What Does Green Mean on the Border?

In the American society today and in many societies around the world many people are concerned with their carbon footprint. Everyone wants to live more “green” and have that conform to their lifestyle. This has brought on the upward trend in sales on Prius’, solar systems and energy efficient lightbulbs.

Here in the Arizona border region many people are going green. They are purchasing solar systems, solar powered water pumps and solar water heating systems. But unlike many places in the world many of those going green are not doing it so they can reduce their carbon footprint, they are doing it because if they don’t they won’t have electricity, water or hot water.

My personal experience with solar power is that my father-in-law is a solar installer and has been living on solar alone since the late 80′s. My father-in-law lives and works near the Douglas/ Agua Prieta portion of the border and has been doing solar jobs across the border. For the most part when he does jobs over the border it is for large scale ranches that can afford the cost of solar.

But the main reason or use of the solar is to pump water. It has been said in solar circles that the most efficient form of solar will always be found in water, whether that be pumping or water heating. For the use of the ranches they have begun putting in solar powered well pumps because that makes it possible for them to provide water to their livestock in locations where it would not have been possible to do that before.

In locations on this border often it is required to go down as far as 700 feet to reach water in remote areas where their is no electricity available to even make it possible to consider pumping from the grid.

Now in larger scale ranches many are beginning to provide reliable power to their homes as well as hot water. This has become possible by the lowered cost of solar and the with that the easier access to solar products.

It seems that the demand for solar is being driven by people guilty consciences all around the world. However at the Arizona-Mexico border the demand for solar often relies on that fact that if they don’t use solar then they will begin to loss livestock.

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