If you’ve ever looked into buying solar panels or photovoltaics for your house you know how much it cost. It can be anywhere from twenty to thirty thousand dollars for a typical home. What if you could instead lease a solar system for little or no money down? That’s what some companies are doing now and it seems to be catching on. Two I’ve discovered lately that do this are Citizenre and SolarCity. Basically it’s like renting a car, but with much longer leases, you pay very little down to get the system, and you pay them a monthly rent. You are protected from utility price hikes because the cost of the solar doesn’t change and you save money over what you’d be paying without solar panels. You also don’t have to worry about maintenance if anything goes wrong, these companies cover that for you.

One thing I noticed is that neither company seems to mention the generous incentives homeowners get if they buy their own system. According to American Solar Electric’s site a 22,478 dollar system only costs 9,878 dollars after APS/SRP rebates, and Federal and State tax incentives. Depending on the financing you can get this might be the better solution. Of course if anything goes wrong with the system or a much better cheaper form of energy comes out you are stuck with those solar panels and out a lot of money. If like me you live in a location that isn’t served by SRP or APS leasing sounds like it might be a great option to save money and the environment.

This was in December near Elfrida Arizona taken by Tracy Perkins.

Maybe not. With so many cars just over the horizon that will have much higher miles per gallon than anything we have now perhaps it is time to get a tune up, check that tire pressure, and wait until 2010 when some extremely efficient cars are due to hit the market. Here’s some of the cars we’ll have to choose from:

Zenn – Electric, 250 miles per charge

Mitsubishi’s iMiev - Electric, 100 miles per charge

2010 Prius – New type of battery, plug in option, 80 – 100 MPG.

Chevy Volt – Plug in hybrid, 40 miles on just batteries per charge, after that generator kicks in to charge battery. ~150 MPG equivalent.

My choice might be for a biodiesel powered hybrid such as the 70 MPG hybrid VW Golf that was recently announced. Biodiesel made from Algae or WVO of course, don’t want to take away from our food supply. I’d imagine a plug in version of that would do extremely well.

[Why You Should Wait Until 2010 to Buy a New Car]

I had no idea about any of this, very interesting article about Cox’s environmentally friendly ways.

Embracing a green life and work style isn’t anything new to Cox. Our company founder, James M. Cox, was passionate about protecting the natural environment when he started our company over a century ago. An avid outdoorsman and agriculturist, he embraced the latest farming techniques to protect soil and he promoted the preservation of land through his newspapers. Today, his grandson, Jim Kennedy, chairman and CEO of Cox Enterprises, our parent company, has challenged Cox employees to continue this tradition and find innovative ways to conduct business with the least amount of impact to the environment.

Locally, Cox Arizona has a goal of reducing its total carbon footprint and greenhouse-gas emissions by an additional 20 percent by 2017. Our “green” call center allows 280 Cox customer-service representatives to work from a home office several days a week. They’re happy and productive with less commute, which saves fuel and preserves their income. Fewer employees in the office allows Cox to use office space more efficiently. Likewise, our local “home-start” program encourages our field-service technicians to start their day from their homes and work in their own neighborhoods. All in all, good for the environment, good for customer service. [azcentral.com]

I’ve added some more Earth Day events that have been submitted by readers. Thanks for the help! Please let me know if you see any other events missing.

Recently added:

Maricopa Community College EARTH DAY ECO-FILM FESTIVAL 2008
PRESENTS…
EARTH DAY- APRIL 22, 2008 – 11AM TO 7PM
KIRK STUDENT CENTER, NAVAJO ROOM

Superstition Farm’s Earth Active Day
Superstition Farm in Mesa
Saturday, 4/26 from 10:00 am-5:00 pm

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman Invites you to the Earth Day 5K and Green Expo.

Tempe, AZ Earth Day 5K Invitation from School of Sustainability on Vimeo.

[Earth Day Events Page]