Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
As the blizzard batters almost a third of the country, solar energy may not be the first thing on people’s mind. Our customers who install solar energy system in the Midwest are best staying out of harm’s way as the sun is not going to be casting its rays on solar panels in the US today. That is one of the oddities about solar energy: you need the sun to produce electricity. And when it is safe to go outside, probably the homeowners with solar panels on their roofs will be trying to sweep (please don’t shovel) the snow off their solar panels for two very good reasons. As you start digging out from the big storm, start thinking about design your solar energy systems for the spring.
Tags: battery backups, Chinese Solar Panels, home solar panels, home solar power, home solar power system, photovoltaic systems, Solar Energy System, solar panels, Solar Panels and Snow, Solar Panels Made in the US, solar power system
Posted in Solar Home Panels | Comments Off
Friday, December 17th, 2010
These are some of the highlights of the year gone by and an outlook of things to come for 2011. The solar industry has waited to find out what would be the fate of the Treasury Grant program. If you haven’t tuned in for this debate, this development is very good news for the renewable energy industry. The solar industry had another stellar growth year. A recent report predicted that the industry will grow as much as 22% in 2010, when all of the numbers (modules) have been counted. The one gnawing issue is that the solar industry is quickly becoming a Chinese industry, as even today the Chinese own 66% of world production. It was a better year to put home solar panels on your roof than investing in solar stocks. Morningstar says that solar investors “could be in for a rude awakening come 2011.” The biggest change in the industry came with the micro-inverter. Sure, solar panel efficiencies improved, which means more output for the buck, and the price of PV came down, but the biggest change in the industry came with the industry acceptance for residential PV installation of the micro-inverter. Enphase is no doubt the market leader, but there are many, many wanabees and the competition for micro-inverters will heat up in 2011. The other major shift we saw in the industry is that regardless of whether the homeowner gets a micro-inverter, the homeowner almost invariably wants to get monitoring of the solar energy system.
Tags: Discount Solar Panels, Financing Solar Energy Systems, grant program, home solar panels, pace programs, renewable energy industry, solar energy, Solar Energy Systems, solar industry, solar installations, Solar Leasing, Solar Loan Program, Treasury Grant Program
Posted in Solar Home Panels, Solar Policy & Incentives, SolarTown Current Affairs | Comments Off
Thursday, November 11th, 2010
I take no pride in writing this blog post about discount solar panels because no matter how hard we try to persuade our customers to look past cost, by and large, they are not convinced. In the last several months, the single most important criterion for our customers in purchasing home solar panels is price. There are numerous ways to differentiate solar modules. We have even introduced a solar panel comparison to alert you to significant differences in the panels that we sell. Of course, the essential difference is expected output, and you will want to look at efficiency and the PTC rating (PVUsa Test Conditions) to come up with an estimate of what your solar panels will produce over the life of the panels. There are other parameters that you may want to consider, such as size and weight. Aesthetics, that is the look of the panels, is no small matter if you live in a trendy area and your southern facing roof is visible from the street. But as we have been looking at the results from the past several months, we have noticed one unmistakable trend: our customers love low cost panels.
Tags: Canadian Solar solar panels, Conergy Solar Panels, Discount Solar Modules, Discount Solar Panels, home solar panels, Low Cost Solar Panels, Sanyo Solar Panels, solar industry, solar modules, solar panel, Solar Panel Manufacturer
Posted in Solar Home Panels | 2 Comments »
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
You are a plumber, an electrician or possibly a roofer and you increasingly hear from your customers that they are in the market to install a solar energy system to reduce their energy costs. We understand that you want to serve this rapidly expanding solar market, and there is no reason that you shouldn’t. Some of our most loyal customers are contractors who are making the transition to solar energy installations. If you are a quality contractor, you already have many of the requisite skills that are easily transferable to installing solar energy systems. We want to be able to continue to reach out to contractors who are just getting into the field. SolarTown has become a featured solar and green energy resource for plumbers, roofers and electrical contractors.
Tags: green energy, home solar panels, nabcep, solar electric systems, solar energy installations, Solar Energy Products, Solar Energy System, Solar Energy Systems, solar living, solar pv, Solar Water Heater
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Thursday, October 14th, 2010
The choices for home solar panels are dizzying. If you are an installer or a DIYer, you may simply look at the price. And many of our customers are only interested in the bottom line: what is the lowest cost per watt? But there are some other critical specs that may affect your decision of which panel to purchase. We want to make your decision easier and are offering a new feature on SolarTown: Solar Module Comparison.
Tags: compare solar panels, Discount Solar Panels, DIY Solar Installation, home solar panels, nameplate, panel description, panel wattage, PTC rating, solar module comparison, solar modules, solar panel comparison, solar panel efficiency
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Tuesday, October 5th, 2010
This past weekend, homeowners opened their solar homes to those wanting to catch a glimpse of the future of home energy. We hope that you were able to attend one of the 648 tours throughout the country. I took my kids to visit some of the solar homes in Washington, DC and Virginia and enjoyed the display of solar electric, solar thermal and even passive solar. My kids especially enjoyed the solar cookies from the solar ovens. The solar home tour showed just how far solar applications have come and how new technology is reshaping the world around us. We only hope that next year we will see more innovations and more homes on the solar home tours, and we hope that we’ll get an invite to the White House to see Obama’s new solar energy system.
Tags: home solar panels, passive solar home, Solar Energy Systems, solar home tour, Solar Home Tours, solar ovens, solar panels, solar thermal, Solar Water Heater
Posted in Solar Energy Products, Solar Events, Solar Home Panels, Solar Policy & Incentives | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 1st, 2010
You live in your desert home and just spent $30,000 for a solar energy system—when all of a sudden a dust storm comes up and layers your panels with a layer of dust, reducing the electricity output by 40%. You are not very happy and are wondering why you wasted your money. Oh, and I forgot to tell you that there is a drought and water is being rationed. Now you are really peeved. Do you simply wait for the next rain—which could be next year. Not to fear, help is on the way. Researchers at Boston University have innovated a solution based on electrodynamic screen (EDS) technology. Using this technology, you can get rid of 95% of the dust within two minutes.
Tags: Cleaning Solar Panels, dust layer, home solar panels, New Solar Products, Solar Energy System
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Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
Look at this ger from Mongolia. It’s about 18 feet in diameter and about 8 ½ feet high at its apex. And it has precisely one more solar panel than the White House. You probably have seen the latest news stories about how President Obama has so far politely declined to restore solar to the White House. The nomads living in gers in Mongolia may be able to teach the President a thing or two about solar energy. Now I know that Obama has not taken to this idea very well—but here’s a new idea. Why not set up a ger on the White House grounds right next to Michelle’s organic garden? SolarTown will donate a solar panel to place on top of the ger. That way, the White House will have at least as many solar panels as the nomads living on the steppe of Mongolia.
Tags: home solar panel, home solar panels, Solar Energy Products, Solar Oven, Solar Portable Charger, Solar Refrigerator, watt panel, White House solar panels
Posted in Solar Around the World, Solar Energy Products, Solar Policy & Incentives | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
We have had increased interest from those wanting to manage their solar installations. Some of those who have contacted SolarTown are handy around the house and fashion themselves as DIY solar installer. Some are simply taking an active role in managing their solar installations. They are not the type to get on a roof, but they are ready to hire a roofer and electrician. And then there are plumbers or electricians who are making the transition to the solar installation business and need our assistance. All of these folks are people who now make up the SolarTown community. They are interested in working with SolarTown to choose solar energy systems. If you fall within one of these categories, we can help you, too. We have a lot of online resources to assist you. We also have technical customer assistance to guide you through the process of installing your own solar energy system. In this blog entry, we want to demystify the process of how SolarTown can help you succeed with your solar energy project.
Tags: Discount Solar Panels, DIY Solar Installation, home solar panel, home solar panels, Installing Solar Panels, Solar Energy Products, solar energy project, Solar Energy System, Solar Energy Systems, solar installations, Solar Loan Program, solar module
Posted in Solar Home Panels, SolarTown Current Affairs | Comments Off
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Ever since we created the SolarTown community, our customers have complained that the financial burden of going solar was simply too great for them to embark on the journey. Starting today, we are offering our customers some relief: a solar loan program with one year of no payments and no interest. If you are a DIYer, you now have this solar loan program as an option so that you have time to receive your economic incentives and you don’t have to go out and get a home loan or put the entire purchase on your credit card. If you are an installer who has in the past had to advance the cost of the equipment for your customers, you can now have your customer place an order for a solar energy system with SolarTown. You will of course still do the installation—but without having to come out of pocket for the solar energy equipment.
Tags: DIY Solar Installation, economic incentives, home solar panels, solar energy equipment, Solar Energy Products, Solar Energy System, Solar Energy Systems, Solar Financing, Solar Loan Program, Solar Water Pump Systems
Posted in Solar Financing, SolarTown Current Affairs | Comments Off
