Renewable energy—‘Power to the People’

Phil Yorio is the general manager of Micronesia Renewable Energy, Inc.-CNMI. (Contributed Photo)

I truly believe that there are a few areas in our lives that need to be governed as much as possible by our own decisions and energy is one of them. Here on Saipan I do not expect to see our cost for energy going down any time soon, and believe we have hit an all-time low that we will probably never see again as now we see rates starting to rise. When we look at our own energy footprint the first step we need to take is energy efficiency. Always remember the most energy that you can ever save is the energy that you do not use. Educating our family on turning lights off, monitors off on our computers, and controlling our air-conditioning usage can have a dramatic effect on our utility bills. Moving forward I always council my customers on using the combined technology approach that can lower your footprint and energy bills while taking in mind long-term strategies and maintenance of these systems. Energy efficiency consists of using technologies that can reduce your energy bills first while the next step will be renewable energy technology for a long-term approach to energy independence.

Living here on Saipan we have been prisoners to foreign oil for many years, but now we do have the technology to lower our energy bills at a reasonable cost, and actually zero out our energy bills with solar energy. So the power is now in our hands to make an educated decision to install renewable energy mainly solar energy for our long-term strategy for energy independence. With net metering here on Saipan it is feasible to zero out your energy costs with a reasonable payback period to give you clean, efficient, sustainable energy for 30 plus years, actually these new solar systems if installed correctly and with quality products can last 50 years plus with limited degradation on your system. With battery technology coming mainstream now, solar energy systems can now keep the excess energy that they produce during the day to now keep this energy for nighttime use. Saipan is the perfect location for solar energy. The capitalization of our rich natural abundance the sun is not only smart, but can be very profitable.

There are ways now on Saipan to enjoy the benefits of Solar Energy and the savings that come along with it without putting out any monies out of pocket. Here on Saipan this is a new concept but this type of financing has been going on in the mainland United States for well over seven years now. The residential and commercial power purchase agreement is not only smart, whereas you just pay for the energy that the system produces, but also gives you the peace of mind of not having to insure or maintain the system for the life of the contract. Typically with these contracts you can start saving from Day 1 10 percent to 20 percent off what you normally pay for power. On a direct purchase of a system you start saving monies typically at Year 5, now with no monies out of pocket its day one the system is turned on.

I also believe that we also have a moral obligation to our planet, our children, and future generations that will also live on this beautiful planet to be as efficient as possible and to capitalize on this reliable power source to help clean up our planet. The acceleration of renewable energy technology along with the economies of scale could not have come at a better time with the accelerated deterioration of our oceans, the destructive climate change patterns appearing all over the world and the fact that we are running out of oil confirms that we can no longer live as business as usual.

The business case is there, we all win with renewable energy, we save a lot of money long term, we help clean up the environment and we help ourselves to become energy independent along the way. We now have the power to change our lives. “Power to the People.”

Phil Yorio is the general manager of Micronesia Renewable Energy, Inc.-CNMI. (Contributed Photo)