The goal is oil independence. We all know that Julia Roberts has a solar installation on her roof, but what if Joe the Plumber wants to go green too. Lyndon and Pete Rive decided that the residential sector, regulars like you and me, deserved the opportunity to join the green movement! We the people haven”t had easy access to solar instillation in the past but we do now. The two brothers have worked hard at making the entire process as simple and cost effective as possible. Ever since Energy Independence Day, July 4th, 2006, when SolarCity launched, they have helped regular consumers and small commercial areas, go solar by streamlining the process from desire to delivery. Questions about the tax breaks or the changing tariff situation? No worries, SolarCity experts have it all covered, from financing, design, instillation and monitoring, they do it all for you!
The company itself definitely gets personal kudos and an endorsement from me. It takes vision to perceive that the media landscape is changing and any member of the bloggosphere can attest to the difficulty in getting access to targets. But with a decidedly open door policy, Jonathan Bass, Director of Communications at Solar City spent a full fifteen minutes or more with me (new blood in the San Francisco area, blogger extraordinaire) answering my questions and explaining to me how SolarCity went from birth to the number one solar energy procurement company in the state of California in a year!
I needed to know how the company was organizing the community around solar energy. Great ideas need to be shared and as I’ve mentioned before, a cohesive team moves a project along quickly. Community organizing began with their aptly named “community program,” where geographic groups came together to Go Solar, obviously lowering costs with some collective leveraging. Mountain View went first and now Marin County has a group contract with SolarCity. The original concept of geographic community involvement evolved and now CitySolar partnered with the nonprofit, community advocacy group 1BOG (1 block off the grid), who will reach out to more residential communities pushing a move towards renewable energy.
Can I go solar? Yup! SolarCity has introduced some fantastic options to make solar energy more accessible to everyone. With different financing, their most recent addition is a solar lease program. So like your sweet Red Civic, you can lease your solar panel instillation and save money on your monthly energy bill at the same time- no giant up front costs involved at all.
Looking for energy on the cheap? There’s a new gizmo that allows solar homes to monitor energy production and usage through graphs on the internet! Right on your computer you can determine if you’re using lots of power at 3pm or 6 or whenever. After figuring out why, maybe you can reduce your draw a little with some life changes. The visual indicator enables recognition and change of energy usage habits, lowering costs even more!
Sales people, we all know, are on the front lines of any business’ development and growth (even if you have a great product, if no one buys it, no profit). Daniel Bacon, a sales manager with three years experience, took some time to speak to me about the sales process. He knows what’s up, if you have questions, definitely ask him. He gets my vote: 888 765 2489 (ask for Dan, tell him the blogger sent you).
Got some time on your hands? Join the SolarCity! Serious guys, the company’s coming to your state this year (well, 10 more states in addition to CA, AZ and the Portland area). Look them up. They’ve got renewable energy down. And you can get a solar system up whenever you want. Just call and find out how.
