Palmetto Customers Have Generated One Terawatt-Hour of Electricity

Each year for the last half century, we’ve used up more resources than the Earth can naturally replenish. The day when we reach that limit is called Overshoot Day, and this year it landed on July 24. One of the many factors determining when Overshoot Day falls is how many greenhouse gases are emitted, and how much the Earth can sequester. Emit more greenhouse gases and the day can creep forward. Emit fewer and Overshoot Day moves back.

Some of the solutions to overshoot and climate change already exist and are near and dear to Palmetto’s heart. Clean energy — from solar panels and other sources — is key to tackling the carbon emissions that helps drive both problems.

“Reducing the carbon component of humanity’s Ecological Footprint by 50% would move Earth Overshoot Day by 93 days, or more than three months,” according to Global Footprint Network, the organization behind Earth Overshoot Day.

Global Footprint Network also says that “existing off-the-shelf, commercial energy-efficiency technologies for buildings, industrial processes, and electricity production could move Overshoot Day at least 21 days, without any loss in productivity or comfort.” Collective action can help #MoveTheDate.

The Impact of Palmetto's Customers

This summer, Palmetto reached a huge milestone that directly addresses the carbon emission component of overshoot.

Homeowners who have gone solar with Palmetto have generated one terawatt-hour of clean solar energy.
Avoiding one terawatt-hour of electricity from the grid is the equivalent of avoiding just over 740,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. That’s the amount of the carbon dioxide emissions you’d get from nearly 75.6 million gallons of gasoline or the annual energy use of more than 90,000 homes. You can also think of it as the greenhouse gas emissions avoided by recycling 33,915 garbage trucks' worth of waste instead of dumping it in a landfill or the carbon dioxide sequestered by planting 11 million tree seedlings and letting them grow for 10 years.

A terawatt-hour — one billion kilowatt-hours! — of solar energy doesn’t just avoid emissions, it can also do a lot.

It’s enough electricity to power 97,466 average American homes for a year, or drive an electric vehicle around the planet 109,425 times. You could run a 1500-watt space heater for 76,000 years nonstop.

You’d need solar panels covering 687 football fields to generate that electricity in a year, but we did it on rooftops across the country.
If you’re interested in reducing your energy bill and adding your home to those working toward a more sustainable future, estimate your savings from solar panels or other energy improvements today.