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Cost Trends in the Solar Industry
Lower costs trends in the solar industry are creating a boom. At the end of 2015 there were over 200,000 people employed in the industry,...
May 8, 20162 min read


Solar Power in the Sunshine State
When I first got into solar, Florida seemed to be a natural market. After all, it’s the sunshine state. In spite of the sun, there is one...
Apr 25, 20161 min read


Loans for Financing your Solar Installations
The economics for rooftop solar are terrific — typical paybacks in the 4-10 year range. From a Return on Investment (ROI) standpoint,...
Apr 11, 20161 min read


How to Tell if your Solar Panels Are Working - The Importance of Solar Monitoring
The sun is shining brightly on your rooftop solar system (or the system you hope to have). But how can you tell if those photons falling...
Mar 31, 20162 min read


How Do Solar Companies Find Their Customers
According to a recent GTM/SEIA study, residential solar installation costs in the U.S. were basically unchanged from Q4 2014 to Q4 2015....
Mar 29, 20161 min read


Affordable Solar Panels Made In The U.S.A
Most of my rooftop solar customers express a preference for buying U.S. made solar panels. And they were willing to pay a premium for...
Mar 24, 20161 min read


Electronics Beats Mechanics for Energy Generation and Storage
Our society’s energy generation transition from wood to coal to oil to gas has been steady and obvious. Now we are benefiting from the...
Mar 21, 20161 min read


How Many Solar Panels Do I Need
For a homeowner, determining how many solar panels you need is a simple question. But in order to answer the question accurately, solar...
Mar 17, 20161 min read


Future of the Residential Solar Industry with Paula Mints
The “solar coaster” is not the newest daytime ride at six flags, but a term for the cyclical ups and downs of the solar industry. Like...
Mar 14, 20161 min read


Finding an Experienced and Certified Solar Contractor
Every residential solar contractor’s website talks about their experience, knowledge of rooftop solar products, and happy customers (full...
Mar 10, 20161 min read


Financing Your Commercial Solar Installation
Commercial solar has lagged behind utility scale and residential solar for two reasons. The first is that paybacks for commercial solar...
Feb 22, 20161 min read


Understanding Proposals for Home Solar
Ahhh….it’s almost springtime. The weather is getting warmer, the trees are starting to bud, and people are starting to think about their...
Feb 16, 20162 min read


Solar Incentives in 2016
Over the past few months you may have seen or heard a continuous stream of ads warning about the imminent demise of solar incentives,...
Jan 17, 20161 min read


New Year's Energy Resolutions
If only all our New Year’s Resolution were this easy. Luckily, saving energy is easier than losing weight after gorging over the...
Jan 12, 20162 min read


Equipment for Your Commercial Solar Installation
Whenever I land in a city I can’t help noticing how few — if any — commercial rooftops have solar panels. Historically, there have been...
Jan 4, 20161 min read


PACE Financing for Homes and Businesses with Cisco Devries
A rooftop solar system is an expensive up-front investment. The typical 5 kw system costs about $20,000 – or $14,000 after the 30%...
Nov 16, 20152 min read


Tips for Lower Cost Rooftop Solar Installations
Headline: “Low Cost Rooftop Solar.” What’s not to like? If you’re a homeowner you can save thousands of dollars shopping around for the...
Nov 11, 20151 min read


The Fight for Fair Solar Electric Rates
$0.25/kwh – what a typical California homeowner pays for electricity (based on current PG&E rates at the U.S. average of 12,000 kwh/yr)...
Oct 20, 20152 min read


Solar Installer Business Code
I typed the words “free solar” into Google and got 747,000,000 hits in half a second. We all know that solar systems are not free. But...
Oct 12, 20151 min read


Solar Marketing With Tor Valenza
Solar panels are commodities — not very different than the bottled water you find on a supermarket shelf. Granted some panels are more...
Sep 28, 20151 min read
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