Strong winds this past week knocked out power for those who forgot the hours of darkness and rotting food many endured with Hurricane Nicholas in September. Kelly Hopkins found a solution.
The Manvel residents and her family had Sunrun solar panels installed on their roof recently, which connect to a Brightbox battery in the garage. During the hurricane, her kids with their electronic devices didn't even know the power had gone out.
"Not only is it dramatically reducing our electric bill, it's feeding into a battery that's in the garage -- the battery is about the size of a suitcase -- and when the power goes out it's just a blip, the clocks flash, but that's it. Everything is back running normally," she tells KTRH News.
It's a sign of the times in Texas. The Lone Star State is ranked second in the nation for solar installations in 2020 and this year has had more solar installations than the next three states combined. Over the next 25 years Texas will employ three times as many workers in clean energy technologies as in the oil and gas business.
photo: Getty Images