Why do you support solar power? Is it because you love dolphin babies? It’s because you love dolphin babies, isn’t it?
SunRun, the company behind this ad and a couple of other equally funny ones, is a solar leasing company. They’ll install panels on your house for no money; you just have to commit to buying your electricity from them for a few years. Customers save money (although ultimately not as much as they would if they bought their own solar panels) with no hassle — and literally everybody likes saving money with no hassle.
That means that, as the ads point out, you don’t have to be a treehugging weirdo hippie pickler guy or gal to want solar panels (although that’s fine, too). You just have to be a cheap-ass, like the rest of us.
And treehugging hippie pickler-people should be welcoming those who are indifferent to dolphin babies into the solar club. It doesn’t matter if the solar panels are on Bill McKibben’s roof or Lex Luthor’s; if it’s displacing dirty power, it’s good news for the planet and good news for the renewables industry. Because companies like SunRun attract budget-minded consumers, regardless of green sentiment, they’re getting attention for big investors and raising capital, The New York Times reports:
The investors say they believe the returns, generally 7 to 13 percent, are relatively safe because the solar providers generally sign up only homeowners and businesses with solid credit. In addition, installers say that people tend to pay their electric bills even when facing other financial problems.
So that’s great. If you don’t like dolphin babies and pickling things, get yourself some solar panels. But if you DO like dolphin babies and pickling things, get yourself some solar panels! And then look at this picture of a baby dolphin.
Photo by snowlepard.
You can also look at this picture of a pickle, but it’s not really as inspiring.
Photo by Allan.
