Just as is the case in Australia, it’s the middle class powering the USA’s home solar revolution.
A recent study by the American Center For Progress has found solar power systems are not a plaything of the rich in the USA, but overwhelmingly being installed in middle-class neighborhoods that have median incomes ranging from USD $40,000 to $90,000.
The report busts the myth perpetuated by some in the USA’s electric utility industry who have claimed that distributed solar is mainly being adopted by the wealthy.
“While it is true that the wealthy are generally the first adopters of new technologies, our research suggests that solar technology has moved beyond the early adopter phenomenon and onto more widespread installation by the middle class,” says the Center.
The fastest-growing areas for rooftop solar panels in the USA have median incomes ranging from $40,000 to $50,000 in Arizona and California and from $30,000 to $40,000 in New Jersey. In Arizona, a particularly vicious campaign against solar has been under way – a blitz that has reportedly been bankrolled by a power company.
More than 1,460 megawatts of residential solar installations have been installed across the USA since 2000, and more than 80 percent of those installs occurred in the past four years. 2012 saw a 62 percent increase in installations over 2011.
In Australia, various Top Solar Postcodes reports over the last few years have continually shown rooftop solar panels have been most enthusiastically embraced by households in mortgage-belt suburbs. Solar is so popular with Australians for a very simple reason – it saves money and can also be a better investment than simply leaving money in the bank.
Accessing solar has also become much easier for many households who may not be able to afford the up-front costs through various innovative financing initiatives such as zero deposit payment plans.
The American Center For Progress’s report: Solar Power to the People: The Rise of Rooftop Solar Among the Middle Class can be viewed in full here (PDF).
