April 2008

Yesterday Solar Santa Monica announced the Preferred Providers selected to support the City-sponsored program, now in its second year. Preferred Providers install solar photovoltaic (electricity) and solar thermal (hot water) systems for homes and businesses at agreed-upon, fixed prices. HelioPower was selected to provide residential installations along with three other firms.

“We’re very pleased to be selected for this program,” said Steve LoRusso, VP of Sales for HelioPower. “Santa Monica is taking the risk out of going solar by pre qualifying each solar energy installation company.”

Firms were selected based on experience, prices for a fixed-price system, responsiveness, reputation and demonstrated interest in the program. The price they will offer for a small solar system is approximately $540 to $1,200 less than last year as a result of this competition.

“We want to increase solar activity throughout the City by offering a free Solar Service to residents,” said Susan Munves, who heads up Solar Santa Monica for the City. “The Service includes a site visit by a staffer to discuss energy usage and solar potential, before the referral to the Preferred Provider is made.”
Solar Santa Monica’s kickoff was in January, 2007. Since then hundreds of people have become aware of solar through meetings, advertising, and community outreach. And the amount of solar capacity in the City has doubled. The long-term goal of the program is to help move Santa Monica to energy self-sustainability by 2020.

The sun is shining bright! The best time to reap the highest returns on a solar electricity system is upon us! You can add a streamlined analysis to your solar panel system research with our "Solar Power System Advantages Disadvantages" document. Download it today for a comparative analysis to help you make the best decision for your home or business.

StreetInsider.com – Hebrew Academy Partners with SharpUSA and HelioPower…
Sharp Electronics Corporation's Solar Energy Solutions Group, based near the school in Huntington Beach, and HelioPower worked together with the Hebrew Academy on the solar energy aspect of the school's Go Green program. A portion of the Karp Federation Challenge Grant and a generous private donation made the solar panels possible. The panels are situated on south facing roofs with over 98% efficiency. The Academy system includes 189 Sharp 167 watt photovoltaic panels and covers 8000 square feet at a cost of over $200,000. SMA inverters and a Web Box monitoring system are included, allowing online review of the system performance. The electricity generated returns to the main electric grid on the building. The system generated energy offsets the peak load electricity costs of the Academy. The solar electricity system emphasizes to the children and community the Go Green concept being taught in the science classrooms at the Academy.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology President, Susan Hockfield, was featured in today's Boston Globe in an article entitled "MIT's burgeoning role in the green movement." Dr. Hockfield, a noted neuroscientist, whose research has focused on the development of the brain, is the first life scientist to lead MIT. Her review of the potent call of clean energy and the environment was inspiring.

The intertwined crises of energy and environment form the defining challenge of this generation. As a nation, we need to see this challenge not through the dreary, gray lens of impending diminishment and compromise, but, rather, illuminated by the powerful beacon of American ingenuity. If we unleash the same engine of innovation that powered the computer and biotech revolutions, energy and its environmental consequences could become a driving force for economic growth and a unifying national inspiration – an Apollo project for our time.

We need to help more young people see these problems as theirs, and to feel in these great challenges the kind of inspiration my generation experienced in the race to the moon – the kind of inspiration that made science and engineering feel exciting and important, that made us believe that the sky was no longer the limit; the kind of inspiration that will spur young people today to reach for the sun.

For the complete article, see MIT's burgeoning role in the green movement.

This message is brought to you by the group Environment California, an environmental advocacy organization.
Please consider filling out this questionnaire about Solar PV which is being requested by Environment California. California legislature may add more renewable energy incentives if huge numbers of Californians fill this survey out demonstrating the high value they place on solar and renewable energy. Here is the questionnaire:

http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/energy/solar-survey?id4=ES

The survey is pretty quick and painless. It asks general questions about how you feel about solar power and what types of things might make you more or less likely to put PV on your home.

For more information on Environment California and their energy initiative, you can check them out online at: http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/energy/fact-sheet.

See you in the field!