Covering 10 Million Roofs with Solar

Late last week, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders introduced an awfully ambitious bill, one that aims to put solar panels on the roofs of 10 million American homes and businesses, not to mention 200,000 solar water heaters, all within ten years. Sanders aims with the creatively titled "10 Million Solar Roofs & 10 Million Gallons of Solar Hot Water Act" (PDF) to provide rebates for up to half the cost of a new solar electric or solar water heating system. While most of the country's energy discussion still hovers around nuclear, clean coal, and offshore drilling, Sanders is working to make a better make case for solar. Here he is laying out solar vs. nuclear in an interview with Grist's Dave Roberts-

"Roughly speaking, a new nuclear power plant will cost you about $10 billion. Then at some point you've got to decommission it and get rid of the waste-a great expense. The average nuclear power plant will produce about 1,000 megawatts for that $10 billion dollars. We can produce 30,000 megawatts for $30 billion and they're going to produce it for $300 billion."

Then there's the solar industry's job creation potential. Solar energy creates more jobs per megawatt than any other energy source, and Sanders' bill has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of green collar jobs over the next ten years, far more than any other energy source.Photo (cc) by Marlith on WikimediaThis post originally appeared on www.refresheverything.com, as part of GOOD's collaboration with the Pepsi Refresh Project, a catalyst for world-changing ideas. Find out more about the Refresh campaign, or to submit your own idea today.