I installed solar panels on my roof in September. I made my decision after my monthly energy bill hit an all-time high, and then exceeded it the next month. But perhaps my most compelling reason to go solar is the least intuitive: I want to help stamp out asthma.

As a hospital-based pediatrician at Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, I treat hundreds of children with asthma each year. In fact, asthma is the most common chronic disease of children, affecting nearly one in 10, and costing Americans an estimated $56 billion annually. During attacks, children gasp for breath and wheeze. An unfortunate handful of kids do not survive. And what might seem to be a case of genetic bad luck is only partly so; our air quality, which is dramatically worsened when fossil fuels are burned, has a profound impact upon asthma as well.