In the crowded market of renewable energy suppliers and ideas, SolarCity may have found their Jubbling niche with a product that is as brilliant as it is simple. All you have to do is visit SolarCity.com and enter some data into their SolarCalculator – average electric bill, your address, roof description and local utility company – and they’ll kick out information on how much you could save by installing solar panels. The genius of their product is that they give you the option of buying the panels or more importantly, leasing them from SolarCity. Your lease payments go to SolarCity for renewable energy instead of the utility company. And believe it or not, the utility companies want it this way. They have a limited amount of kilowatt hours to distribute so they encourage their customers to consume less.

Having the SolarCity panels operational will not completely take you off the grid. If you have a stretch where you need more electricity than your panels are generating, your local utility will seamlessly cover the difference. And the reverse is also true; you can get energy credits for the excess electricity you send back to the grid. It’s called “net metering” and you must get permission from your local utility and SolarCity before it’s active. Basically, your meter will spin backwards when you are generating more than you are consuming.

Residents and businesses in California, Arizona, Texas and other sunny states – please give SolarCity’s SolarCalculator a shot. You are blessed with sunlight – why not absorb some of it.