#PGE SMARTDAY EVENT UPDATE#

Thanks to PG&EвЂ™s new smart-meter system, they can now gouge me more efficiently and on schedule, when I need electricity to keep cool the most. You see, while many tout the supposed CO2 saving properties of solar panels, my impetus is entirely different: IвЂ™m hedging against CaliforniaвЂ™s exorbitant green-driven utility rates.ДЇor example, see below from my bill last year when temperatures went up in the summer, and tell me if where you live you come anywhere close to paying what I do.ДЄbove: my actual rate and costs from last summer June-July 2012. This being the day of the electricity denying вЂњEarth HourвЂќ, I thought it would be a good day to write about how IвЂ™m beating my electric bill.

#PGE SMARTDAY EVENT UPDATE#

My third project is doing quite well, and a number of readers have asked for an update on my original article as they are considering doing what I have done. Readers may recall last summer that I put up my third solar power project, my first being on my older home, then a large 125KW solar project I started as Trustee for the Chico Unified School District. For example, do loud climate campaigners Joe Romm and Bill McKibben have solar power on their homes? Do Jim Hansen and Michael Mann have solar power while telling us we all must cut back our energy usage linked to fossil fuels? Inquiring minds want to know. Put your money where your mouthpiece is, I say.

Much to the chagrin of people who are sure IвЂ™m evil, in the pocket of big oil, and highly carbon positive, IвЂ™m actually an independent and pretty energy efficient guy, and I challenge any of my detractors to show their solar and energy efficiency projects.

UPDATE: IвЂ™ve answered questions from commenters below in the FAQs, and added additional diagrams вЂ“ Anthony

Pge smartday event