While browsing the web today, I learned that Southern California Edison will be building a solar panel farm on commercial rooftops. This project is expected to generate 250 megawatts of carbon emission-free and 100% renewable energy. It was only 90 days ago that the largest photovoltaic installation in the US started operating in Nevada; it is 14 megawatts (powering roughly 14,000 homes). Even Pennsylvania – yes Pennsylvania, the coal state - is currently adopting solar electricity systems.

Considering the rapidly dropping costs associated with, and the rapidly increasing adoption of, solar energy, it would be outrageous to suggest solar energy is not a premier long-term solution to addressing our nation’s emissions problem. In addition to protecting our environment, promoting solar energy is politically prudent for Israel. Business and government technological partnerships with Israel - a world leader in developing concentrated solar energy and vertical wind turbines – bolsters the US-Israel alliance.

Although solar energy offers bright possibilities for the future of electricity, like all energy sources, solar is not flawless. Solar energy uses toxic materials, namely silicon, to produce electric currents from the sun’s rays. There is no proverbial silver bullet when it comes to managing the myriad environmental pollutants underscoring our need to be more energy efficient in our day to day lives – from driving less and improving the efficiency of our appliances to taking shorter showers and unplugging ourselves entirely every once an a while.