By Susan Kraemer •
October 22, 2009
This week The Bogman heads to Phoenix to offer 1 Block off the Grid solar discounts for neighbors who go solar together. And what better city to go to! Phoenix was super hard-hit by the housing crisis. It has had 54% drops in property values, some of the worst in the nation.
So this may not seem like just the perfect time for Phoenix (including including Glendale, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa) to go solar. But, there’s one thing that Phoenix residents should know: Solar raises property values!
By Susan Kraemer •
October 20, 2009
Homeowners in Southern California could now go solar for as little as $10,000 for about a 3.5 KW - 4 KW solar roof.
If you do solar estimates in Berkeley, you start feeling left out that you don’t estimate solar roofs in San Diego. Rebates for our whole state are decided based on optimum solar conditions. That optimal spot? Southern California.
So if you go solar in Berkeley and install the exact same kilowatts-worth of solar panels as someone in San Diego, you won’t get as good a state rebate from your utility. They just have better sun down there, and it’s the standard by which all other sun is judged—at least by the California Solar Initiative’s Expected Performance Ratings.
We’ve made up for that by inventing new ways to lower solar costs—like One Block off the Grid (1BOG)— which aggregates homeowners into groups to reduce solar costs.
But now our own San Francisco-based 1BOG is taking aggregated solar purchasing to sun drenched Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs and Coachella - the very places that already qualify for the best rebates per kilowatt in the state!
By Rebecca Geller •
September 21, 2009
Sonoma County at this point has the largest municipal financing program for solar and energy efficiency, modeled after the Berkeley First program, but run by the city themselves instead of a program administrator. The program allocated $100M and they’ve burned through about $20M of it in a very short period of time, since this is peoples’ favorite flavor of financing for solar.
By Brad Burton •
July 14, 2009
In the United States today, 21% of all carbon emissions come from our homes. Even more startling is that, on average, 40% of all energy consumed in our homes is wasted, but is still paid for every month. Simply bled off into the atmosphere, we lose our heat in the winter and cooling in the summer. Inefficient buildings not only harm our atmosphere because of all the energy required to run them, but also take a hefty chunk of change [...]
By Jeffrey Berlin •
June 5, 2009
Where is the grid going, big or small?
By Ariel Schwartz •
May 15, 2009
The whole thing is happening without flashy ad campaigns, so it’s not surprising if you’ve never heard of municipal solar financing. But the financing program, also known as “property tax” financing, is a veritable underground solar revolution.
1BOG works by grouping customers together into a sort of buying club. Then, after a rigorous selection process, they choose a solar installer who will provide the biggest discount and the best quality. The more people that sign up, the better the discount for anyone buying solar through the program.
If you aren’t familiar with 1 Block Off the Grid, what they do may be best explained by New York Times Magazine:
…in a cultural moment when many individuals aren’t feeling all that rugged, perhaps it makes sense that a company called 1BOG has put collective buying at the center of its business model. The name is derived from the phrase “one block off the grid,” a reference to the goal of rounding up groups of homeowners willing to install solar-power systems on their houses — removing the rough equivalent of one block from a city’s electrical grid.
1 Block Off the Grid, the low-cost solar group-purchasing program, just launched a new campaign in San Diego.
1BOG expects to choose a solar installer around April 18th, and have them evaluting homes by the end of the month. The more people that sign up, the better the discount for anyone buying solar through the program.
If you aren’t familiar with 1 Block Off the [...]
By Natasha Mooney •
February 18, 2009
The largest stimulus package in US history was signed today, and it’s putting a smile on the face of the solar industry. President Obama returned to Denver, where he accepted the Democratic nomination, to sign this landmark legislation–this time in front of solar panels, not neoclassical pillars.
“I don’t want to pretend that today marks the end of our economic problems,” Obama said before signing the bill. “We are laying the groundwork for a green energy economy that can create countless green jobs. We will transform the way we use energy.”
By Reenita Malhotra •
February 11, 2009
The English language has a wonderful way of evolving with major or minor events in the economic, social and political history of man. Following the release of words like “Mompreneur” and “Ecopreneur”, the latest buzzword that is floating around the business and economic sphere is “Obamapreneur.” While it is clear that all “Preneur” roads lead to a noble business mission but what the heck is an Obamapreneur?
By Jennifer Lance •
January 27, 2009
1BOG began building its solar community in San Francisco (as depicted in the takeover of the map above). The original pilot campaign brought in 184 San Francisco residents who signed up for solar discounts from RealGoods, and 42 of them followed through to buy a system—double the normal adoption rate. The latest 1BOG campaign in the Bay Area has already brought in 1,070 sign ups, a 6x increase over the pilot. SolarCity has been selected as the installer for this round.
Definition, 1BOG: a nationwide, community-based program that organizes residents locally and negotiates group discounts with solar installers, using a comprehensive vendor selection process.
