Livermore, CA is home to over 160 home solar installations, including Bob, who turned his SunRun home solar power system on in June.  Bob found out about home solar from his neighbors, who had attended a community seminar.  Community seminars are one of the best ways to learn whether home solar makes financial sense for your home.

Here’s how community seminars work:

• You’ll spend about an hour learning all the solar information you’ll need to know to figure out whether or not solar power will work for you.
• These are usually given by local solar installers, so you’ll definitely get some marketing, but there is generally good general advice as well.  Sometimes seminars are sponsored by community groups who are looking to grow solar adoption among many residents at one time.
• The best part about the seminar is that you’ll be able to get answers to all your questions real time.  My advice is to ask questions early.   The sooner you let the presenter know exactly what you want to learn, the better the presentation.
• Here’s another tip:  make sure to bring along the last year of your utility bills to the seminar.  That way, you’ll be able to get a very good sense right at the seminar of the likely costs and savings of getting solar power for your home.
• If you like what you hear, you can set up a visit to your home right at the seminar, where a solar company will look at your roof and give you an exact quote.
• In Livermore, CA, solar seminars are very frequent.  Chances are, if you live in a well-populated area there will be one going on near you soon.  Keep an eye out for them in advertisements in your local neighborhood paper or signs around your neighborhood.  That’s how they are most frequently advertised.    If you’d like help finding a particular seminar, contact SunRun and we’ll direct you to one of our installer partners.

Back to Bob:  after hearing from his neighbors about SunRun home solar power, Bob met with local Livermore installer Akeena Solar.  He paid $1,000 to get started with SunRun, and the rest is history.  As Bob says, “I know the panels are kicking butt up there because my utility bill last month was only $30.  I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t do this. It’s not like I’m saving a million bucks, but $1200 a year isn’t bad.”

Solar Stats for Livermore, CA:

• There are over 160 homes in Livermore that are powered with solar panels.
• Livermore residents pay 22% more for their power than the U.S. average.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, solar power. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.