So says Michelle Kinman clean energy advocate for Environment California Research & Policy Center. The group has a new report called “California’s Solar Cities 2012: Leaders in the Race Toward a Clean Energy Future” that ranks California cities according to the number of solar rooftop systems installed.

There are more than 4,500 rooftop solar systems installed on residential, commercial and educational homes and facilities throughout San Diego.  The beautiful city by the sea generates almost 37 megawatts of solar electricity installed, more than any other Golden State city.

“San Diego’s #1 solar status is the result of innovative state and local policies aimed at growing the solar industry, such as the California Solar Initiative, which has provided clear, well-designed support for solar,” said Andrew McAllister, director of policy and strategy at the California Center for Sustainable Energy, administrators of the initiative in San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) territory. “The collaboration, entrepreneurship and vision that underpin San Diego’s solar success are fundamental for scaling up solar adoption statewide in the next few years. We still have many more rooftops to reach.”

Other California cities rounding out the top solar ten include:

- Los Angeles
- San Jose
- San Francisco
- Fresno
- Bakersfield
- Santa Rosa
- Roseville
- Clovis
- Sacramento

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that California has the capacity to reach more than 80,000 megawatts of rooftop solar. That would be more than a third as much electricity as California uses in one year.

Michelle Kinman commented ” With the right leadership, San Diego can continue to lead the nation in transitioning to a clean energy future.”

San Diego is the birthplace of California, it’s first city and now America’s Solar City. 

Two thumbs up for California’s top solar cities! Let’s see if America’s other top cities will be motivated to challenge the Golden State’s rooftop solar success.

Check out the report California’s Solar Cities 2012.

San Diego is America’s Solar City

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How Current Solar Panel Technology Can Eliminate Your Monthly Electricity Bill
By Kathy Morrison

Early adopters of creating solar energy at and for residential homes are growing. Recently, my mom even had solar panels installed on her roof. Not only does this system generate all the electricity she’ll ever need, it will generate a surplus which she gets credit for!

I pay about $250 a month for electricity. When you consider that cost could go away entirely for some number of years, it’s a small fortune!

Here are five factors that indicate whether considering this technology now makes sense for you.

First, the cost of buying or leasing a new solar panel system for your roof is a huge factor. Fortunately, the cost here is coming down, fast. There can also be system purchase or lease incentives (price reductions) offered at certain times of the year.

Second, the government rebate program(s) available to you at the time of signing has been a major plus historically as it could reduce the cost substantially. My mother’s total rebate was 70% of $40,000. Each year what is available in terms of rebates changes and it also depends on where you live.

Third, what your home gets for southern exposure is a big factor. If your home has little or no southern exposure, this will probably not be something you can pursue now, while at your current home. Some people think that because they have a wide open, unused field right next to their house, this problem goes away. It doesn’t. The cost for a photovoltaic system that is stand-alone goes up exponentially, at least at this writing. This is not going to be financially feasible for you given what is currently available here and its current cost.

Fourth, the flanking usable roof surface footage for the portion facing south is another thing that must be considered. If you have dormers, for example, it disrupts the continuity and will drop your usable footage for solar panel installation.

Fifth, the amount of daylight and sunny days your region gets annually on average counts a lot. If you live in Seattle, Washington or Portland, Oregon, for example, the numbers may not work out for you based on where the technology and cost is at today.

I worked with Solarcity and Sungevity earlier this year. Both are knowledgeable firms. With their help, you’ll be able to answer each of these questions.

There is one more thing to consider which is different from the 5 factors I’ve already covered, but perhaps equally important. It has to do with your electrical consumption. You might think any excess you don’t need you’d get credit for, etc. Well, how a credit is handled is not always the same. It depends on your utility and where you live. My mom, for example looses any credit she has accumulated at the end of the calendar year. Contrast that with (I’m told), some utilities in some parts of the country will actually cut you a check and pay you directly for the energy, on a regular basis.

Also, even though I had a south facing house and roof, the usable surface area was not very much. The system would only be able to handle about 30% of my electricity needs. My break-even point would be just 3 years. But, since I wasn’t getting much of my bill paid for, I’ve decided to hold out for more efficient photovoltaic technology that has a smaller footprint. It’s a calculated chance I’m taking. The technology may take 10 or 15 years to become available. I hoping it will be just a few! It was a 15 year lease I’d be locked into. I simply want to keep my options open for right now.

Every situation is different. And I know that for many of you, the timing is going to be perfect to pursue this now!

Kathy writes about a variety of topics in addition to green issues in her blog: http://www.wrappedbeautifully.com/scarves-now/wb-in-being-more-green.

Reduce Monthly Electricity Bill with Solar Panels

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Date: 2012-01-17, 5:47PM EST
Reply to: see below

Astrum Solar is a rapidly-growing company whose goal is to spread solar power to rooftops across the U.S., targeting residential customers. We aim to innovate in the sales and marketing of solar to consumers and to make it easy and exciting for homeowners to utilize solar energy.

We are currently seeking Project Leads in the New York tri-state area. Areas of activity may include Westchester, Rockland and surrounding counties, northern New Jersey and Fairfield County, Connecticut.

Project Lead
As our customers’ point of contact between the sale of the system and the completion of the installation, the Project Lead is in a mission-critical role, guiding Astrum’s customers through the installation process and ensuring that each system installation is completed correctly, efficiently and in a timely manner. The Project Lead will also guide the project through the various state and local regulations, facilitate communication between the customer and Astrum and ensure that the project proceeds smoothly.

Responsibilities:
• Communicate regularly with customers about the progress of their installation
• Acquire necessary permits
• Guide projects through any homeowners’ associations, historic preservation or zoning issues
• Guide the installation team’s interactions with the customer
• Coordinate inspections and interconnections with the customer, local jurisdiction and the relevant utility
• Ensure projects are completed within scheduled timeframes
• Attend inspections and resolve any problems to ensure that systems pass inspections
• Track progress through project management software

Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree with 2 years of experience in construction, project management and/or customer service, OR Journeyman license (any trade) with 4 years residential experience
• Experience using Windows 7, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook
• Valid driver’s license

Benefits:
Astrum Solar is committed to providing a valuable suite of benefits to help attract, retain and reward the best and the brightest. We offer a work/life balance through:
• Paid holidays
• Personal and sick time off
• Basic life insurance
• Personal accident insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Direct deposit/e-PayStub
• Optional voluntary insurance benefits

In addition, full-time employees have additional options:
• A choice from up to 4 group medical plans
• Dental and vision coverage
• Commuter benefits, if applicable
• Adoption assistance
• 401(k) plan

To Apply:
Please submit your resume to http://www.astrumsolar.com/careers.

For more information about Astrum Solar, please visit us at http://www.astrumsolar.com.

Astrum Solar is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

Location: White Plains, NY

Jobs In Solar: Project Lead (White Plains, NY)

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Here’s a DIY Batch Solar Hot Water Heater:

Batch Solar Water Heater

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solar roof in Germany

Thousands of San Diego residents who have rooftop solar have made their opinions clear to local utility San Diego Gas & Electric. SDG&E says that when a solar system owner wants to send their excess electricity back to the grid it costs money to distribute that energy. The utility claims that it’s unfair for non-solar residents to pay for solar owners to distribute their electricity. SDG&E wants to start charging solar owners a fee called a “Network Use Charge” to distribute the energy back to the grid.

While SDG&E debuted their new Energy Innovation Center, Solar owners held a protest outside.  The proposed hefty fee would’ve caused a substantial increase in electricity bills for residential, commercial and educational solar customers. If the fee had been approved critics argue thousands of jobs would be lost in the California solar industry. One protester claims he knows of people who have cancelled their solar installations because of the proposed fee.

But, San Diego area solar owners will be relieved to hear that today brought a stop to SDG&E’s planned distribution fee. California’s Public Utility Commission or CPUC has rejected SDG&E’s proposed Network Use Charge on the grounds that it was a new fee and as such illegal under California law.

The CPUC did order SDG&E to submit a new rate proposal by February 17th and reasons for the increase that would not include the idea of a Network Use Charge.

Here’s KUSI’s report on the “Solar Tax”:

San Diegans Rebel Against Solar Tax

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CalFinder has answers 5 of the most common complaints (theories/rumors really) regarding solar power. More solar installations occurred in the last quarter of 2011 than all of 2009!

Here are fact-based answers to common complaints against the use of solar power.

Visit Calfinder.

Five Complaints Against Solar Power

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MIT research scientists Alexander Mitsos and Corey Noone discovered that the heliostat (mirror) design that is typically used in concentrated solar power arrays aren’t as efficient as they could be.

They found that the staggered movie theater-type of mirror placement was actually casting shadows on the other mirrors reducing the reflection of light to the tower. Computer models were used to find out what degree of change in placement would perform best. They found that reducing the space between heliostats and rows reduced space used by 10 percent without losing reflected light.

Further study led to an interest in nature’s repeating patterns. It was discovered that a sunflower’s florets are oriented toward the next floret at a 137.5 degree angle called the “Golden Angle.” More computer models experimented with turning mirrors to the Golden Angle degree and the researchers found out they reduced the land space by 20%.

By mimicking the sunflower’s spiral pattern the amount of shading and shadowing on the mirrors was also reduced creating more reflective efficiency. The study showed by using this pattern a concentrated solar power plant could use less land and few heliostats which would reduce the cost of materials, installation, operation and maintenance.

More details at MIT.

Using Sunflowers to Improve Concentrated Solar Power

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Date: 2012-01-13, 4:53PM EST
Reply to: see below

Job Description:

The Crew Lead will report into the regional Operations Manager and will function as the lead PV technician for SolarCity. They will meet with clients to coordinate the completion of the array and all related equipment necessary to provide a complete and working photovoltaic system.

Responsibilities include:

The Crew Lead will provide leadership and technical expertise photovoltaic installation teams. In this position, the Crew Lead will communicate the necessary job status data to the SolarCity operations management team to assure the successful operation of complete and working systems. The ideal candidate will also lead efforts for safe working practices for the SolarCity installation team.

Requirements:

• Must have a minimum of two years of PV installation experience, including at least 6 months of leading a crew of two.
• Proficiency in installing all types of grid-tied inverters & able to work with various ground and roof mount racking systems.
• Understanding of the NEC codes that relate to PV installations.
• Must be very organized and be able to meet aggressive timelines.
• Willing to do residential, commercial & service work.
• Willing to work in extreme environments (hot sun, high places/roofs, and crawl spaces).
• Be able to lift at least 100 pounds.
• Must have a valid driver’s license with a clean driving record.
• Must have excellent interpersonal and communication skills; must deliver a high level of customer service.
• All candidates must submit and be able to pass a background check and drug test

About SolarCity

SolarCity® is a national leader in solar power and energy efficiency services. The company’s mission is to help millions of homeowners and businesses adopt clean power to reduce pollution and save money. SolarCity’s financing options can make it possible for many homeowners and businesses to switch to solar power for less than they currently pay for electricity. The company also offers a range of energy efficiency services, including efficient heating, cooling and lighting, and is a leading provider of electric vehicle charging stations. The U.S. Department of Energy named SolarCity a Green Power Supplier of the Year in 2010, and Fast Company Magazine called it one of the 50 most innovative companies in the world in 2011. SolarCity’s 25 office locations serve more than 2,000 communities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas and Washington, D.C.

To Apply: Please apply via our website: http://www.solarcity.com/hr/446/66/PV-Crew-Lead.aspx

• Compensation: Competitive + Benefits

Jobs In Solar: Solar Crew Lead-New Jersey Area

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• solar energy jobs in new jersey 2012