FIVE dollar gasoline! A round-trip to Merizo in my father’s SUV now costs $10. Household power bills cost almost as much as a home mortgage. I think solar energy suddenly just became affordable.

Clean, green, and straight from the sun, solar energy has long been thought too expensive for Guam. Over the past three years, however, oil-driven electricity has been more and more incredibly expensive and the cost of solar panels has become more affordable. 

Medical clinics use a lot of electricity. High-tech computers, sophisticated medical equipment, high-voltage radiology machines all add up to power bills of about $4,000 a month at the American Medical Center. I can only assume the Guam Memorial Hospital is no more energy efficient than my clinic, so I’m guestimating that GMH spends more than $500,000 a year on power.

In 2011, Kaiser Permanente, the largest U.S. nonprofit health management organization, recently moved to offset its own costs as it began the installation of a solar panel system at a California medical center. Based in Oakland, Calif., Kaiser endeavors to generate 10 percent of the energy at its hospitals from solar power.  The recent installations are just the first steps in a major plan the healthcare provider has crafted to both combat rising healthcare costs and decrease its electricity consumption.

U.S. government financial incentive programs have helped stimulate solar power across the United States. Commercial solar energy projects that were started in 2011 are eligible for a renewable energy cash grant worth 30 percent of total project costs. Instead of taking the 30 percent tax credit, your business can instead opt to receive a solar grant from the U.S. Treasury. Unfortunately, many of us probably missed out on this incredibly helpful solar grant program, which was supposed to sunset at the end of 2011. Recently, though, there have been rumors that this federal solar incentive will be extended to 2016.

Most state governments and municipalities including Hawaii, California, and Puerto Rico also offer tax abatements and other incentives that can significantly increase the return on investment for solar energy.  A solar energy system can shield Guam companies from electricity price inflation and price spikes, reduce peak demand surcharges, and generate positive publicity. Depending on a company's energy usage, and on the types of incentives available to businesses, Guam could cut energy costs significantly.

Our senators must enact legislation to spur solar energy and get our island independent from foreign oil. The Guam Legislature must match federal incentives with a renewable energy cash grant worth 30 percent of total solar energy project costs. Unlike GRT abatements for health insurance companies, government subsidies for solar energy will actually help stimulate Guam’s economy. Rather than leaving GMH millions of dollars in debt, solar energy will quite probably reap millions of dollars in savings for the patients who need it.

By simultaneously eliminating the wasteful GRT abatement for local health insurance companies, the Legislature will create an energy resource that will keep jobs on Guam, rather than being outsourced to Manila or New Zealand.