The City of Chicago and the State of Illinois are offering big incentives for people to invest in solar energy. Even with the financial help, installing solar panels isn’t cheap. But some people who live on Chicago’s Southeast Side say the area’s industrial pollution offers its own incentive to go green.
Not long ago in a small storefront on Baltimore Avenue near the Indiana border a handful of folks were getting schooled on solar energy. It was part education -- part sales pitch.
"So, right now, we see a lot of fluctuation with energy prices. They seem every day to go up and down, up and down. "
That’s Seth Johnson of the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago. Johnson’s been making these presentations throughout the city since July.
"And what you do with solar energy is you lock in that price. You make that upfront investment but then you levelize your cost in the long run. "
Johnson was trying to get folks to take advantage of incentives offered by the state and city before the October 10th deadline, that’s this Friday.
Local resident Maria Gallegos said she was on the fence, but wants to do something to help curb fossil fuels especially in her own backyard.
"This is an industrial area. Pollution has been a big problem. "
Gallegos says the main issue with a solar panel system is the cost factor.
"Even though, there’s some incentives, right out of the bat it’s pretty expensive."
You’re looking at an upfront cash payout of 8 to 18-thousand dollars, depending on the system. And, the return on your investment, in terms of having a lower ComEd bill, may not make up the difference for at least 7 years. That may be one reason why only about 100 people have signed up to purchase a solar panel system in Greater Chicago since July.
Luis Rojas is one of them. He says his 12-thousand dollar investment makes sense in the long run.
"Yea, I’m really excited about it. Lately, I’ve been putting a lot of attention to the efficiency of my house and the footprint that we all leave just by living. "
Rojas is a construction manager who also lives on the Southeast Side on Avenue H. He’s already installed barrels next to his two-flat to capture rainwater that he uses to water the grass. Now, after years of considering solar energy, Rojas says it finally makes financial sense.
"Solar panels, they were always really expensive to install and the second things was the efficiency rating of them. The efficiency looks like it has quadrupled in the last five or six years so I’m in for it. "
A dozen solar panels, each about the size of a flat-screen TV, will be installed on Rojas’ roof in the next few weeks. They will draw energy from the sun only during the day and only when it’s not cloudy.
The system would normally cost 12 thousand dollars, but with the state and city incentives, Rojas expects to only pay half that much. And eventually, it will cut his electricity bill by more than half.
"If you can save money and then at the same time do some good to the environment, well, here’s my two pennies."
And that’s what activist Peggy Salazar likes to hear. She’s with the Southeast Side Environmental Task Force, which hosted the recent informational meeting. Her group is on the front lines of banning companies from storing potentially harmful pet coke nearby.
"We’re the ones that deal with the air emissions from the pet coke being stored. We have the BP refinery that is just across the border. But the emissions from the actual refinery don’t stop at the Indiana border, they blow toward us. "
Salazar says eventually they want to attract cleaner energy companies to the Southeast side.
"That’s what we would love to see in this area. So, it’s very important that we work hard to at least help direct people to new, cleaner renewable energy. "
People like Luis Rojas, who Salazar says, is making a difference.