Are Solar Panels Worth it in Utah? History Reveals All

Today, as never before, humankind has so profoundly advanced one of its tools that it now functions in elegant alignment with the unvarnished mechanical order of the universe.

This tool’s harmonic function stems from a lustrous interplay of carbon-swept cosmic winds and the stardust comprising our very bones, revealing in its grandeur the relationship between human innovation and its influence on the course of evolutionary adaptation.  

The tool in question and the celestial body enthroned at the center of our galaxy, the sun, would likely have the same creator according to an alien, the divine and otherworldly essence of each an insignia upon which the inspiration of the human race and its creator, whoever that creator may be, is boldly inscribed.  

Better yet, the tool in question has been made wildly accessible and affordable to the average person; this tool is a solar panel.

Although the sun has been set in motion by something beyond the scope of our fullest comprehension, the solar panels which make use of it prove the sun is not beyond the scope of our innovative efforts and overall resourcefulness.

An evolutionary biologist might call the invention of widely accessible and affordable solar panels an “adaptive breakthrough,” or “key adaptation,” as it marks a newfound era in which humankind mass utilizes natural resources to a greater extent than ever–arguably an evolutionary adaption of the highest order, akin to the development of opposable thumbs, forward-facing eyes, and the invention of basic, life-sustaining hunting tools.

Yet economists, policy pundits, and consumers inanely ask whether solar makes sense.

To further dispel the myth that solar doesn’t make sense, we look to the greatest examples of human resourcefulness throughout history, and how the sun informed and will continue to inform these innovative processes, whether through solar panels or some other medium like them.

Utahans Should Know that the Most Enduring Discoveries Are Inspired By Nature

Many great inventions are inspired by the natural world–a phenomenon called “biomimicry.” Birds inspired the invention of airplanes, whales inspired the invention of boats, the inspiration for SONAR came from the echolocation of marine life, and the water filter emerged in the subtle neurotransmissions of a scientist observing water flow downstream.

However, in keeping our heads above water, we can look to solar arrays for both homeowners and businesses in the same way we look at the other major steps in human innovation that were facilitated by the sun.

The more we rely on solar energy and light to assist us in our innovation, the smarter and more efficient we become. This trend spans throughout history, and it begins with the Greek mathematician, Eratosthenes.

Eratosthenes, the Sun, and the Water Well

In what may be one of the craftiest displays of raw problem-solving ability ever recorded, Eratosthenes managed to calculate the circumference of the earth with nothing more than a water well and sunlight.

Perhaps the most impressive part of Eratosthenes formula was its initial assumption; in order to discover the Earth’s circumference, Eratosthenes first had to assume that the Earth was round, looking to the sun for inspiration.

Eratosthenes formulated and verified this assumption nearly 2,000 years before Christopher Columbus “discovered” the Earth was round by failing to fall off its edge.

The 15th century’s most sophisticated technology got Mr. Columbus to the finish line thousands of years later than Eratosthenes, who had only a water well and the sun at his disposal.

This serves as an ample metaphor for the coal-based energy industry today. Plenty of labor and unnatural resources alone have gotten us no closer to the future of energy consumption than we were two centuries prior to the advent of the industrial revolution.  

Utah solar power, however, is a concept ahead of its time that relies on an age-old resource (the sun) to solve this pervasive problem, much like Eratosthenes had with the sun. In the same way that solar helps Utah in the fight for clean air, the sun helped Eratosthenes measure the circumference of the Earth for the betterment of the scientific community. 

Copernicus Discovering Solar Energy is the Center of the Galaxy

Nicolaus Copernicus risked his life and reputation on the scientific proof for which he’d become known–his heliocentric (sun-centered) model of the universe.

Until Copernicus published his research on the matter in 1514, nobody had argued or even imagined the planets revolved around the sun.  

Copernicus’s debunking of the work of Aristotle and Claudius Ptolemy is a significant achievement in its own right, pointing out to humankind that it’s not the center of the universe in the 16th century, however, was a far greater achievement.

The solar industry today, much like Copernicus once did, is fighting dogmatic beliefs, albeit in a different form.

The only difference being that Copernicus stood inscrutably in the face of religious dogma suggesting God had put humankind at the center of the universe, whereas the solar industry is fighting a traditional energy consumption dogma that, no matter how fallacious or inefficient, has somehow stood the test of time.     

Had Copernicus not analyzed the sun and its estimable power to guide his research, we may still believe we are at the center of it all. No other discovery has been so earth-shattering since.  

The Earth Isn’t the Center of The Universe, and Neither Are We

Okay, living in Utah is pretty great, and that makes it hard for us to remember that we aren’t the center of the universe, as Copernicus pointed out hundreds of years ago.

Copernicus’s discovery of the heliocentric galaxy revealed to us that the earth is not the center of the universe, and neither are we.

This disengagement from anthropocentric desires led the Renaissance movement toward an objective guise that would culminate in considering not what our minds can do for ourselves, but what they can do for others, as well.     

This strain of thought began impacting our societal structure in the form of monogamy and marriage as a social institution predicated upon the sacrifice, shelter, and communal effort needed for families to thrive.  

Just as monogamy manifested itself as a higher form of evolution more conducive to societal foundation and strength, the way we power marriages, families, and individuals in their homes will prove equally important in the evolutionary cycle of humankind, and, more specifically, in its striving for greater communal strength in our families.

For instance, a Go Solar Group customer notes how her experience going solar provided security for her daughter:

“I have a handicapped daughter with two grandsons living with me. While my home is paid for I was concerned about the cost of utilities to her if I were to die. She could stay in the home but how would she pay for electricity? Go Solar Group provided a solar solution that enabled me to get the utility costs paid up-front and increase her ability to stay in my home when I am gone.

Prior to Go Solar, my monthly costs were as much as $300 per month. In 10 years that could easily become $600 per month. My daughter only gets $700 per month in SSI benefits and could not afford $600 per month for electricity. With a Go Solar system, my last two bills for electricity have been less than $10 per month. This is a solution we can live with.”

Why Solar Power Will Be the Next Step in Innovation

Whatever the outcome of the Solar Industry’s Section 201 Trade Case, millennia of solar innovation will not falter. The Trump Administration can put coal-produced energy in our Christmas stockings, but it won’t deter humanity or U.S. businesses and homeowners from advancing the solar cause.

Where would we be without the light of the sun? Our bones were formed from its stardust and stardust of other stars like it, fusing hydrogen into helium and bone into what would carry the brain above its shoulders–92.5 million miles away, yet always in our corner.

If we fail to rely on solar to guide us toward light and power in all forms as we did throughout other focal points of humankind’s innovation timeline, we will send human progress out of its orbit, leading it astray and into oblivion.