Cantor's Corner by Eric Miller

Let me begin at the beginning. I found out a few months ago that LIPA was offering incredible rebates on the installation of home solar panels, which have recently become technologically and economically feasible as a source of home electricity. (I made this discovery while reading, with glee, a NY Times article about solar panels that were now providing power to a certain Texas oil-man’s abode in the D.C. area, courtesy of a surreptitious installation by the National Parks Service.) So, after doing some research and finding out that I could get a $20,000 system that would provide about half of my home’s electricity, and it would only cost me about $3,000 out of pocket, I was on board the solar bandwagon.

Nu? What happens when it rains, smart guy? The newer solar systems of today are not independent entities. Rather, they are tied into the grid of the Long Island Power Authority. So, when it’s nice and sunny out, my panels are creating more power than I can use, and the extra gets channeled back into the system. And LIPA buys back this extra electricity at the same price I pay for it! Then, when it’s dark and rainy out (like, say, the whole month of June), I get my power from LIPA the same way as everybody else. So, when you factor out what I use (buy) vs. what I produce (sell), I wind up about 50% better off than if I didn’t have these panels prettily channeling electricity to my fridge/TIVO, etc. from the south-facing roof of my garage.

Jewish Connection I: There’s a metaphoric similarity between the way these solar panels are constructed and the Hasidic concept of teshuvah (renewal/repentance). You see, these panels generate electricity via a material called a semiconductor, in this case, silicon. When the sun’s energy, in the form of photons, causes free electrons (called carriers) in the silicon to detach from their molecules, these electrons are channeled in such a way as to create both current and voltage, and therefore, electricity. But here’s the catch: pure silicon has a crystalline structure that’s nearly perfect – not many extra electrons hanging around to generate electricity. So, the silicon used in solar cells is a purposely impure form, usually “doped” with phosphorous on one side and boron on the other. There are plenty of extra electrons due to the imperfect match-up of the silicon and the extra elements, and this allows for a significant amount of electricity to be generated when the sun’s rays hit the panels. Likewise, the Hasidic masters believed that we should view our own “impurities” not as a source of shame, but with compassion and the understanding that it is our weaknesses that can make us stronger in the long run. Rather than trying to deny our imperfections or misdeeds, it is our task to integrate these less-than perfect elements into our whole being, transforming these “sins” into a source of spiritual and ethical erngy as we strive to re-turn (teshuvah) to our truest essence as caring human beings.

Jewish Connection II: Battery-based solar systems are more expensive, less efficient and much more of a hassle in terms of maintenance and upkeep, when compared to grid-tied systems. A grid-tied system is also a good metaphor for how we as Reconstructionist Jews live our lives in the context of self in relation to community. There are moments when the sun is shining, so to speak, and I have what I need to face the world – and during these high-energy times I can also give some (spiritual/social justice/educational) energy back to my community. But no Jew exists in a vacuum, and when the sun feels like a distant memory, I can remember that I am still “tied into the grid.” In this way, there is always the opportunity for renewal, whether on the vertical or horizontal axis. Finally, If the blackout of 2003 has taught us anything, it’s the power of the community to weather unexpected “power outages.” True, if I had bought a system with battery backup, I would have been sitting pretty in my own home, but that’s not really the Reconstructionist way, is it?

Wishing you all a surge of renewed energy this High Holidays,

For more information on how you too can become a Long Island Solar Pioneer, please go to: http://www.lipower.org/solar/