that speaks to the effectiveness of solar electricity, it also points to the value of switching to zero emission automobiles.
To put your house on solar electric, contact the skilled team at Solaron! Serving Sacramento, the Bay Area and other parts of Northern California, we are ready to help you keep carbon out of the air and in the ground where it belongs.