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When Terrence Dwyer received a knock on his door and a flyer for a solar panel system small enough to fit on his deck, he was quickly sold. Solar systems that plug into regular wall outlets have been popular in Europe for years and are gaining traction in the U.S. for their affordability and simple installation. We thought absolutely, lets do this right away, said Dwyer, who lives in Oakland, California. These small-scale solar systems could become attractive to more homeowners now that President Donald Trumps sweeping budget-and-policy package will scrap residential rooftop solar tax credits and may shift interest to cheaper alternatives. Even before the GOP bill passed, manufacturers of the smaller systems known as plug-in or balcony solar were seeing increased demand and other positive signs such as a new Utah law streamlining regulations for homeowners to buy and install them. The systems about the size of a door havent been as widely adopted in the U.S. as in Europe because of lack of awareness, patchwork utility rules and limited availability. The $2,000 plug-in solar system installed on Dwyer’s backyard deck in March consists of two 400 watt panels, an inverter, a smart meter and a circuit breaker. It saves him around $35 per month on his power bill because he is consuming less energy from the grid, but he said reducing his carbon footprint was his primary motivation. We like the environmental benefits of solar and wanted to engage with solar in some fashion, Dwyer said. Had Dwyer opted for rooftop solar, he would have paid $20,000 for the system and $30,000 to upgrade his roof to support the panels. Installing a plug-in solar system requires some homework. What power companies let customers do with energy-generating equipment varies, which is why prospective purchasers should check their utilitys policies first. Building permits might be required depending on the municipality. Some systems can be self-installed, while others may require an electrician. For example, some kits have meters that must be wired into a home’s circuit breaker. Removing hurdles for plug-in solar Dwyer bought his system from Bright Saver, a nonprofit company in California that advocates for plug-in solar. In addition to the type Dwyer bought, the company also offers a smaller model costing $399 that recently sold out in six days. The interest and demand have been overwhelming, said Cora Stryker, a founder of Bright Saver. It is clear that we are hitting a nerve many Americans have wanted solar for a long time but have not had an option that is feasible and affordable for them until now. Kevin Chou, another founder of Bright Saver, said wider adoption of the systems in the U.S. has been hindered by utility policies that create uncertainty about whether they’re allowed and a lack of state and local policies to make clear what rules apply. Some utilities contacted by The Associated Press say plug-in solar systems require the same interconnection applications as rooftop panels that send electricity back to the wider network. But Steven Hegedus, an electrical engineering professor at University of Delaware, said he doesn’t understand why a utility would need to require an interconnection agreement for plug-in solar because, unlike rooftop systems, they are designed to prevent energy from flowing to the grid. Still, if in doubt, a customer should follow their utility’s policy. During the early days of plug-in solar’s growth, some opposition from utilities is likely since customers are buying less energy, said Robert Cudd, a research analyst at the California Center for Sustainable Communities at the University of California, Los Angeles. Utilities really prefer everyone being a predictable and generous consumer of the electricity they sell, Cudd said. This year, Utah enacted a novel law supporting plug-in solar by exempting certain small-scale systems from interconnection agreements and establishing safety requirements such as being certified by a nationally recognized testing organization such as Underwriters Laboratories. It appears to be the only state that’s passed legislation supporting plug-in solar, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Republican state Rep. Raymond Ward, who sponsored the legislation, said the smaller systems allow people to better manage where their energy comes from and what they pay. Europe has these things. You can go buy them and they work and people want them. There is no reason why we shouldnt have them here in the United States, Ward said. Bright Saver says they are lobbying other states for similar legislation. Alexis Abramson, dean of the University of Columbia Climate School, also applauded Utah’s move. We actually need more localities, more states putting in allowances for this type of equipment, she said. Plug-in solar availability and savings potential Some questions remain about how much customers could save. Severin Borenstein, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, said the cost of some portable solar systems in the U.S. would make it hard for customers to come out ahead on their utility bills over the time they own them. He estimates the price of a $2,000 system in the U.S. works out to paying about $0.20 a kilowatt-hour over a 25-year period, which only saves people money if they have high utility costs. By comparison, Borenstein said the cost of systems sold in Europe, typically around $600, is equivalent to paying about $0.05 or $0.06 per kilowatt-hour over 25 years. Baltimore resident Craig Keenan said saving money was only part of why he installed one of the smaller Bright Saver models on his balcony in July. Im interested in renewable energy because the amount of carbon emissions that we produce as a species is very, very unsustainable for our world, he said. He said he expects the system will save him about $40 per year on utility bills, so it would take him about 10 years to recoup the cost of the kit. Keenan, a mechanical engineer, said installation took him 10 to 15 minutes. I think anyone can install this, he said. Its not complicated. It doesnt require a technical degree. Other companies selling plug-in solar kits include Texas-based Craftstrom. It has sold about 2,000 systems in the U.S. since 2021, mostly in California, Texas and Florida. The company’s basic kits contain a solar panel that can fit in a backyard or other sunny space, along with equipment to maintain and regulate the flow of energy including an inverter and smart meter. Kenneth Hutchings, Craftstroms chief revenue officer, said their U.S. sales rose this year even before the passage of the GOP tax bill, and he expects demand for plug-in solar to increase further as federal rooftop solar credits expire. The company advises customers to notify their power company before installation, but it has Ünever had any pushback from any utility, said Michael Scherer, one of the founders of Craftstrom. China-based EcoFlow plans to begin selling plug-in solar systems in Utah and expand to other states if supportive legislation is passed, said Ryan Oliver, a company spokesperson. This is an example of where technology is sort of ahead of the regulators, Oliver said, adding: As this rolls out to more of a nationwide product, we expect it will become more mainstream as people understand it better.” Isabella O’Malley, Associated Press Associated Press video journalist Mingson Lau contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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E-Commerce
Back-to-school season is almost here, even for those years out of traditional education. On TikTok, class is in session as a new trend has emerged where creators DIY monthly curriculums based on new skills, creative projects, and books on subjects they want to focus on for the month. Creator Elizabeth Jean is widely credited with starting the trend. In a viral video summarising her July curriculum, one of the units is on baking, specifically cookies, where she lists a few recipe books she plans on following for the month. Jean also chooses one memoir to read each month, has one unit on manifestation and spirituality and one she has termed inner alchemy, focusing on self-reflection. She is also working through Julia Camerons Artist’s Way. Examples of previous units she has completed include watching movies that won the Palm Dor at Cannes Film Festival. Another included watching all the Mary Kate and Ashley movies. Incredible use of free will, one person commented When selecting her units she asks herself, What would my inner child want to be spending time on? she explained. If she doesnt finish her monthly reading, what happens? Well, nothing. It simply rolls over to next month because this isnt school and there are no rules. Jean encourages others to post their own curriculums using the hashtag #curriculumclub. One commenters curriculum includes reading Fahrenheit 451 for their English unit, Peoples Guide to the US 1492-2011 for History, trying a new yoga studio in place of P.E. and learning embroidery for Art. Another is choosing to study 1960s french film, vegetarian cooking, feng shui, and how fairytales are influenced by the teller. Some are even giving themself electives, as well as weekly assignments and a final project. They are also making use of local libraries to compile their reading lists. As one Tiktoker put it in her video, “I think it holds us accountable to not let the month go by without doing anything that stimulates our brains.” Others are using the framework of a college curriculum to structure their dream life, looking at their goals as if they were a college course and deciding what would be the tasks and reading set in order to achieve them. In an era where many are outsourcing their brains to artificial intelligence, it’s encouraging to see people embrace a trend that reclaims curiosity and engages with learning as just for fun. Self development is one of TikToks favorite subjects, from productivity hacks to looksmaxxing content. As with any of the trends that emerge online, it should also be taken with a pinch of salt. The idea that we must treat continual self-improvement as a full time job is both exhausting and unnecessary, especially with many already juggling enough on their plate. If the thoughts of syllabuses and exams trigger your fight or flight, remember, it’s supposed to be fun. Better yet, youre not at school and you can simply choose not to.
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E-Commerce
At many companies, discussing salaries is considered a taboo thats kept to whispered conversations around the water cooler or brief mentions at after-work drinks. But, according to a new study, a lack of pay transparency among peers in the workplace might be damaging employee morale. The study, authored by a group of cross-institutional business and finance professors and published in the Social Science Research Network, examined Glassdoor employee ratings of compensation satisfaction at more than 1,300 publicly traded firms. The researchers compared these ratings from before and after a 2018 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandate, which required that companies disclose the CEO pay ratioa metric that compares CEO pay to that of the median employee. Prior to this mandate, employees did not have access to an official estimate of their peers compensation. The results show that, contrary to popular belief, the conventional approach to keeping employee salaries hush-hush may actually have a damaging effect. Heres what executives need to know about the findings: Employees are already making their own assumptions According to Lisa LaViers, an assistant professor of accounting at Tulane University and co-author on the study, previous research on pay transparency started with the assumption that employees knew nothing about what others were being paid. It was also assumed that when the employees learned they were paid more than others, they would think that was fair and it wouldn’t make them any happierbut if they discovered they were paid less than others, it would make them unhappy,” she says. This theory, called the Fair Wage Effort Hypothesis, caused executives to believe that the net effect of pay transparency would be dissatisfaction among employees. However, LaViers explains, this research doesn’t apply well to a modern economy, where employees have much broader access to pay information. Employees are doing their own research, and aren’t content to stay in the dark, she says. Pay transparency increases compensation satisfaction To better understand employees’ assumptions and sentiments, the study examined about 300,000 individual compensation ratings across firms in 62 different industries both before and after the 2018 SEC mandate. It found that, when employees gained access to an idea of the median employee compensation at their firm, their own compensation satisfaction went uppointing to the fact that many employees overestimate how much their colleagues make, and having the real number actually improves their own sentiments. In general, finding out about the high rates of CEO pay makes employees mad. But the thing about our research is that employees already knew what the CEO was being paid; their anger about that was already baked into their pay satisfaction, LaViers explains. The new information being disclosed was that of the median employee. This number is much lower than CEO pay and provides a much more favorable comparison point for rank-and-file employees. Giving them this new comparison point helped put their own wages into a more favorable light. Managers should challenge their own ideas Based on these findings, the authors have a few suggestions for managers who may be operating under the preconceived idea that pay transparency is bad for business. To start, they write, managers should assume that employees are looking for compensation averages online, and they should be actively keeping an eye out to make sure that any estimates floating around are up-to-date. Whether or not you implement a policy of pay transparency, employees are developing ideas of what others in the firm are making, LaViers says, adding that many of those preconceptions are either inaccurate or inflated. It may also be helpful to use anonymous surveys in an effort to understand whether employees believe they are being underpaid compared to their peers. If those notions exist, adopting greater pay transparency could help to alleviate the tension. Unless your company is actually paying people unfairly (which is a different problem entirely!), you may benefit from implementing a policy of greater transparency, LaViers says. It will help you take control of the narrative and give employees more realistic reference points to compare their own wages to.
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E-Commerce
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