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Exciting news for LIPA customers: Ad Energy now offers low and no money down solar purchasing options! Thing is, the LIPA solar rebate decreases monthly, so your savings will never be better than they are RIGHT NOW. So go ahead, sign up for a free quote and we’ll help you put the sun to work this summer! Here are our three new Long Island products:
Ad Energy salesman Nick (right) with our featured Lake Hopatcong customer Marut and his solar power inverters!
We like our customers. One reason is because we make a living off of them. But beyond that, we like them because they’re a shrewd, discerning bunch. They explore all the angles of the deal before signing a contract. Of course, we like answering their questions because we like our jobs, and because we have supreme confidence in our product. However, we also understand that sometimes a customer’s perspective provides the greatest insight. So in the interest of offering our prospective customers every possible resource to help guide them on their way to solar adoption, we will be bringing you a series of customer interviews. This one comes to you from Marut Bhargava, an all-star customer who has already referred nine friends over the course of a couple months, because after all, “who else pays you a return of 800-1000$ per year for 20 years on a 5k investment?”
Solar Decathlon Europe
Sarah Miller is a fellow solar nut and blogger @ Solar e-Clips, currently earning a masters in sustainability, technology, and innovation at the Dublin Institute of Technology. A veteran of Purdue’s second-place finishing 2011 Solar Decathlon team, she has kindly taken the time to provide us with insightful reporting from Solar Decathlon Europe 2012.
As the last trucks pulled away from the Villa Solar in Casa Campo today, the 2012 Solar Decathlon Europe came to a close. The city of Madrid played host to the biennial competition featuring solar powered homes designed and built by university teams from around the world. The goal of the competition is to showcase new solar technologies introducing the public to the possibilities of solar technologies. A record number of 220,000 visitors attended this year’s Solar Decathlon Europe to take home knowledge gained from the display.
A view of the Empire State Building, complemented by a solar street light near our office in Greenpoint, Brooklyn NY!
After stints in midtown Manhattan and Williamsburg, we at Ad Energy are very happy to have settled in to our current office down by the East River in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Here, we get the nice neighborhood feel along with the skyline’s pleasant reminder that we are but a hop, skip, and a ferry ride away from the hustle and bustle of the Big City.
We are still operating primarily in Massachusetts and New Jersey, but we’ll be breaking into the New York market soon enough. By the time we’re done with the place, out-of-towners will speak in hushed tones about “New York, a city where even the streets are paved with silicon.”
Massachusetts, poppin' caps on our way to a greener energy portfolio!
Massachusetts’ new Bill 2395, An Act Relative to Competitively Priced Electricity in the Commonwealth (phewf!), will have an impact even more prodigious than its name. Let’s see what we’re all getting out of this thing.
Until this week, utilities were allowed to cap net metering once it reached 3% of their peak demand. Many utilities in the state were projected to meet this cap in 2012, and with cuts to net metering, solar development in Massachusetts would have slowed considerably. Fortunately, the Act’s standout provision raises this threshold to 6%, giving renewable energy producers some much needed room to breath. And though half of the new cap is reserved for public energy projects, homeowners need not worry: systems under 10 kW do not contribute to the total program capacity. This means that solar homeowners with systems under 10 kW will never have to worry about losing their net metering credit!
The Act also contains a number of other provisions, including one that requires utilities to obtain 7% of their supply through long-term contracts with renewable facilities (up from 3%). Furthermore, 10% of this new cap space (.4% of total supply) must be sourced from small, young renewable energy facilities within the utility’s service area, a feature that promises to establish a diverse array of clean energy generators as pillars of the local economy.
So, three cheers for Massachusetts’ state government! As we all know, real and lasting change must be enacted at the policy level, so we can’t forget to recognize the efforts of our public officials when they push a real difference maker through. At the same time, though the political mechanism can seem abstracted and inaccessible, policy does not materialize out of thin air. Believe it or not, you have a voice! You can keep track of Massachusetts’ energy policy here, and remember, if you see a bill on the horizon, make yourself heard by calling your representative. Enjoy this last month or so of summer, and by all means, let the sun shine in!
The Olympics are awesome. Millions the world over come together to celebrate transcendent human ability, bearing witness to incredible feats that culminate years of dedicated planning and refinement. In an inspirational moment like this, we at Ad Energy would like to salute two decathletes within our own company: Lee Causey and Sarah Miller. Admittedly, Lee and Sarah’s decathlon involved a little less running and jumping than the Olympic event. However, it certainly involved a WHOLE LOT more architectural design and engineering! And no one would deny that they displayed Phelpsian dedication to their cause, laboring through a year and a half of planning and four months of building to construct the beautiful, solar equipped home that secured Team Purdue INhome a second place finish at the 2011 Solar Decathlon!
Team Purdue INhome's Beautiful and Highly Efficient Submission
So here’s to Lee and Sarah! While it swells our hearts watching Ariel Hsing sling the paddle for Team USA in table tennis, we’re even prouder to have these solar warriors doing battle for Team Ad Energy. Enjoy these Olympic games everyone! Cheer hard and let the sun shine in!
Lee with His Trophy
If you are reading this, there is a good chance you’re interested in saving money on your electricity bill by going solar. But, as you have doubtlessly come to realize, even when the motivation is there, navigating your way through this process is anything but straightforward. That’s why we’re here to help! Let’s begin by differentiating among the basic options on the residential solar market: buying, leasing, and power purchasing agreements (PPAs).
We continue our journey into one of the neighborhood home solar meccas of New Jersey to visit with our customer Larry Owen, and his dog “Charger”. Many thanks to Larry for his hospitality (and Charger for the licks).
As Ad Energy continues to help MA homeowners go solar, we wanted to make a special post commemorating ”Patriots Day” in MA. So may the reenactments, pankcake breakfasts, and patriots be solar powered this year (and every other year). A little motivation for those looking to take part in the solar revolution:
Solar Powered Patriots Day
The trip continues into the heart of New Jersey. Our first stop on the solar road trip takes us to Dianne and Elly’s house. T.R. has a chat, complete with Root Beer and Danny gets a picture. Many thanks to Dianne and Elly for sharing your solar story!
