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We were pleased to learn a few days ago that, of the ten utilities ranked highest for use of solar power, five are in Sungevity’s service area–PG&E, SMUD, LADWP, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric.  The other five are Arizona’s Salt River Project, Arizona Public Service Co., Florida Power & Light, Public Service Electric & Gas (NJ), and Public Service Co. of CO-Xcel Energy (CO).

The rankings are based on the total amount of solar energy in each utility’s portfolio, which includes solar power generated by grid-tied residences with rooftop solar arrays.  In other words, there are quite a few Sungevity customers out there whose solar systems helped these utilities increase the share of solar power in their energy mix.  In 2009, while overall demand for electricity was down, these ten utilities increased their solar power integration by 66%.

Though the trajectory is positive, there is still a long way to go, even for PG&E, the number one ranked solar utility.  There are 85.2 megawatts of solar energy in PG&E’s grid, that sounds like a lot (whatever a megawatt is anyway), but it’s actually only….drum roll please–.14% of PG&E power mix.  (Note the decimal point–it’s not 14%, it’s .14%.  We need to break the whole number threshold and turn .14% into 14% tout suite.

–Erica Etelson

As we lamented a few days ago, the feds have been less than steadfast in their support for solar energy. We’ve launched Solar on the White House to call attention to a glaring disparity or two that the President could help rectify:

Between 2002 and 2008, the feds doled out $72 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel industries and $29 billion for renewables (half of which was for ethanol which is quite possibly even worse than oil).

The World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) finance fossil fuel projects at five times the rate of renewables.  Incredibly, World Bank and IFC investment in fossil fuels is on the rise, with a $3.75 billion new coal plant in South Africa just approved last month.

There are many measures the federal government could take to level the playing field for solar:

Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute calls for reducing income taxes and offsetting them with a carbon tax on fossil fuels.   For example, were we to pay the “real cost” of burning gasoline (including the impacts on human health, the climate and the environment), we’d be paying $15 a gallon instead of $3.  Even a modest increase in the gas tax of 40 cents a year for the next ten years would be, in Brown’s view, a good start and would bring us in line with Europe.  Taxes on cigarettes work wonders-the states with the highest taxes have the fewest smokers-why not put proven public health policy to work to save the planet?

Most proponents of solar energy agree that feed-in tariffs are an effective incentive, as demonstrated in Germany, Spain, Ontario and good ole’ Gainesville, Florida.  Rather than leaving it to local and state governments, the federal government could pass a law requiring all utilities to implement feed-in tariff programs or solar renewable energy credits (as New Jersey has done with enormous success).

The Recovery Act provides a 30% tax credit for solar panels and solar water heaters through 2016.  This tax credit, needless to say, should be extended ‘till kingdom come.

Twenty-nine states have Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) which require utilities to meet renewable energy targets over the next few decades.  A strong, uniform nationwide RPS would create and strengthen renewable energy markets and would help the United States curb its greenhouse gas emissions far more effectively than piecemeal state standards.

The government should pass the 10 Million Solar Roofs Act ASAP.

As the largest shareholder in the World Bank, the U.S. should use its leverage to direct the Bank to move aggressively toward renewables.

If you really want to geek out, the Solar Energy Industries Association has a bunch more bright ideas.

We launched Solar on the White House to call attention to the need to shake up our nation’s energy mix.  We’re aiming for solar to become the clear favorite of the family-we’ve behaved well, and we deserve it.   We ask you to support solar energy by signing and sharing the petition. And remember those cool Obama t-shirts during the 2008 presidential race?  Well, we’ve got some equally cool Globama t-shirts so tell your friends who live in California that they can get a free Globama t-shirt when they request an iquote on solaronthewhitehouse.com.

We’ll keep you updated on the Solar on the White House campaign as well as renewable energy legislative developments right here.

–Erica Etelson

When the first edition of Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble came out in 2003, author Lester Brown was cautiously optimistic about the potential for solar energy to help stabilize the climate.  But in the updated Plan B 4.0, Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute, is even more sanguine:  Having observed the exponential growth of solar power since 2004, Brown now believes that a 100-fold increase in PVs and solar water heaters is within reach by 2020.

Germany leads the world in solar PV installation, followed by Spain, Japan and the U.S.  (China is the biggest producer of PV panels but most of the panels are for export).  Germany and Spain stimulated their solar markets with generous feed-in tariffs that paid homeowners for the extra power they generated.  Japan too offered generous subsidies that helped make rooftop systems more affordable.  With the recent adoption of a feed-in tariff in Ontario, Canada, that cold province is poised to become a hot spot for solar.

In the U.S., solar incentives are modest and vary considerably from state to state.  (The only area in the U.S. with a feed-in tariff is Gainesville, Florida, where homeowners have stampeded to solarize). Even without incentives, the cost of going solar fell 30% in the U.S. between 1998 and 2008.  But most solar power advocates agree that widespread adoption of feed-in tariffs and other financial incentives are key to further driving down the cost of solar.

With enough solar-generating capacity in the southwest alone to meet the nation’s electricity needs seven times over, the U.S. is indeed the sleeping giant of the global solar industry.  Stay tuned as we reveal our own little Plan B to awaken the giant.

–Erica Etelson

At last, what every wannabe solar homeowner in California has been waiting for…on Feburary 26, the humble net metering cap was raised from 2.5% to 5%.  Net metering allows solar power generators to get some financial benefit when they generate more power than they use rather than making an involuntary gift of free electricity to their utility company.

Here’s how net metering works:  When your solar panels generate power, that power is sucked into the giant power grid that serves your area. If, at the end of the year, you have consumed less electricity than you fed into the grid, then you’re entitled to an offset on your electric bill.  Seems only fair, right?

Until last week, utilities only had to offer customers the excess power generation credit until the point at which the utility’s was meeting 2.5% of its peak load with solar power generated by its customers (at which point they could turn customers away from the program).  Now, utilities will have to keep paying out the credit until they’re getting 5% of their electricity from solar (which isn’t going to happen for several years).  This means lots of new room in the net metering program for tens of thousands of homeowners, schools, municipalities and businesses that install solar systems in the years ahead.

Amen.

With public school budgets being cut to the bone, this may seem like an unlikely time for school districts to start installing solar PV systems.  But a number of new incentives make this the ideal time for schools to solarize.

The California Department of Education estimates that school districts spend $132 per student per year on energy-that means our nearly bankrupt state is spending $700 million a year burning fossil fuels.

More than 35 schools in California have gone solar, including Berkeley’s own Washington Elementary.  Most participated in the California Solar Schools Program, which is now closed, but a handful have begun to take advantage of new incentives and attractive financing mechanisms, such as PPAs (Power Purchase Agreements) that allow the school district to pay the system off over time.

If you’d like to help your kid’s school save money and the planet, the Helios Project has all the tools you need to get started.  Independent schools, unfortunately, are not eligible for many of the incentives available to public schools, but still may be able to find a commercial installer who will offer a PPA or a lender who can loan the money at a favorable enough interest rate that the school will still save money in the long run.  (We’ve had a few requests for Sungevity to install systems at schools and we’re flattered but, unfortunately, we only do residential installations).

The California Energy Commission also has some other tips for how schools can save money by conserving energy, including turning out lights in empty classrooms, turning down the thermostat and fixing leaky hot water faucets.   And be sure to check out the free solar curricular resources offered by the SunPower Foundation.

At this year’s TED conference, Bill Gates issued a clarion call for “energy miracles” that will bring global carbon emissions down to zero.  Gates’ philanthropic focus has been on education, vaccines and malaria but, in his 2010 TED speech, he said that his one wish for the next fifty years is not to pick the next President nor to discover a silver bullet vaccine–it is the global deployment of zero-emissions energy technology at half the current price.

Reflect for a moment on how earth-shattering (or, should I say, “earth-saving”) Gates’ epiphany could be:  Here’s one of the wealthiest and most influential individuals on the planet asserting what we climate freaks have been trying to communicate for the past decade–that if we want to have a life-sustaining planet, we can and must get to zero.  And when Bill Gates talks, people with money listen.

Gates begins the talk with a simple math equation even I was able to understand:  Global CO2 levels = # of people on the planet  x services people use (eg. electricity, food) x energy required per service x CO2 per unit of energy.  As you might recall from 4th grade, if the product of an equation is zero, at least one of the factors being multiplied must be zero.  Of all the factors, the only one that could conceivably be reduced to zero is the amount of CO2 per unit of energy.  To do so will require major advances in the scale and reliability of five energy technologies–solar PV, solar thermal, wind, nuclear and carbon capture.  Gates believes we must work intensively on all five fronts by investing heavily in research & development and creating market incentives to move away from fossil fuels.

We couldn’t agree more (with respect to the first three energy technologies on Gates’ list).  Dubious and unsafe technologies aside, we applaud Gates for embracing the gravity of our energy predicament and using his platform to inspire innovation.

Yesterday, Sungevity was presented a Green Business Award by the San Francisco Business Times for its leadership in solar installation! Pretty exciting, no?

We are very honored to receive this award—and ecstatic that our unique online platform is catching on! By cutting out those expensive site visits, we have been able to make solar more affordable for the average homeowner. We are proud to have the opportunity to educate and empower people to generate their own energy.

Glad to know the Business Times recognizes our online sales model as a bright idea!

To learn more, check out the full story on our award here!

Last night I had the privilege of attending a great event at the Oakland Museum of California “reporting back on the Dream Reborn Conference” in Memphis, TN on April 4th; the 40th Anniversary of the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. The theme of the conference was around building a green economy across America strong enough to lift people out of poverty while protecting the planet.

The report back was full of inspiring stories about clean energy companies collaborating with communities around the USA to train and employ people in meaningful careers; rewiring America, retrofitting buildings to be energy efficient and installing solar panels. Sungevity was proud to be one of the corporate sponsors of the event. This great video captures some of the mood of the moment:

I wasn’t in Memphis but I got just as excited at the event in Oakland last night about the huge potential of this movement for meaningful careers and green collar jobs (check out the pic of me speaking below). The subtitle of the event was “Building the Movement in California” for green jobs not jails. There was lots of great information from Green for All, a national campaign pushing Washington to support green workforce development; and the Ella Baker Center.

We have worked with this organization’s Green Collar Jobs Campaign since last year and proudly sit on the Oakland Green Employer Workforce Council, which is helping Oakland (and hopefully Richmond, Berkeley and Emeryville that make up the Clean Tech Corridor) develop training programs for the clean energy industry.

Another awesome organization featured at last nights event is Solar Richmond, whose trainees we hope to have on roofs from this July as part of their program. Long-term we’d like to see a Solar Danville, Solar Fresno and Solar San Bernadino. Ultimately we’d love to be supporting and providing work to people coming through training programs by groups like these across the country. That’s our Dream.

Shine on, dannyk.