Get 40% off solar, but only if you can type fast!

I had my sheet of paper all filled out and ready to go. I was logged into the site.

Check the clock...7:28am. Click refresh. Nothing

7:29, click refresh. Nothing.

7:30, click refresh. Short delay, this must be it! C'mon internet connection, hurry up!

I'm in, now start typing...

Welcome to the world of applying for a solar panel rebate from Florida Power & Light. The website opens at 7:30am, and it's first come first serve. You have to have your personal and contractor information, the size of your solar panel system, number of inverters, expected cost, and expected KWH production from your system.

I was smart. I pre-typed the information into a document, so all I had to do was copy-paste into the form, and I would surely get in right away.

The prize? $2 per watt rebate from FP&L after a completed solar panel installation. That's a great deal! At less than $5 per watt for most systems, that's at least 40% off the full price. The catch is that you have to compete with everyone else online at the same time to get the rebate, and there are no guarantees.

If it wasn't for the huge discount, I probably wouldn't have even tried. Why not a lottery system, so we don't have to all hover over our computers typing away as fast as we can? Maybe a system that picks a few from each county, to spread it out evenly across contractors and demand needs? I wonder what other states do in this situation. But I digress...

Done! I felt good, no way I didn't get in. I submitted the form at 7:33am...

Not Accepting Applications

Sorry! Due to strong customer interest, all of the rebate funds for this program have been reserved at this time. Please watch www.FPL.com/solarrebates for information about possible future rounds of rebate opportunities.

Please note that any system components installed prior to FPL's issuance of a rebate reservation will not qualify for a rebate.

No!!  3 minutes! That's all it took to run out of money? How much was in there to begin with? How many people submitted? Now I'm thinking back on what I did wrong. Was it the short delay setting up a dual page view between the website and my document? Maybe that ended up costing me too much time. Ughh!

Now what? Good thing I had a backup plan. I won't be installing the 8.8 kW (37 module) system I planned, but a smaller 6.6 kW instead. I still get a 30% rebate from the federal government, but it's still frustrating to not get the larger rebate.

I keep telling myself that someone who did get the rebate was only going to install solar if they got the rebate, so in the big scheme of things, maybe this worked out better for the planet. I am still going forward with my installation, and someone else can proceed with their project as well.  Two projects are moving forward, instead of only one. At least that makes me feel better...

James Bond had solar, why can't we?

I haven't watched many James Bond movies in my life, but I'd like to someday. I just happened to catch one this weekend, called "The Man with the Golden Gun". It was made in 1974, almost 40 years ago, and it stars Roger Moore. What intrigued me most was this clip regarding solar energy, which is the "golden gun" the villian refers to. Watch the clip below (starts a couple minutes into the clip)...

The technology shown is available today I believe, but it wasn't that long ago that it has been around. After watching this clip, I feel a little frustrated that we haven't made more progress on solar. You have to consider the impact movies can have on society. How much easier was it to convince someone that we need to move to solar technology after watching this film? The movie practically sells it for them! If the movie hadn't been made, then you're left trying to sell solar through drawings, small prototypes and lengthy discussions. In other words, someone made the perfect sales pitch for solar, but we as a society didn't take full advantage. This isn't just a United States issue. James Bond is a British film, shown around the world. You couldn't have asked for a better film to spread the word globally.

I was actually born in 1974, and in 1979, we lived next door to a wonderful lady, who went around to the local elementary schools in Iowa City, and showed us solar-powered toys, and told us they would be used everywhere in the near future. That really made an impact on me, and I was only 5 years old. That was about the same time that the solar panels were on the White House during Jimmy Carter's presidental era.

Here's another example of movies and green technology. In the 1989 movie "Back to the Future", the time machine DeLorean vehicle uses garbage to fuel the vehicle. I've seen a few people try and replicate that, but you don't hear too much from major automotive companies about organic waste as fuel.

Are the movies so far ahead in thinking, that it just takes 40-50 years to implement these ideas? It didn't take us as long to reduce a computer from the size of a house, down to fit on a table. Other technology has seemed to pop up overnight without the aid of a movie plug. Maybe I'm just expecting a shorter time frame when there is a major motion picture that promotes the idea for free.

The only thing I can conclude from this lack of progress is that something happened in the 1980's to bring the progress of solar to a screeching halt. I don't know what it was (change in presidency, oil companies, politics, military, etc), but it would be worth it to understand what happened, so we don't make the same mistake!