'We want to make our planet safer': Environmental groups gather in Lehigh County to tout solar energy's benefits

SLATINGTON, Pa. — A sea of brown currently covers the 756-acre Lehigh Gap Nature Center but a symbol of green stands out year-round.

“This is something we really want to put on display,” said Schwartz, looking at the roof of their nature center.

He was highlighting the non-profit’s 65 solar panels.

“Do people ever ask you, do you still get electricity if it’s cloudy?”

“Yeah. So, we do get a lot of questions about how efficient solar panels really are, especially in cloudy days,” he said.

Installed in 2018, they’ve saved the Lehigh County one-time Superfund site $15,000 in energy costs and the environment of 120,000 tons of carbon monoxide pollution. Schwartz says the panels produce energy on cloudy days.

“It really meets 100% of our energy needs, pretty much every day,” he added.

It’s a message PennEnvironment is promoting. The fellow environmental nonprofit is on a solar and green energy tour.

“It makes sense to highlight the financial benefits as well, but at the end of the day, we’re here because we care about the environment. We want to make our planet safer and our climate more livable,” said Madeleine Hepting of PennEnvironment.

“We are living in a time when U.S. oil and gas production reached record levels under the Biden administration and the mantra “drill baby drill,” is a presidential promise from Donald Trump.

This, as energy wholesale auction prices jumped 700% for PJM, America’s largest transmission organization, which includes Pennsylvania.

“There is still a (federal) solar tax credit. Yes,” said Wes Checkeye.

He is the owner of Hellertown-based solar panel installer Evoke. He says it can be 30% of the total cost.

“Solar has continued to grow. We’ve grown 20 or 30% every year for the last 12 years,” he said.

As for Schwartz, going green is a self-sustaining motto.

“That money goes right back into our programs and other initiatives here at the nature center,” he said.