Sweet Solar Home

Starting today, SunRun affordable home solar financing is available in New Jersey.  Residents can convert their homes to solar for as little as $500, and pay for the clean solar electricity on a monthly basis.  Monthly payments for a 3 to 4 bedroom home will start at $50. Homeowners will lock in a low, long-term rate for their electricity, avoiding utility rate increases.

SunRun will partner with two of New Jersey’s leading solar installers, Mercury Solar Systems, and Trinity Solar.   Together, these installers have completed thousands of high quality residential solar installations in the state.

Earlier this week, New Jersey adopted an Energy Master Plan, which aims to generate 30% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources, such as solar, by 2010.  New Jersey is second to California in the total number of residential solar installations, and we are excited to bring affordable solar to thousands more customers in New Jersey.

If you’ve got friends or family in New Jersey who have always wanted to get solar, send them to SunRun’s solar calculator to see how much it will cost for them to get solar with SunRun.

Or, check out SunRun’s New Jersey solar page. 

Have you been thinking of going solar? Well, one important thing to look into is if the trees around your house shade your roof. Even if your roof is shaded partially, this can be a solar deal breaker.

Shade and solar are directly linked. How so? The amount of shade that hits a roof correlates to the productivity of a roof’s solar panels. If even only part of your roof is covered in shade, it will still dramatically reduce the system’s charging power. If one quarter of a roof is covered, the shade will reduce the output of your system by 50% and sometimes unravel the entire system.

Why does this happen? Each panel is composed of many different cells that are all connected and rely on each other to perform for overall production. The panels are equipped with sensors that reroute the electrical currents maneuvering around the cells that are not performing. In an effort to correct the production output, this rerouting serves to lose the potential energy created and lowers the voltage in the string of cells (Shade Happens). As a result, the shade that feels so nice in the summer months actually hinders your home’s solar potential.

That being said, before committing to solar, check that your house has a roof plane that does not face north with unobstructed sunlight.   See if any nearby trees block direct sunlight from hitting your roof at various time of day.

If you are interested in going solar but you have a lot of trees or your neighbor’s trees cast a shadow on your home, you have several options.

1. If you are willing to part with some trees on your property, trim them back or cut them down. Be certain to check watershed and other environmental factors if your are engaging in a significant tree-removal project.  In exchange, plant other greenery such as hedges or gardens on your property and power your house via solar energy so you can get the best of both worlds.
2. Negotiate with your neighbors explaining your interest in going solar and how their trees would prevent a solar system from working. Offer to help pay for the removal of trees and the replanting of other bushes or smaller trees that won’t shade your roof and prevent your solar system from running properly.

If solar is something you are very invested in, make sure that there are no barriers that would prevent your system from running effectively! Remember, there are ways to go green and still maintain the greenery in your yard.

Remember the game of “Telephone”?  The first person comes up with a phrase and whispers it to the next person.  The phrase moves down the line until it reaches the last person, who repeats what he’s heard for all to hear.  More often than not, the phrase is rendered almost completely unrecognizable, altered with each transference.  Much is lost in translation.

This is more or less the same with energy transmission.  The way our current grid system works in the United States is that electrical energy is generated in bulk from plants located miles away from cities and population centers.  The energy is transferred via power lines to substations, which are closer to home.  The substations then transmit the electricity to the customers.  What we mean by “the grid” is a series of high voltage transmission networks, with interconnected transmission lines.

There are currently three major networks in the U.S.: Western Interconnect, Eastern Interconnect, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.  These transmission lines can span a great distance and some of the electricity generated is lost through transmission.

A percentage of the electricity generated is lost because energy is necessary to move the electricity from the production site to your home. Additional energy is also lost as the voltage level changes from high to low as it moves from the power plants to your home.  Electricity is transmitted through power lines at very high voltage levels over long-distances, but is lowered to a safer and more manageable level for your home.

As you can see, long-distance transmission gets messy.  On average, 7-8% of the total energy generated is lost during this entire process.

On the other end of the power transmission spectrum is distributed generation.  Also known as on-site generation, this is when electricity is generated close to where it is used, i.e. rooftop solar.  Unlike transmission via grid networks, distributed generation reduces the amount of energy lost, the size and number of power lines and associated corridors that need to be constructed, and the number of new power plants that need to be built.  With rooftop solar, your energy goes straight from your roof to your home (or back to the grid if you generate more than you use).  Home generated power can also help the grid system as a whole by lowering demand during peak times and minimizing congestion, reducing the risk of blackouts and brownouts.  For more on the benefits, see the Department of Energy’s 2007 report on the potential benefits of distributed generation.

The nation’s current energy transmission system needs much improvement, and while a new smart grid would indeed help, this is easier said than done.  Rerouting entire transmission lines can get complicated.  According to the Western Resource Advocates, the “smartest powerline is the one that is never built.”  Distributed generation is efficient, safe, and direct.  From the sun to your roof, powering your home is simple again.

SunRun has expanded our relationship with our trusted partner PetersenDean Roofing and Solar Systems in order to bring affordable solar to new homes across California.  While residents will still be able to retrofit their existing homes with solar panels through SunRun financing, this new partnership will allow buyers to purchase new solar homes in the future without paying any money upfront for the solar panels through SunRun’s solar lease program.  With top quality solar systems and electricity savings already built into their homes, new homeowners can settle in without the fear of rising utility prices.

You can read more about SunRun’s and PetersenDean’s partnership in the latest article by San Francisco Business Times.

Buying a home is a big step, but we at SunRun are excited to bring affordable solar solutions to new homeowners all across California!

We’re always talking about green jobs because local job creation is such a positive and important result of residential solar.    On the New Year’s Day broadcast of ‘Good Morning America’, SunRun was featured in a segment about the growing market of new jobs.  The segment focused on a salesperson from one of our trusted installers, Akeena Solar, who found lucrative work in solar after losing his job as an investment banker.   We were proud to be featured in this outstanding piece.

Watch the segment here to learn about green jobs in 2010:

video management, video solution, video streaming

Last weekend, SunRun was voted the Best Clean Tech at the Crunchies!

SunRun is so grateful for this honor. It was an exciting night to be surrounded by some of  the best tech companies.  The beautiful  location of San Francisco’s Herbst Theater made the awards an excellent way of being acknowledged for our hard work to have a green business that stays true to what we believe in!

SunRun is honored and thankful for a successful 2009 year, but  we are excited for the possibilities of 2010!

We love holidays, here at SunRun, especially ones that save you energy and money.  That’s why yesterday, on January 10th, 2010, we celebrated National Cut Your Energy Costs Day!  There are so many ways to reduce energy usage and costs around your home, from long-term investments, such as installing new heating and cooling systems, to easy fixes, such as unplugging your television.

Here are five quick tips to cut costs and save energy this holiday.

1. Power Strips: Plug your TV, computer, and other home electronics into power strips and flip the switch when they’re not in use.  Even when appliances are turned off, they’re still running on phantom energy.  If you don’t use power strips, remember to unplug your appliances when you’re done with them.
2. CFLs: Switch out your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs.  CFLs last up to 10 times longer than and use about one-fourth the energy of incandescents.
3. Solar Panels: Reduce your electricity costs by installing solar panels in your home.  You use the same amount of energy but pay less for it, because you can lock in a rate with solar, rather than be subject to your utility’s rate increases.
4. Sleep mode: Set your computers to sleep mode, rather than screen saver mode, when not in use.  It takes about 100 Watts/hour to run a screen saver on your graphics card.  Cut energy costs by letting your screen go black.
5. Air sealing: Seal cracks and openings to prevent outside air from otherwise entering your house.  Paired with proper insulation, air sealing can increase energy efficiency and drastically reduce your heating and cooling costs.

If you have been thinking of going solar, but your state doesn’t have good rebates, or your house isn’t right for one reason or another, consider passive solar. Making use of passive solar simply involves understanding the relationship between your home and the sun. Here’s how to use some gloriously easy passive solar energy techniques for your home.

Passive solar energy works by taking in less solar heat in the summer and storing heat in the winter, reducing the need for heavy duty heating and cooling energy systems. What makes it passive is that it takes advantage of the sun’s energy without fans, pumps or any other kind of motor to circulate the heat. That means no expense to you to maintain anything once you figure out how to best employ it.

Passive solar heating has been around for centuries. The earliest kinds of passive solar heating were demonstrated by the use of caves as shelter, which kept people cool during the summer and the trapped heat kept dwellers warm in the winter. Another typical use of passive solar heating are greenhouses. Greenhouses’ glass design allows for the sun’s energy to trap radiated heat, automatically warming the structure.

Typically in the Northern Hemisphere, passive solar homes in cooler climates will have large amounts of glass windows facing due south to absorb as much as possible of the sun’s warmth. In warmer climates, the glass panels face west or east and employ shading as a cooling mechanism.  There are also shade cloths that can be put on all windows in the hot summer months that will dramatically reduce the temperature inside of your home. Rooms that generate their own heat, such as the kitchen, should be placed on the north side of your lot in order to heat your home where it gets the coldest. Also, planting trees on the north and west sides of  property should help protect homes from chilling winds by acting as a buffer ( Passive Solar Home Design Checklist). During the summer months, covering your front and back yards with landscape including trees and shrubberies creates shades to cool down those long hot days.

Options for inside your home include using thermal insulation to reduce unwanted heat transfer, or heavy curtains and shutters to keep the warm inside and prevent the cold air from trickling in through the glass window panes. You might also want to employ shutters and curtains to keep the heat out of your house in the day and then open windows and doors at night to let the cooler air circulate through the house.

Even if you are not ready for panels right now, there are still steps you can take using the sun to save energy costs!

SunRun is a finalist for the Best CleanTech award in the 2009 Crunchies!  Co-hosted by VentureBeat, TechCrunch, and GigaOm, the Crunchies is an annual competition and award ceremony to recognize the best startups and innovations of the year.  SunRun has been nominated as the most significant new environmentally conscious technology application.

Cast your vote for SunRun through Wednesday, January 6^th at midnight PST!  Winners will be announced on Friday, January 8^th, at the Crunchies award ceremony in San Francisco.

2009 was a big year for clean tech and SunRun, and it seems like 2010 is shaping up to be just as bright!

Have you ever wondered what the power plants near your house are like? Now you can find out how clean your local power plant is.

Around 129 million tons of coal combustion waste (CCW) is produced at American power plants every year.  A threat to public health, CCW makes up the second-largest waste stream after municipal solid waste.  Here’s a list of the top 25 dirtiest power plants in the United States from the ISS, in terms of coal waste:

1. Stanton Energy Center; Orlando, FL
2. Sherburne County Generating Plant; Becker, MN
3. Coal Creek Station; Underwood, ND
4. Scherer Steam Electric Plant; Juliette, GA
5. Detroit Edison Monroe Power Plant; Monroe, MI
6. Gibson Generating Station; Owensville, IN
7. Gorgas Steam Plant; Parrish, AL
8. Cholla Power Plant; Joseph City, AZ
9. Wansley Steam Plant; Roopville, GA
10. Kentucky Utilities Ghent Station; Ghent, KY
11. J.M Stuart Station; Manchester, OH
12. Branch Steam Plant; Milledgeville, GA
13. Barry Steam Plant; Bucks, AL
14. Gaston Steam Plant; Wilsonville, AL
15. Miller Steam Plant; Quinton, AL
16. Lacygne Generating Station; Lacygne, KS
17. Gallatin Fossil Plant; Gallatin, TN
18. Boswell Energy Center; Cohasset, MN
19. Leland Olds Station; Stanton, ND
20. Widows Creek Fossil Plant; Stevenson, AL
21. Paradise Fossil Plant; Drakesboro, KY
22. Labadie Power Plant; Labadie, MO
23. Kingston Fossil Plant; Harriman, TN
24. Cardinal Plant; Brilliant, OH
25. Bowen Steam Plant; Cartersville, GA

Check out our solar map to see where the dirtiest power plants are compare to where you live!