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Constans’ comments: Solar Mike and the intelligent turtles

By GABRIEL CONSTANS
Special to the Sentinel

It must be excruciatingly frustrating to have the answers, see the solution and know that the technology works — but feel like you’re shouting into the wind.

The old adage, "If a tree falls in the forest, will anybody hear?" could aptly be rephrased, "If someone shouts in the middle of a crowd, will anybody listen?"

Mike Arenson, who works at EcoEnergies and is better known as Solar Mike, has diligently and consistently advocated, worked for and educated the people of Santa Cruz County, about solar energy for over 20 years.

He and many others have proclaimed from the highest mountain tops and the lowest valleys that the answer to our energy shortage, energy problems and energy waste is already at hand.

Solar power has been installed and used for businesses, homes, greenhouses, hot water heaters, hot tubs and swimming pools for decades.

Some people say it isn’t cost effective, that the cost, per kilowatt-hour, is cheaper with gas and nuclear energy.

In the short run that is true. It takes a large investment to get started in solar, and there is little federal, state or county support for those wishing to install solar panels.

Yet over a 10-to-20 year period, the amount of savings more than makes up for the initial investment, and the savings on the environment are infinite.

As more people insist on solar, the costs will decline.

I won’t talk about the politicians, agencies and businesses that seldom, if ever, mention or think of using solar power as an alternative to fossil fuels (that’s for the editorial page).

But I must say that we seem to be drowning in abundant sunshine while trying to stay afloat with sinking barrels of oil.

Our family is taking the plunge, having enough solar panels installed to meet all our electrical needs.

We will be tied into the local power company grid, with our meter, at times, actually running backwards, giving us credit during the spring and summer months for the fall and winter.

Our unit will also include a battery back up system. When PG&E lines are down or there is a blackout, our lights will keep burning and the refrigerator and computer will keep humming along.

We had to get an equity loan on our house to cover the cost (about $20,000). But after talking about it and believing in it for as long as Solar Mike has been working in the field, we felt it was finally time to match our money with our conscience.

With energy prices going up the way they are, we’ll have paid off our investment in about 10 years.

While everyone has talked about becoming less dependent on oil (especially from other countries) and the continuing concerns about oil exploration and the environment, Solar Mike and his colleagues have been providing the solution.

With more patience than an old-growth redwood, Mike has proceeded with one person and one home at a time.

Personally, I don’t see how he’s kept his sanity.

I would have been screaming and knocking my head against a wall long ago and said, "Forget about it."

I would have let somebody else take up the struggle to change our old ways of thinking about energy. I would have said, "Some day, someone will do something about this."

That some day is already here and has been — for Mike Arenson, Geoff Shuey, Joe Jordan and other solar advocates — for decades.

I have no doubt that they will be plugging along, like steady, intelligent turtles, until we all wake up and realize they passed the finish line far ahead of the fossil hares.

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