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The Dave Room

Dave Room is the founding board member of Bay Localize and the coordinator of the Local Clean Energy Alliance. He was recently a member of the Oil Independent Oakland task force and is working on a number of projects involving Energy Preparedness and Localization, including educating presidential candidates about peak oil.

How to Save 20% on Going Solar!

Going solar is like purchasing your electricity upfront for the next 20 years with a one-time payment. Yeah, you may save money in the long run, but the upfront payment is no joke. Currently solar photovoltaics cost about $8 per watt (installed), so a four kilowatt system will set you back about $32,000 before state and federal incentives.

Photo credit: Pete Beverly, NREL/DOE

A new model of solar purchasing appears to be coming of age: community solar purchasing programs. Last month, two colleagues in the Local Clean Energy Alliance and I carpooled to a workshop by the Downtown San Jose Solar Project about their experiences setting up a community purchasing program.

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