"Argh!!!" - The insightful words of a frustrated Charlie Brown

Though I do not believe he is related to the immortal Peanuts scribbler Charles Schultz (the c is silent), former Secretary of State George Shultz took a sample from the Charlie Brown lexicon when he described the process of trying to install solar panels on his roof. Addressing the Society of Environmental Journalists at Stanford University, where he is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, Shultz related a cumbersome bureaucracy-filled process that in the end leaves solar-seeking customers shaking their heads and muttering, "Argh."

But it does not have to be so difficult. In fact, in a number of states, installing solar is remarkably simple. And this the way it should be, since distributed generation solar projects, like the ones Secretary Shultz is seeking, have a number of benefits. The most important being:

• Less reliance on carbon intensive power production methods, like coal
• Lower energy costs for Secretary Shultz.
• Lower costs for all customers, by assisting the grid at peak times (sun is burning brightest/solar panels are working their hardest).

Where are these renewable energy friendly lands? Find out in Freeing the Grid 2007, the Executive Summary of which was released at Solar Power 2007.

Net metering policy isn’t as sexy as looking at solar panels (and, boy, are those sexy). But no significant deployment of distributed, renewable energy can be (or has been for that matter) successful in the United States with out appropriate Net Metering laws.

What is net metering? It is a simple billing arrangement whereby the power a customer can get credit for the power s/he generates at home through clean technologies, like photovoltaics.

It is that simple. But without these laws on the books, the deployment of clean renewable technologies just does not happen. In this way, net metering laws are the Barry White of renewable energy: they get things started.

See, net metering is sexy.