Politics & Government
New York – It’s Time to Step up to the (Solar) Plate
Passage of the New York Solar Jobs Act will create new jobs and help lead to energy independence.
Pick up any newspaper or Google it, and you’ll see that the solar industry is experiencing record-breaking growth these days. The race is on to see which state will be the next leader of our nation.
Make no mistake, the competition is tough; take, for example, our own neighbor, New Jersey. They have already installed over five times more solar PV capacity than New York did in the last year alone. The excuse that California is a sunny state and therefore "solar successful" just went down the drain!
Those of us in New York have no excuse not to be just as good — if not better — than New Jersey! Our workforce is just as smart, our sunshine is just as strong, and our utility lines are just as good! It all boils down to lawmakers, policy, and forward thinking.
Find out what's happening in Five Townswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The New York Solar Jobs Act is a bill currently in Albany. As we speak, New York lawmakers are working past their June 20 deadline, considering bipartisan legislation that will require the state’s electricity providers like LIPA to obtain an increasing portion of their electricity generation from solar.
This is a recipe for creating tens of thousands of new local jobs and billions in economic output, all while reducing air pollution and reliance on fossil fuels. Solar makes great business sense; it means harnessing the power of the sun here in New York and delivering the home-grown electricity within our borders. We’re talking about taking a free commodity and converting it into a huge environmental and economical opportunity.
Find out what's happening in Five Townswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Vote Solar Initiative* has been campaigning hard; they’ve received thousands of support letters and are effectively getting the word out on the street. So much so that they took a billboard in Times Square and posted the best solar loving images they received from a state wide competition to showcase where New York’s heart is. Take a look at one of EcoOutfitters.net’s own photo submission – yes, those are my kids giving a big “thumbs up” for solar energy. Will you?
What You Can Do: Call Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office today at 518-474-8390 and tell him you support the New York Solar Jobs Act. It will only take five seconds and CAN make a difference.
* Vote Solar is a non-profit organization that works to build the economies of scale necessary to bring solar into the mainstream.
