Pod Insights Short Wave Set up solar, or save a tree? It’s complicated About this episode To solar or not to solar? That is the question for this latest episode of our monthly series Nature Quest. For listener Darcey Hughes, installing solar panels isn’t just about keeping her utilities free of fossil fuels – it’s also a way to become fully self-reliant and save some money each month. But there’s a catch: She might have to chop down a large, shading cedar tree. Today, we investigate: When is solar worth it? And is it worth the price of an old, majestic tree?
Do YOU have a question you have about your local environment? Send us a voice memo telling us your name, where you live, and your dilemma… we may make it the next Nature Quest. We’re reachable at [email protected] mailto:[email protected] .
Want to learn more about easy-to-install solar? Check out NPR climate correspondent Jeff Brady’s reporting on plug-in solar panels https://www.npr.org/2026/03/12/nx-s1-5737287/solar-panels-utilities-energy-saving.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 This message comes from Doppel. Social engineering attacks come in disguise, but Doppel sees through them. The Agentic platform shuts down threats, turns employees into first-line defenders, and more. Learn more at D-O-P-P-E-L dot com.
0:16 Emily Kwong? You're listening to Short Wave from NPR.
0:21 Speaker 02 Happy spring, short wavers. I'm producer Hannah Chin, and my Nature Quest buddy Emily Kwong is also here.
0:27 Emily Kwong? Hi, Hannah.
0:28 Speaker 02 With a story about an age-old question for homeowners. Namely, should I cut down that big tree in my front yard?
0:36 Emily Kwong? Yeah, to chainsaw.
0:39 Emily Kwong? Or not to chainsaw? That is the question. Darcy Hughes lives a few miles north of Seattle, Washington, and has got this big, towering cedar tree that grows right next to her house.
0:50 Speaker 03 And right now, we've got a few birds up there and a few crows, of course.
0:59 Speaker 03 It's generally pretty peaceful here.
1:02 Emily Kwong? Cedars are evergreens, so all year long, this tree casts a long, dappled shadow over her front yard.
1:11 Speaker 03 Really, no direct sunlight comes through these branches at all.
1:16 Emily Kwong? And Darcy wants to know, should she keep the tree or cut it down to install solar panels on her roof?
1:24 Speaker 02 OK, so really, the question should be to solar or not to solar?
1:28 Emily Kwong? Yes. Now, there are nearly 6 million solar energy installations in the US alone. And when it comes to home solar, a lot of people make the switch because most public utilities rely on fossil fuels.
1:40 Speaker 02 Like coal, like natural gas.
1:42 Emily Kwong? Yeah, but Darcy is in this really unique situation because in Homish County, most of its energy comes from hydro-powered dams. So 90% of her energy is already carbon-free.
1:52 Speaker 02 Got it. Wait, so then what's the point of installing solar?
1:56 Emily Kwong? She wants to be self-reliant, and it wouldn't hurt to lower her electric bills by making her own energy. But at what cost? And is it worth the life of a tree? So today on the show, when to make way for solar? We get into the nitty-gritty.
2:11 Speaker 02 Of how solar works and how to choose a solar system that's right for you. I'm Hannah Shen.
2:17 Emily Kwong? And I'm Emily Kwong.
2:18 Speaker 02 And you're listening to Short Wave, the science podcast from NPR.
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3:52 Speaker 02 OK, Emily, so today we are focusing on a solar crisis. This is Nature Quest, our series answering environmental questions from listeners like you. Whoop, whoop. And I guess we got to start with solar panels themselves. I got to be honest, because I'm a renter, I'm like, not totally sure how these work. I do know I think they're kind of ugly. Like, when I pass them, they look like giant flat-screen TVs that are, like, stuck to the roof.
4:19 Emily Kwong? Fair, but Hannah, I'm going to change your mind. Because solar panels are actually glorious. They are the end result of humankind's enduring ambition to harness the power of the sun.
4:28 Speaker 05 Turning sunlight into electricity. Scientists of the Bell Laboratories at Murray Hill, New Jersey demonstrate a solar battery which converts light into power.
4:36 Emily Kwong? These scientists at Bell Labs back in the 1950s used the photovoltaic effect.
4:42 Speaker 06 Photo as in light, photo and then voltaic, voltage, electricity.
4:47 Emily Kwong? This is Jenny Heinzen, master electrician and the curriculum director at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association. And she went full teacher mode in explaining to me how this photovoltaic effect turns the energy of the sun into an electric current. So first, you need a material. And it was Bell Laboratories in New Jersey that figured out you could use strips of silicon, the same stuff found in sand.
5:09 Speaker 05 Principal ingredients of ordinary beach sand. Enough light from a lamp to power this toy Ferris wheel. Lights on, she works. Lights off, the motor stops.
5:19 Emily Kwong? Silicon ended up being such an efficient and scalable material that it is what modern solar panels are made out of.
5:26 Speaker 06 They're very much like computer chips. They are silicon-based semiconductors.
5:31 Emily Kwong? So basically, the solar panel has a positive side and a negative side. It's designed that way. And the positive side is what absorbs the sunlight. The sun's energy travels as photons. Those photons, when they hit the solar panel, they knock electrons free. So then there's all these free electrons, which then travel through the solar panel to the negative side. And the flow of electrons, as we know, is electricity. And this process is happening across hundreds of cells on any given solar installation.
5:59 Speaker 06 And now those electrons are being used to light your house and do your laundry and make toast and do everything else.
6:06 Emily Kwong? Of course, you need a device to accept these electrons. A lot of people use solar inverters. These are magic boxes that convert that direct current into an alternate current. So if you need more electricity, it pulls from the utility. If you make extra electricity, that will actually flow back onto the grid to power your neighbors' homes and businesses. But if the power goes out, lights out. Wait, so...
6:33 Speaker 02 Solar doesn't work during a power outage?
6:36 Emily Kwong? No, because the inverter recognizes something is wrong with the grid and shuts down. So Jenny has seen a lot of people add batteries to their systems as a backup power source. So that would allow you to truly live off the grid.
6:48 Speaker 02 Oh, OK, so now I understand how solar panels work. Maybe I appreciate them a little bit more than I did before.
6:55 Emily Kwong? Yay.
6:55 Speaker 02 But Emily, I still want to know the answer to Darcy's question. Like, should she cut down the tree to make way for solar panels?
7:03 Emily Kwong? OK, so for this, I wanted to cast a wide net. I talked to five people in different parts of the country who are all connected to the solar industry. The five include a journalist, a policy person, a trade person, a master electrician, and someone at Darcy's local public utility.
7:18 Speaker 02 What'd they say?
7:19 Emily Kwong? Asked them all the question, and I expected them to say, you know, "Break out the chainsaws. Solar forever." But instead, I got this.
7:27 Speaker 05 I would not make that as the first move, for sure. If a tree is shading their home, it's doing a really good thing for them.
7:33 Speaker 06 I wouldn't cut down a tree that I loved in my yard to do solar. Maybe this isn't the right answer as a solar advocate.
7:41 Speaker 02 Wait, OK, this does surprise me that all of them are so pro-tree.
7:45 Emily Kwong? Yeah, many of them talked about how trees sequester carbon from the atmosphere, which Darcy well knows. But this point about sequestration is interesting to me because, pound for pound, solar panels are significantly more efficient than trees at offsetting carbon.
7:58 Speaker 02 Mm-hmm.
7:59 Emily Kwong? And yet, everybody begged Darcy, "Unless this tree is sick and rotting and a hazard to your home someday, do not cut it down."
8:06 Speaker 02 Yeah, I gotta say, this feels like more of an emotional argument rather than a logical argument. It just doesn't really totally make sense. Did they explain why?
8:16 Emily Kwong? Yeah, it is a logical argument.
8:17 Speaker 02 Got it.
8:18 Emily Kwong? Yeah, I'll let John Farrell at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance speak his piece.
8:22 Speaker 07 Having a tree is amazing, and especially if it shades your house, and especially if you have, you know, high-energy bills in summer months.
8:28 Emily Kwong? Trees provide natural cooling, and a sustainable house isn't just about whether you have all the gizmos and the solar panels and the electric car and the heat pump, whatever. It's also about, like, your home's natural environment and how much energy it uses. And a home with more shade is going to use a lot less AC and have to, you know, tap the local utility less.
8:52 Speaker 02 I mean, I'm from Oregon, and my parents and the folks I grew up with have been experiencing really unprecedented heat waves for the past couple of summers. Plus, a lot of homes in the area, including mine. Are older and so they don't have AC. So the shade that the trees provide is really invaluable.
9:09 Emily Kwong? Yeah, the Pacific Northwest is historically very cool, but it is getting hotter. And I was reminded of this while talking to Suzie Oversvy, who runs solar programs at Darcy's local public utilities, Snohomish County PUD. We're getting more extreme and more frequent heat events. And so we are at the utility seeing more and more customers installing air conditioning.
9:30 Speaker 02 OK, so because of the shade, don't cut down the tree. End of episode?
9:36 Emily Kwong? Don't cut down the tree, but not end of episode. There are other pathways for Darcy to explore solar. I've come up with a three-step plan. Do you want to hear it?
9:43 Speaker 02 Yes, I love a three-step plan. What's step one?
9:46 Emily Kwong? Call up a solar installer and have them come to your house. Maybe the shade isn't as significant as Darcy assumes. Solar panels can work in cloudy weather. Also, there are places besides her roof where she can put panels. There are ground-mounted systems, pole-mounted systems, even plug-in solar panels.
10:06 Speaker 05 And so you can put them on a balcony, you can put them in your backyard. You can hang them from a porch or something like that.
10:13 Emily Kwong? This is Kevin Lucas. He works for the Solar Energy Industries Association, like the big trade group that represents the solar industry.
10:20 Speaker 05 The installers can come to their house and look at the trees and determine exactly how much sunlight they get through the year. And then with that information, along with the quotes of a couple of different reputable installers, she can make a decision as to whether this makes sense.
10:34 Speaker 02 I didn't even realize this was something that you could do. Basically, like phone a trustworthy expert.
10:39 Emily Kwong? Yes, trustworthy is important because NPR'S Jeff Brady, who has been covering the solar industry for years now, says there are some high-pressure sales tactics out there.
10:48 Speaker 02 OK.
10:48 Emily Kwong? So Jeff suggests finding a local solar installer who's been doing this for a long time. He likes this website called The Amicus Solar Cooperative for finding that trustworthy local person.
10:59 Speaker 02 Got it. So step one, get an expert. Call a reputable solar installer. What's step two?
11:05 Emily Kwong? OK, if your property is a good candidate for solar, break out your calculator because solar installation ain't cheap. If you're spending $20,000.
11:13 Speaker 06 Up front to put solar panels on your house. You got to sit down and do some figuring. Is this going to save me money over the long run?
11:21 Emily Kwong? Jeff says read those contracts carefully before committing to that solar installer.
11:26 Speaker 06 It's like a long term relationship. It's going to last for 20 or 30 years, hopefully. I heard one person say that most solar panel relationships last longer than most marriages.
11:38 Speaker 02 Falconer's thing to say.
11:40 Emily Kwong? I know.
11:41 Speaker 06 So you really want to choose closely who that person is.
11:45 Emily Kwong? And also, check if your area has incentives. So state or local policies that allow you to lower the installation costs or even to offset your energy bill. Like, if you produce energy for the grid, you might get a discount on your electric bill.
11:58 Speaker 06 Once you build it, it's there. It's sitting there. You've spent the $20,000 and now the fuel is free and you're generating electricity for free.
12:07 Speaker 02 Right. Free is a great price.
12:08 Emily Kwong? True.
12:08 Speaker 02 But Emily, I remember hearing that the Trump administration and the big, beautiful bill recently gutted the biggest financial incentives for renewables. That was the 30% federal tax credit on new solar installations.
12:21 Emily Kwong? Yeah, that cut was made at the federal level and the growth of the solar industry did slow down last year.
12:26 Speaker 02 Yeah.
12:27 Emily Kwong? And yet, solar still produced 7% of US energy last year. That was unthinkable to Jeff 20 years ago. So he told me, even with these cuts, he thinks solar is here to stay.
12:38 Speaker 02 So basically, we'll see what happens with the solar industry in the future.
12:42 Emily Kwong? Indeed.
12:42 Speaker 02 But Emily, you said this was a three step program. What's your third step for Darcy?
12:47 Emily Kwong? Darcy, third step? And this is especially if your installer is like, actually, there's no place for you to put solar. Check out community solar. Basically, any shared solar projects. These are where a group of people finance the installation of solar panels in another place. It's good for people who rent or people with trees. Jenny, the electrician, put it this way.
13:08 Speaker 06 So there's a plot of land and you go in together and you all garden together. You can do that with solar, solar gardens.
13:12 Emily Kwong? So even if the sun isn't shining directly on your house, it is always shining somewhere.
13:17 Speaker 02 I love a community solution. Emily Kwong.
13:20 Emily Kwong? Yeah.
13:20 Speaker 02 Thank you so much for bringing us this story.
13:22 Emily Kwong? Hannah Chen, you're very welcome.
13:24 Speaker 02 Short waivers. If you liked this episode, check out Jeff Brady's recent reporting on plug in solar panels. We'll link it in our show notes.
13:31 Emily Kwong? And be like Darcy. Send us whatever question you have about your local environment. Just record a voice memo with your question and we'll go on a quest. Email it to [email protected] .
13:42 Speaker 02 This episode was produced by me, Hannah Chin, and edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones talked the facts. Sam Paulson wrote the Nature Quest theme music. The audio engineer was Robert Rodriguez. I'm Hannah Chin.
13:56 Emily Kwong? I'm Emily Kwong. Thanks for listening to Short Wave from NPR.
14:05 Speaker 04 Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors.
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