The Dark Side of Rooftop Solar

屋顶太阳能的阴暗面

Up First

2024-09-29

28 分钟
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Today on The Sunday Story we feature an episode from the NPR podcast Planet Money about the inner workings of the residential solar industry and how the business practices of some companies have soured customers on the promise of this renewable energy. And the team looks into where the residential solar industry is headed in the future. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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  • So the good thing about my neighborhood is this an older neighborhood.

  • It's not one of those, like, hoa neighborhoods.

  • Ain't no hoa.

  • Like, my house was built, like, 1950, and all the houses look different.

  • But I've noticed that some of the houses in my neighborhood are now getting solar panels.

  • And I have always been curious about it.

  • And sometimes you have people come around to your door like, do you want good solar panels?

  • And it's a very working class neighborhood that I live in, and I was always curious about how it actually works.

  • I don't want to be the first to get the solar panels in the neighborhood, right.

  • I want to see other people do it or have my friends do it and see how it works for them, and then I will do it.

  • So that's why I have not done it yet.

  • But rooftop solar panels are really a thing.

  • Across America, it's estimated 4.5 million households have panels on their roofs.

  • And many of them got there because of these aggressive sales tactics favored by solar companies.

  • Some customers say they were lured into contracts that made hefty promises, but left them with broken panels and big debt.

  • On today's show, we feature an episode from our friends over at Planet Money, about the darker side of residential solar power.

  • Here's Alana Samuels and Keith Roemer.

  • In 2012, Christine and John Sclera moved from New Jersey to Florida because of John's job.

  • That move, still a little bit of a sore subject for them.

  • I came down kicking and screaming, didn't want to be here.