Utah Clean Energy Facts to Prepare Citizens for 2018

Of all the facts on Utah’s clean energy one can pull from the web, most reveal the same general trend: Utah’s sustainable energy solutions can and should be revamped.

If Utah’s citizens are to improve its rank as a state serious not just about clean energy, but the future as well, it should take note of the following clean energy facts and make improvements accordingly.

6. A Lack of Clean Energy Impacts More than the Environment

It’s not just the environmentalists who have skin in the solar game. It’s also those concerned with a diverse array of broader issues negatively impacted by traditional electricity consumption and production. E.g., epidemiologists, researchers, and other healthcare experts are gathering boatloads of data on the negative health effects of fossil-fueled energy consumption and production.

5. A Lack of Clean Energy in Utah = Increase in Disease Incidence

Sure, your typical Utah solar company will educate you on how solar panels will save you money, but they’ll usually forget to mention your traditional energy consumption’s link to the hantavirus.

That’s why you can count on the GO Solar Group to give you the facts you need.

Let us explain.

As reliance on fossil fuels raises global temperatures (hence the global warming ruckus), the incidence of sickness increases in several ways: Heat itself increases the incidence of various viruses carried by mosquitoes, many of which can be deadly. E.g., malaria, the West Nile Virus, and yellow fever.

Droughts followed by heavy rains can increase the incidence of other illnesses, like the hantavirus. According to the Utah Department of Health, the hantavirus has spread within Utah in recent years, already taking one life.

Additionally, a lack of clean energy in Utah means more elevated ozone levels, asthma incidence, and other respiratory issues.

4. If You Live in Utah, You Probably Do Not Understand the Versatility of Solar Power

Given that coal generates nearly half of America’s electricity, and is the single largest source of pollution in America, it’s up to environmentally conscientious states like Utah to spearhead clean energy initiatives, changing public opinion and behavior with them.

After all, resources are only as good as the people who resolve to use them. But the Utah population remains largely uninformed on not just the benefits of solar power, but also the problems it prevents.

One of the biggest barriers to changing the way energy is consumed is helping the public understand how diverse and far-reaching the potential impacts of solar can be.

From powering small appliances like computers to reversing the injurious impact of climate change, solar power is positioned to be how we power not just our gadgets and our homes, but how we power our lives.

The sooner Utah gets used to it, the more it will be able to innovate within the solar space and turn around its bad rap for pollution.

3. Utah is Slightly Below Average for Total Energy Consumption

Utah ranks 36^th in America for total energy consumption per capita. Although Utah is less blameworthy than many other states, traditional fossil fuel use in energy production remains the norm, and the highest energy per capita consuming states will, with little variance, stay among the top of the pack in terms of states using the most nonrenewable resources to produce and consume energy.

If solar adoption grows in Utah, the energy consumption paradigm will matter less than the mode of energy consumption in gauging a state’s environmental friendliness.

2.  Park City Established a Net Zero Carbon Standard

Although Utah has a below average rate of energy consumption when compared to other states, Logan and Salt Lake City rank among the most polluted in America, according to this Deseret News article.

Park City serves as an exemplary town in its resolve to become a better harbinger of clean energy in the state of Utah, as it recently set a goal of achieving net zero carbon and being 100 percent powered by renewable electricity by 2022.

Last week Park City passed an agreement to establish a net zero carbon standard, which dictates that each new municipality built should be managed by at least one of three standards:

• Energy Petal certification from the International Living Future Institute
• A score of zero using the Zero Energy Performance Barometer
• Passive House certification with on-site renewables

The inversion index suggests that the other cities in Utah most in need of adopting similar energy consumption standards are Provo, Ogden, Brigham City, Vernal, and Tooele. However, following public guidelines on energy isn’t the only reward people who go solar can expect. Take Wayne Sumner, for instance, who reveals ‘It feels good to be doing something good for not just me, but the world as well.”

1. Ozone and Particulate Matter Remain Primary Utah Pollutants

When it comes to Utah clean energy facts, there are a few common traits we must look at to gauge air quality in 2018 and beyond.

While ozone dominates the summertime in Utah, particulate matter dominates the wintertime. And, as a state, Utah’s pollution is highly susceptible to seasonal variation.

This is the case not only because weather impacts the motility of pollution, but also because fossil fuel-burning behaviors change drastically from season-to-season.

Ozone is a gaseous form of oxygen. Although it plays an important part in giving us shade from UV radiation, it becomes harmful to our health at the ground level.

Particulate matter is the mass accumulation of the solid and liquid particles retained in the air we breathe.

The most common forms of particulate matter are smoke, soot, dust, and certain forms of pollen. Although pollen and dust are difficult to control when compared to the other forms of particulate matter, they still add to the particulate matter spectrum.

The Utah Solar Tax Credit is a big component of the incentive plan the state has given to consumers to scale back on some of these pollution issues.

So, despite the awesome financial benefits of going solar and various personal justifications homeowners could use to argue their perspective on solar, the greatest incentives perhaps stem from the benefits we’ll see from how solar reliance will impact humankind in the future.

Among those benefits being innovation, sustainability, and greater health outcomes.

Rooftop solar for Utah residents is one of the foremost ways to make a significant impact in reducing pollution with very little up-front effort over the course of one’s lifetime as a consumer of energy.

Interested in exploring how solar can improve your quality of life, savings, and more? Visit our solar installation page below.