Nearly 20 neighbors from Old Rosedale Gardens Neighborhood Association came out to tonight learn more about the benefits of residential solar in the first in-person meeting of the Solarize Livonia series.

Vote.Run.Serve previously covered the Solarize Livonia series, hosted with the support of the Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability – Livonia, Michigan in June 2022.

Solar power is a sustainable and cost effective form of creating energy but it can be difficult to know how to get started. The Greenleaf Commission on Sustainability – Livonia, Michigan is hosting a Solarize Livonia – Neighborhood Meeting on Tuesday, June 21st at 7pm to help residents learn more about solar from Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association and a group buy opportunity available this summer.

Vote Run Serve co-founder Brian Weiss will be leading this meeting. Sign up for the meeting here: https://bit.ly/3PPaFf1

Local resident, Tonia McDermott, generously shared a first-hand account of using solar panels in All things Livonia and is allowing us to share:

This most recent DTE bill is with running A/C full tilt, 3 refrigerators, air compressors and welders, etc….. The $8 is just the line connection fee. The solar panels on 1/2 of our garage roof cover 85% of our annual electric bill. Winter output is very low due to sun angle, sun exposure length, snow covering panels, etc. [Note: The Michigan Public Service Commission allowed DTE to end net metering, which means the numbers on this bill is different than what a new solar owner would receive. Nevertheless, solar is essentially free electricity once the hardware is paid for.]

Here is a picture of our 5.9kW array (21 panels of 280 watts each).

If you want to learn more about solar power – how it works and it’s long term potential, this 5 minute TED-Ed talk is informative: