It might surprise some people to find that the U.S. Military is a huge solar enthusiast. They think the only reason marines would hug trees is because they’re about to ambush the enemy. But actually, for the U.S. military, going solar isn’t just about going green, or even saving green (although it does save a lot of money). It’s also about saving lives.

That’s according to a new report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) on the military’s aggressive plans to increase solar investment to reach its goal of 25 percent renewable energy by 2025. The Army expects solar will make up a third of its planned renewable generating capacity from 2012 to 2017, while the Air Force expects solar to be over two thirds of its renewables by then. But most impressively, the Navy expects to get half of all its energy from renewables by 2020.

Another happy outcome for the military is that training in solar technology results in a skilled workforce ready to fill civilian solar jobs, that are generally above median wage. “After using solar energy on military bases and in the field, many returning servicemen and servicewomen are finding great career opportunities at solar firms, which have been actively recruiting veterans.” says Rhone Resch, SEIA president and CEO. “Some even start firms of their own.”

It’s worth noting that the solar industry is one of the fastest growing job markets in America with a 13% increase in 2012. The Solar Foundation, which conducted the job census, reports the solar business now employs 119,000 people, already more than the entire coal industry. And solar’s only just getting started, with job growth rates that high, there are clearly more solar jobs coming. “Our census findings indicate that these new jobs are highly skilled in nature…sustainable, cannot be outsourced and play a critical role in our country’s economic recovery.”

Another huge bonus for the military is how solar can help the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) reduce its massive energy bills, currently running at $20 billion a year. With that kind of budget, the military’s investment in solar is expected to spur considerable innovation and industry growth.

While saving money and lives are the more immediate reasons for the military’s interest in solar, the Pentagon is also interested in protecting the environment. They know more than most how conflict escalates when resources like water and food run short. In fact, as early as 2004 the Pentagon was making dire predictions about climate change-based conflicts over dwindling resources in the future.

Saving energy, saving money, saving lives, creating jobs, increasing local resources and reducing conflict. No wonder the military is going solar. More power to them!

San Diego utility SDG&E was just granted approval by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to raise gas and electric rates by 11%, including a 7.6% revenue increase starting in 2012, which will be collected retroactively.

Not that anyone should be surprised, rates have been steadily rising for years. Southern California Edison (SCE) was allowed to raise rates 5% in 2012. Actually, that was good. SCE was asking for a 16.6% increase. And rates are estimated to rise an additional 6.3% for 2013, and 5.9% in 2014.

But apart from the AARP who voiced concern that the size of SDG&E’s increase was unwarranted, there is general acceptance from others that utility rates rising are inevitable. And it’s not just caused by rising fossil fuel prices. SDG&E said their costs are being driven up by increasing needs for safety and reliability, new electric grid technologies, more environmental regulations, higher insurance, especially wildfire liability, and increased health costs.

Now think about this: Don’t you wish there was a way to stop your electric bill from rising for a decade or two? Think it would be awesome to pay the same prices as twenty years ago? Good news, solar leasing makes that possible.

The savings from solar leasing come from solar bills staying low at a locked in or consistent rate, as opposed to fossil fuels and utility bills that tend to rise. So the real savings from home solar accumulate over time.

All those extra costs for utilities aren’t true for rooftop solar. Home solar has up front costs to buy and install the PV panels, but solar leasing companies pay for them, monitor them, and fix anything that breaks. But once there, those panels reliably convert the sun’s ‘free’ energy into electricity for 20 years guaranteed. No fuel costs, no transmission costs.

Meanwhile those rate increases for fossil fuels could be considered low ball estimates. A conflict in the Middle East could send prices skyrocketing. A carbon tax of some kind is inevitable, which would also affect rates. There’s also a growing chorus to end fossil fuel subsidies from ‘hippies’ like the International Monetary Fund. The IMF called for the end of $1.9 trillion in annual global energy subsidies, $480 billion in direct subsidies, and $1.4 trillion in what it calls the “mispricing” of fossil fuels (because it doesn’t take into account the costs of climate change and public health.)

For example, hidden health costs for fossil fuels could add up to as much as $886.5 billion annually, or 6% of GDP, says the Environmental Protection Agency. And these estimates still don’t include the costs of climate change, human welfare, extraction and transportation, other pollutants, hazardous waste, or greenhouse gases. If fossil fuel prices reflected those costs, utilities would probably get priced out of the market altogether.

That’s why it makes sense to escape the nonstop fluctuation of fossil fuel costs by installing rooftop solar on your home and locking in those electricity rates for 20 years. Perhaps the greatest benefit of leasing solar is peace of mind about rising electricity costs, because with solar you have the power to make those stop.

The solar industry is finally getting off the ground, spreading from coast to coast across America. Which makes the Solar Impulse’s first 100% solar powered flight across America an excellent visual metaphor for the solar biz.

One could even draw comparisons between the disruptive technology of the solar industry in this century, and the aviation industry in the last. Planes revolutionized transport, just as solar is revolutionizing energy production.

The Wright Brothers launched into the skies, and the history books, in 1903, and pioneer aviator Calbraith Perry was the first to fly coast to coast across America in 1911. Today, aviators Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard are flying across America in the world’s first solar powered plane able to fly at night by producing enough energy during the day and storing it in batteries. In this way they hope to fly around the world on solar power alone in 2015.

So why across America today? “That’s a mythical step in aviation,” said Andre Borschberg. “Our airplane is not designed to carry passengers, but to carry a message,” added Bertrand Piccard. That message is implicit in the flight itself, but spelled out more thoroughly on their website:

“Voyaging around the world without fuel or pollution, Solar Impulse’s ambition is for the world of exploration and innovation to contribute to the cause of renewable energies, to demonstrate the importance of clean technologies for sustainable development; and to place dreams and emotions back at the heart of scientific adventures.”

They even tempt fate by calling it ‘the revenge of Icarus’. But unlike Icarus, flying closer to the sun boosts energy production, not melts wings, and these Righteous Brothers are motivated by altruism to save the planet, not hubris, and clearly feel destiny is on their side. So how does their solar plane embody the message of preserving the planet and inspiring scientific adventure?

With the on board batteries and the sun providing free fuel, the plane is essentially a perpetual motion engine without breaking any laws of physics at all. Borschberg said his group is close to being able to launch the nonstop flights needed to go around the world. Using solar power, “we are close to the notion of perpetual flight,” he said.

Currently the Solar Impulse is a proof of concept for perpetual flight, but there are already improvements and adaptions in the works. The Solar Impulse team are working on a successor with a pressurized cabin for higher flights, because altitude is also a form of stored energy that enables longer flights.

Another interesting adaption is the solar airship, a hybrid plane/airship developed to carry cargo and medical supplies to underdeveloped regions or emergency situations where there are no access roads, airports, fuel, or infrastructure – something the US military is interested in too as evidenced by DARPA’s recent order of an an experimental airship.

And peering even further into the future, scientists at Singularity University are dreaming up fleets of solar-powered autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) that transport supplies and people from place to place, like “The Jetsons meet Mother Theresa.”

Solar and aviation are both game changing industries, and the possibilities from combining them could be mind blowing. So watch Solar Impulse fly into the history books when it touches down in New York in late June, and marvel at how we’re only just scratching the surface of what’s possible.

Exciting news at Sunrun this week! We welcomed Bryan Miller to lead our public policy, legislative and regulatory affairs. Bryan’s wealth of experience as a VP from the nation’s largest utility, Exelon makes him the perfect candidate for the job.

As Vice President of Public Policy & Power Markets overseeing all public policy development for Sunrun, Bryan will manage a team of specialists throughout the country whose first priority is stopping efforts to end net metering, the cornerstone policy for rooftop solar.

“Bryan’s first-hand exposure to the way utilities think about solar adds a new dimension to our executive team,” said Sunrun co-Founder Edward Fenster. ”His addition to Sunrun comes at a critical time when utilities are taking aggressive steps to stop customers from switching to cleaner, more affordable electricity.”

Prior to Sunrun, Miller served as VP of Policy for Sustainable Energy at Constellation, which merged with Exelon in 2012 to become the nation’s largest utility. Before Exelon, he served as the first Senior Counsel in the Obama Administration at the U.S. Department of Energy where he managed legislative and regulatory affairs. And earlier in his career Miller worked as the youngest staffer on the Clinton/Gore ’96 Presidential campaign.

Bryan says he’s incredibly excited to join Sunrun’s creative and forward-thinking team: “I have had the great fortune in my career to work in many aspects of the complex U.S. power industry, but residential solar has always excited me the most. Rooftop solar breaks down market barriers and unleashes innovation.”

So it makes sense that Bryan would be attracted to Sunrun, which invented solar power service (also called third-party-owned solar) allowing homeowners to get solar without the high upfront cost of buying, installing, insuring and maintaining the panels. Families typically pay a lower rate for the solar power than the rate charged by their local utility company, and now it’s the preferred way for homeowners to go solar.

Sunrun has installed more than 34,000 home solar systems in 10 states, and partners with over 30 leading local solar companies who together employ more than 3,000 workers. And now Sunrun has added one more. Bryan Miller, welcome aboard!

What do Greenpeace and a coal giant like Duke Energy have in common? They both see the solar revolution coming to America, and neither denies its massive potential to decentralize the energy system and change the game completely. And with good reason: one hour’s worth of sunlight could power the planet for a year.

The main limitation has always been that photovoltaic (PV) panels are too pricey to compete with dirty fossil fuels. But solar prices have been dropping rapidly, and fossil fuel prices rising steadily.  As a result, the old energy industry is starting to look nervously over its shoulder as the renewable energy industry nips at its heels. Using its monolithic lobbying clout, the fossil fuels industry has fought back hard.

Utilities also aren’t having trouble imagining a home solar future, and are now extremely concerned that the rooftop solar boom is a long-term threat. As Grist reports, the most dismal predictions about how home solar could devastate the utilities are coming from the utilities themselves. A recent Edison Electric Institute report spells out how it doesn’t take much home solar installed to start eating into the utilities’ profits. As utilities increase rates to recover costs, more ratepayers are encouraged to get home solar. Thus, the problem continues to worsen for utilities.

And it’s not just EEI sounding the warning bells. Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, the largest coal utility in America acknowledged, “There’s been a huge effort to build solar on the rooftop, both residential and commercial. All of this is leading to a disintermediation of us from our customers.” Disintermediation may sound bland to you and me, but it’s terrifying to a utility when their customers get home solar installed and instantly become their own power plant. Sunrun already undercuts 17.3 billion in annual electricity sales, and by 2016 it’ll be 32 billion. No wonder the utilities are nervous.

America’s utility companies are beginning to wake up to the fact that it’s unsustainable to keep pushing dirty coal and oil through centralized plants. In fact NRG, the biggest power provider to U.S. utilities, has just decided to start bypassing the utilities and provide decentralized home solar direct to consumers. A giant fossil fuel provider like NRG isn’t doing this out of the goodness of its heart. It’s looking at solar’s exponential growth and realizing the era of home solar has arrived.

By Stefan Broadley

April 12, 2013

Exciting news for all you smart consumers out there, especially those looking for ways to get smarter: Sunrun just announced survey results revealing a national trend toward disownership, plus a handy guide for anyone who wants to take advantage.

What is disownership? It means sharing, renting, borrowing or making similar alternative arrangements to gain access to traditionally-owned items—without the expense or hassle of owning them.  And it’s a movement gaining momentum across the country.

For example, our survey results show that more than half of Americans has rented, leased or borrowed the sorts of items people traditionally own in the last two years (52 percent), and more than 8 out of 10 Americans (83 percent) say they would rent, lease or borrow these items, instead of buying them, if they could do so easily.  The survey was commissioned by Sunrun and conducted online by Harris Interactive^® in February 2013 among 2,252 U.S. adults ages 18 and older.

What’s more, Americans anticipate a notable increase in disownership in the short term.  While nearly one in four Americans (24 percent) is more likely to engage in disownership now than they were five years ago, nearly double that percentage (49 percent) plans to “disown” traditionally-owned items in the next two years. When asked what would make them more likely to rent, lease or borrow items people traditionally own, Americans’ leading reasons were saving money and cutting down on storage and/or maintenance (53 percent and 39 percent, respectively).

Our People’s Guide to Disownership has great tips and tricks for how to be smart about engaging in this trend, along with simple definitions of disownership terms every savvy consumer should know.  It even has suggestions for cool stuff you may not have known you could “disown.”

Sunrun is one of a number of companies that have harnessed the power of technology to help people access things safely without owning them, and save money doing it.  A few others include sites like RentTheRunway.com (apparel and accessories) and BagBorrowORSteal.com (handbags, shoes and other accessories) that allow you to dress like the stars without zapping your bank account or cluttering your closet with things you won’t wear again.  Or platforms like VRBO.com and Airbnb.com that allow you to rent a room, a floor or a whole property for as little as a day at a time—all over the world.

In the words of our co-CEO Lynn Jurich, “These results show we’ve entered an age in which Americans recognize they can get more value by owning less.  At the same time, smart companies are creating innovative business models that offer consumers more flexible choices for accessing the things they want and need.”

Check out the People’s Guide to Disownership here.  For a visual tour of the trend, check out our Disownership Infographic. Here’s a snapshot:

A new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research reveals strong results for solar in 2012.  Namely: There were 16 million solar panels installed in the U.S. last year, which was more than 2 panels per second of the work day.  Today there is a total of 7.7 gigawatts of solar electric capacity operating in the U.S., enough to power more than 1.2 million average U.S. households.

SEIA reports that third party-owned solar continues to shape the residential sector. In Q4, more than 90 percent of the residential systems installed in Arizona were third party-owned.  In CA, about 75% of people switching to solar chose third-party.  In SEIA’s words, here is a high-level summary of the year:

“2012 was a historic and busy year for the U.S. solar energy industry. Photovoltaic (PV) installations grew 76% over 2011, to total 3,313 megawatts (MW) in 2012, with an estimated market value of $11.5 billion. Each market segment (residential, non-residential, and utility) showed growth over 2011, while the overall markets in most states expanded as well. Installed prices for PV systems fell 27% during 2012 and at least 13% in each market segment. Nearly 83,000 homes installed solar PV, and cumulative PV installations in the U.S. surpassed 300,000.”

Report highlights include:

• Annual U.S. PV installations grew 76% in 2012 to reach 3,313 MW.
• The U.S. accounted for 11% of all global PV installations in 2012, its highest market share in at least fifteen years.
• Cumulative PV capacity operating in the U.S. as of the end of 2012 stood at 7,221 MW.
• Eleven states installed over 50 MW each in 2012, up from eight in 2011.
• There were over 90,000 PV installations in 2012 in the U.S., including 83,000 in the residential market alone.
• The blended average sales price for PV modules for Q4 2012 was $0.68/W, a staggering 41% below the Q4 2011 price of $1.15/W.

Looking forward to another strong year in 2013!

By most measurements, the sign of a successful product is when it sells out, leaving behind long lines and empty displays. In the case of the California Solar Initiative’s rebate program, the shelves in the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) service areas have nearly run bare, and this is a sure sign of success. The success of this program shows how more homeowners of all incomes are going solar – it shows the power of smart policy for taking solar mainstream.

The $2.4 billion dollar California Solar Initiative (CSI), which began in 2007, had the goal of bringing economies of scale to the state’s rooftop solar market. The success of the program was built by pegging rebate prices to installed solar capacity. As more solar was installed and prices came down, so did the value of rebates through the CSI. What’s more, models like Sunrun’s that let homeowners go solar without high upfront cost are boosting adoption significantly.

When first launched, prices for solar energy systems hovered around $9.48 a watt. Six years later that price has dropped substantially to about $6.10 a watt while the state has witnessed a seven-fold increase in rooftop solar installations. With prices coming down more than 35% since CSI started and California leading the pack in national solar adoption, the program has done its job.

Homeowners and the environment aren’t the only ones benefiting from the success of the CSI. Rooftop solar is providing local energy and repowering the local economy. The CSI has been attributed to the creation of 43,000 jobs in the California solar industry, $10 billion dollars in private investment, and the construction of 1,500MW-worth of clean, Californian electricity – the equivalent of three conventional power plants. Taxpayers are also seeing benefits. For example, solar schools are set to save $1.5 billion dollars in electricity costs over the next 30 years.

Utility ratepayers will see savings on infrastructure, such as transmission lines and traditional power plants. These types of investments are not only expensive but vulnerable to the effects of climate change. As the nation saw with Hurricane Sandy, increases in extreme weather are putting the conventional electrical grid at risk. While many of the successes of the CSI have had immediate benefits for Californians, the program also has helped jump start California’s move to a more distributed, resilient, and modern grid.