5 Ways to Be More Environmentally Friendly at Work
Are you ready to make your job greener? Not every business can drastically shrink its impact on the environment by adding solar panels to its property, but even organizations that lease their office space can introduce small changes to make a big difference!
What It Means To Go Green With Solar Panels
Most homeowners already know that solar panel installation can lower their energy bills, but what is the environmental impact of using solar energy, and why was 2015 yet another record-breaking year for solar panel installation? At SunBlue, we share a conviction that not only will the installation of solar panels improve the lives of our clients, but every installation is another step closer to a brighter future.
5 Things Your Building Department Can Do to be Solar-Friendly
Written by SunBlue Operations Manager Laura Waldman
Once you’ve made the decision to add solar panels to your home, the hardest part of going solar is waiting for your installation to begin. While there’s much to be said for patience, it’s harder to enjoy a gorgeous, sunny day while waiting on a building permit before you can install your solar panel system.
Future of the Solar Residential Rooftop Business Model
Transcript from Solar Finance & Investment USA panel discussion on Residential Solar. (See remarks from SunBlue’s Chris Hale highlighted in yellow.)
Representatives of four companies who are active in the US solar residential rooftop market had a wide-ranging discussion at a conference hosted by Solar Media in New York in late October 2015 about the different business models in use in that market and how each will fare if the 30% federal tax credit for solar is not extended past 2016. The conversation covered current installation costs, typical capital stacks, the cost of capital, barriers to entry and the potential for margin compression.
The panelists are Sylvain Mansier, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Sungage Financial, Albert Lu, vice president for structured finance and strategy at SolarCity, Jason Cavaliere, vice president for project finance at Sunrun, and Chris Hale, president of SunBlue Energy. The moderator is Keith Martin with Chadbourne in Washington. Read More
Incentives, Taxes, and Level Playing Fields in Solar Energy
As those of us who have been active in the solar industry for some time will tell you (without prompting), now is the best time to go solar (and always has been). How can this possibly be true?
Why Now is the Best Time to Go Solar
If (like me) you don’t happen to have a fully functioning time machine, now will continue to be the best time to go solar: you can’t go back to the past and go solar then anymore. Rebates were higher 2 years ago or even 10 years ago, so you could have gotten more of your solar system paid for by someone else. But, guess what? Solar panels were more expensive then too, so those two facts more or less cancel each other out. If you had gone solar years ago, you likely would have paid more over all for your system, but you also would have been saving on your electric bills in the meantime. In any case, that option is no longer available (unless you get that time machine working). Read More
Nothing in Life is Free…Including Solar Energy Systems
Lately we’ve noticed a lot of advertising in Westchester, Rockland County and the greater New York area claiming that solar energy installation is free.
As advocates for the solar energy industry—and its growing body of homeowners—we feel the need to explain why this advertising is misleading. Companies who advertise “free installation” are usually offering homeowners a lease option, whereby the homeowner does not own the system, but instead leases the system for a 20-year period from the solar company. The solar company owns the system and is responsible for its operation and maintenance for the life of the term. The system resides on the homeowner’s roof. Read More
Going Green, The Smart (Home) Way
We’re honored to welcome a blog post from the Soundworks Team, located in Armonk, New York, shedding some light on the harmonious relationship between solar panels and home automation to save you money and protect the environment.
While the household of the future may involve fewer hovercrafts than we expected, new home automation and alternative energy technologies are making the Je
tsons look like the Flintstones. More homeowners are taking advantage of cutting-edge technology that not only allows them to manage their homes with the touch of a screen, but also offsets rising energy expenses. Read More