The June 8 "Putting conservation first" front page story put a nice spotlight on responsible ways residents can diminish wasteful energy use, but fell short of showing what solar can do to better meet our energy and environmental needs. So let's move the conversation past conservation and discuss the power of the sun.

As a solar-equipped homeowner celebrating a year's worth of solar-powered living, it's been exciting to work through the process from high hopes to better results than anticipated with a system that produces nearly 85 percent of our annual electrical use. This amounts to 10 percent more than estimated at the time of installation.

With a payoff date to hit around the seventh year, and a locked-in rate, we stand not only to produce 20 more years of clean, basically free power, but can expect to save -- are you ready? -- more than $50,000 in fees we would have paid to SDG&E all those years! Talk about a safe and creative new retirement plan, not to mention value added to a home proven to deliver a quicker sale closer to the asking price if a move is planned.

These are the real financial solar facts. For some reason, they don't get discussed much in the press but are often replaced by comments about how expensive up-front costs are. Truth is, hefty incentives and new financing are being offered, bringing the price down like never before.

We're in a paradigm shift and we can't see it and we don't believe it, much like when the combustion engine rolled into town and reshaped our culture from a time of horses to automobiles. It's funny how the speed of a car was and continues to be measured with language referring to horse power. We've gone plenty far and fast since, dependent on fuel that impacts our atmosphere. The sweet twist to the solar shift is that this clean and abundant energy source improves conditions here right now and will power our cars in the near future.Â

Solar energy is financially wise and environmentally responsible. It helps our economy and provides jobs. The installers of our panels were unemployed roofers the year before, with decades of experience, which was admittedly reassuring with all the banging and sawing going on.

New legislation, if approved locally and nationally, will allow solar owners to purchase even bigger systems to offer clean energy to other users for a fee with feed-in tariff agreements, something that is taking shape in the states of Florida and Vermont, based on successful systems proven in Germany, Spain and France.

Legislation is on the floor of the House and should move through Congress by the end of June, asking for increased renewable energy standards, more support of solar and wind, and measures to hold polluters accountable. It's an important time to contact our representatives to let them know how we feel.

Solar is power, along with our voices. Let's keep the conversation going.

MARY OREN lives in Carlsbad.