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Grand theft solar
11th October 2008
Solar panels in California are so widespread they are now being stolen - so the industry is working on new panels that are harder to steal
Californian cities may be renowned – in video games at least – for auto theft, but newspapers reported a different kind of crime this month: the stealing of solar panels.
Energy costs are soaring and the American economic future looks, to say the least, unstable. Solar panels cost tens of thousands of dollars to install, but, once in place, provide free energy. So it is understandably tempting to try to get something for nothing, especially in California, where the state’s Million Solar Roofs initiative has seen installations soar over the past few years to more than 30,000 panels statewide.
Fortunately, the solar industry has been working on new kinds of panels that would be cheaper to build and easier to install, and would – coincidentally – also be harder to steal.
Published in The Green Report in The Globe and Mail
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