Got Sun?

I recently read a report by the Federal Energy Information Administration that stated in 2012 gasoline costs took a bigger share of household budgets than they have in three decades. Well, not the people driving electric cars, that's for sure. Fueling an electric car costs much less than it does for gasoline or diesel cars. In fact it's actually anywhere between 25% and 75% less expensive depending on the car and your local electricity rates.

Add a solar array to the equation, and you've not only lowered the price you pay for your transportation fuel significantly, but you've also guaranteed you'll have a low-cost, stable supply of fuel for the next 30 years or so. You see, the sun doesn't raise its price based on supply and demand and the sun doesn't have a group of men in a room somewhere scheming how they can maximize the suns profits. 

The report claims the average American household paid $2,912 to buy gasoline in 2012 which is about 4% of the household's pre-tax income. That's just too much for gas, and do you think that's going to go down? Not a chance. Sure there will be short term price fluctuations and even years at a time when the price is lower but in the long run the price of gas always goes up, and will continue to do so now at a much faster rate then in the past since there is a greater demand for gasoline then ever before because of oil hungry, emerging markets like China and India.

Zero emission electric cars like my ActiveE are slowly entering the marketplace. You can buy plug in cars from Nissan, Chevy, Mitsubishi, smart, Tesla, Ford and Toyota right now that will either take you completely off gas or drastically reduce your need for it.  Gradually every manufacturer will offer 100% electric cars and also plug in hybrid vehicles. Independence from the radical fluctuations of the price of oil is a great thing. I have been living with electric cars for about four years and powering them with my home solar array for over two years now and I can tell you it's really a great feeling. Even if you don't have a solar array, the price of electricity is still much less expensive, electricity is entirely a domestic product and the cost is relatively stable, unlike oil where you can have a 26% increase in one year like we had from 2011 to 2012. Electric car manufacturers like BMW are also going to partner with solar installers and offer great deals on a solar installation when you buy your electric car. They'll ask you how many miles you drive in a year and can even size a solar array so it produces just enough energy to power your car. By doing so you don't have to purchase a huge system like I have on my roof, and therefore it won't be very expensive. You can finance the system so you only pay about what you were previously paying for gas every month. This way your monthly out of pocket expense won't rise and once the system is paid off you have free fuel from then on. Dump the pump and plug into the sun! So what does your future look like?

 
                                                                                 This?.....

                                                            Or this?.....