Going green is no longer just about the environment.

We hear a lot these days about "going green." Certainly, regardless of the underlying causes, few people would dispute the now overwhelming evidence that Earth?s climate is in a warming phase. So reducing things like power plant emissions would certainly seem to be a good thing.

Unfortunately, greenhouse gas emissions are not our only urgent problem

During the last half of the 20th Century, North America was home to about seven percent of the world?s population but consumed 25 percent of the world?s energy resources. Today, as large middle class populations emerge in China, India and Latin America, the pattern of world energy consumption will become much more evenly distributed. (China?s middle class already equals the total U.S. population.) Combine these facts with the reality that world energy consumption is increasing much faster than world energy production, and you have a recipe for radical increases in energy costs soon.

Heating water for domestic use?for showers and shaving, cooking, laundry, dishwashing?requires a great deal of energy . In fact, an electric power plant throws about half a ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year just to heat water for one single family home. That?s one thousand pounds of greenhouse gas, just to heat your water for one year. Of course, central air conditioning is even worse, but here?s the thing: The technology to heat water with solar energy is simple and has been available for most of the 20th Century. There have been millions of solar water heating systems in Japan and Australia for decades.

Solar electricity generation ( solar power) for individual homes is technically ready today, but reasonable economic paybacks (five years or less) are still a few years away. Solar water heating makes good financial sense now. The State of Florida, the U.S. government and Progress Energy offer a package of financial incentives that, when combined with a financed system, can deliver positive cash flow immediately.

"You can pay me now, or pay me later."

During the 1970s, an advertising campaign for Fram Oil Filters featured an auto mechanic and the slogan, "You can pay me now, or pay me later." The ad stressed the idea that preventive auto maintenance is cheaper than replacing an engine, but the statement applies perfectly to the choice Americans face today. We can bite the bullet and pay a bit more today to put clean, renewable energy systems in place, or we can pay a lot more for oil-based energy tomorrow.

Going solar ? Going green? These are no longer just political or philosophical decisions. We have seen the last of cheap energy . We need to move toward clean, renewable energy technologies and resources and we need to do so now. Solar water heating is one very practical way to begin the process.

Factoid: Shell International predicts that renewable energy will supply 60 percent of the world?s energy needs by 2060. The World Bank estimates that the global market for solar electricity will reach $4 trillion within 30 years.

Solar Can Help Offset Climate Change

From Main Street to Wall Street, people are realizing the effects that our actions have on the environment?and they're going solar to minimize those effects and lower their carbon footprint.
Until recently, there hasn't been much of a choice but to use the electricity provided by conventional methods. With advances in technology and increased consumer awareness, however, solar electricity is now a very feasible option. So, while you'll be lowering your electric bill, you'll also be helping to raise our air quality.
Coal-fired power plants are responsible for 72% of all sulfur dioxide emissions in the U.S. Yet solar electricity produces absolutely no pollution. One million homes using solar electricity would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4.3 million tons per year. That's the equivalent of removing 850,000 cars from the road. And by using more solar electricity, fewer power plants that produce greenhouse gases would need to be built.

CFSolar Is 100 Percent Clean A CFSolar electric system generates no harmful emissions?zero. This means you can power your home with 100 percent pure sunshine that's not only clean, it's also renewable and abundant. So abundant, in fact, it's been calculated that a 100-square-mile array of solar modules in the Southwestern United States could generate enough electricity to power the entire country.