California Houses Go Solar

Noah Berger, New York Times

The main picture in the New York Times article is of a jazzy mansion covered in solar panels, and the article leads off with usual the list of solar-celebs: Leonardo DiCaprio, Alicia Silverstone, Carlos Santana and Tom Seaver, who have installed solar systems. However the real impact of the 3.2 billion dollar California Solar Initiative is in the mainstream, where teacher Gonzales Yuen can install systems on his 100 year old Berkeley duplex and knocks 3 kilowatts off his meter. If he uses less than it generates then it goes back into the grid. He was the first on the block: “In my circle I’m the eco-nut,” he said. But, he said, less than a year later they are quite common in his neighborhood. “A lot of people are really paying attention and beginning to think about the whole environmental cycle,” he added.::New York Times