Monday, August 1st, 2011
SolarTown has moved to its new offices in Washington, D.C. and we will be celebrating with an open house on August 10, 2011. We are very pleased that SolarTown is now part of historic Columbia Heights community. This gentrifying area is a testament to urban renewal. If you lived in Washington, D.C. ten years ago, Columbia Heights is not one of the areas that would spring to mind if you wanted to go shopping. Many would not even hazard to walk in Columbia Heights. That has now all changed for the better. We hope that you will be able to join us for our open house. Weather permitting, we may be baking some cookies in our solar oven and open our doors to those who want to see our new abode.
Tags: columbia heights community, hubzone, Solar Energy Products, Solar Oven, solar panels, solar powered lights, solar street
Posted in SolarTown Current Affairs | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
If you have a home with solar panels and next door you have a home without solar panels, you would expect that there should be a premium for the home with solar panels. So you have just sunk $20,000 for your solar panel system—and you will get some of that back from incentives, but will you be able to recoup any of your out of pocket cost if you move in a year. If the useful life of the solar energy on the home is 25 years, and we use a discount rate of 5% per year, then the economic value of the solar panel system you have on your home is $11,000. All things being equal, and assuming that the market is rational, a purchaser of your home should pay an additional $11,000 over what the house next door is selling for without solar panels on the roof. You would expect that you would recoup at least the present value of the energy savings over the next 25 years if you go sell your home. There is scant evidence out there and we at SolarTown wanted to see if this assumption was correct. Accordingly, we are now completing a study to see whether homeowners do indeed receive a premium for the “solar savings” of having a solar energy system on the home. We are about to release the results of a study on this issue. Stay tuned to the SolarTown Learning Center to see the results.
Tags: energy savings, home solar panels, Solar Energy System, solar panel system, solar panels, solar panels for home, solar premium, solar savings
Posted in Solar Financing, Solar Home Panels, Solar Policy & Incentives | 2 Comments »
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
Last week, I took my kids to watch the shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The launch was supposed to be the final launch of Endeavour and the second to last launch of the shuttle before the fleet is retired this summer. Mindful of the vagaries of the weather and the unpredictability of technical problems, we waited until the last minute to make our non-refundable reservations. We may not have seen the shuttle launch, but we did see some pretty impressive displays of how NASA is using solar energy here on EarthWe did not hide our disappointment at not seeing the Shuttle blast off into the cosmos. By all accounts, that is a remarkable experience for those who have had the privilege of watching men and women reach for the stars. We may have to settle for the next generation of space shuttles. We were pleased, however, to see how NASA is utilizing the rays of the sun not only in the cosmos, but here on Earth. And if it is good enough for NASA, then solar is good enough for the rest of us.
Tags: congresswoman gabrielle giffords, endeavour, international space station, kennedy space center, shuttle launch, solar energy, solar panels, using solar energy
Posted in Solar Around the World, Solar Home Panels, Solar Kids | Comments Off
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
An investment analyst calls SolarTown, inquiring about trends in the solar panel market for 2011, particularly the supply of modules. It reminds me of the study I heard about in business school that if you ask 100 of the leading economists whether interest rates will rise or fall, 42% will get it right. You can pay a lot of money for analyst reports, but with the solar energy market expanding rapidly and incentives seemingly changing day to day, it is hard to predict supplies. That has been a challenge for us, especially last year, but we think that we did well by our customers to secure modules at good prices.
Tags: buy solar panels, Discount Solar Panels, energy market, excess supply, home solar panels, solar energy, solar industry, solar modules, solar panels
Posted in Solar Home Panels | Comments Off
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 3rd, 2010
During this holiday season, you may be reflecting on what we can do in our homes and businesses to go green or put onto our roofs solar home panels. But it doesn’t need to stop there. Why not generate solar energy from our churches and synagogues? This isn’t a new idea; it is just an idea whose time has come. This blog post talks about the efforts of congregations throughout the country that are looking for ways to go green.
Tags: Solar Energy System, solar for churches, solar for synagogues, solar for temples, solar gifts, solar panels, solar power
Posted in Solar Events, Solar Home Panels | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
The sea change that occurred yesterday in the elections has the solar industry abuzz in speculation and trepidation. There is much analysis and a lot more guess work at play, but the political developments should focus the mind on what can be done. The first clue is what the lame duck Congress will try to do. We already know that cap and trade is a nonstarter, but some remnants of an energy bill may be pushed forward before the new Congress convenes in January. Many solar industry analysts are watching for a particular piece of legislation known as the Treasury Grant program.
Tags: energy bill, refundable tax credit, Solar Energy Industry, Solar Energy System, solar industry, solar panels, Treasury Grant Program
Posted in Solar Policy & Incentives | Comments Off
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 »
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
SolarTown met with Mr. Paul Brandus, a White House correspondent with a huge interest in green issues. Brandus is a strong advocate of renewable energy, relating a story on how he personally asked President Obama when solar panels would be installed on the White House, on three separate occasions. Although no solar modules have yet to grace the President’s residence, Brandus expressed his desire to see the 132 rooms of the White House heated by the rays of the sun and the power of the wind, calling the act a great symbolic value to the nation. Incorporating solar and other forms of alternative energy into the lives of Americans is still a major challenge. Interest in environmental-related topics is only illustrated when major catastrophes such as the BP oil spill occurs. After the disaster dies down, the interest responds accordingly. Brandus believes that it will take awhile for solar and renewable energy to fully assimilate into everyone’s lives.
Tags: renewable energy, solar energy, solar modules, solar panels, White House solar panels
Posted in Solar Policy & Incentives, SolarTown Current Affairs | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 25th, 2010
“The time to embrace a clean energy future is now,” said the President during his talk on the BP oil spill earlier this month. For much of the past year, the nation’s energy policy has played second fiddle to , well, everything else, but primarily health care and most recently financial reform. Deadlines have come and gone, and with the mid-terms elections around the corner, it is hard to see how Obama will pick a rabbit out of the hat and push the energy agenda forward.
What is clear is that as states and local governments are cutting back on their solar energy programs, just at the time when the solar industry needs this support the most. The Maryland program cut its rebate program with only a few days notice. Take a look at our SolarTown news stories to read about some of the states that are throwing their renewable energy programs to the wind in an effort to close budget gaps.
Tags: Canadian Solar Panels, maryland program, renewable energy programs, solar energy, solar energy incentive programs, solar industry, solar modules, solar panels, Solon Solar Panels
Posted in Solar Policy & Incentives | Comments Off
