Tag Archives: residential
Net Metering: Why California Solar Needs It
For so many Californians who have chosen to install a solar electric system, the phrase Net Metering is simply a way of describing the way power from roof-top solar panels will reduce their own electric consumption and spin the meter backwards. But Net Metering also allows owners of solar systems to receive credit for clean [...]
WTF? Residential Solar So Much Cheaper in Germany
In a follow-up to a 2012 study conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL), researchers found that the average number of man-hours to install a PV system on a residence in Germany is 39. That’s a significant difference from the 7.5 man-hours LBL’s researchers found when they surveyed German PV installers in Sep. 2012, [...]
In Focus: On-Grid Solar Panel Systems
An on-grid solar panel system, also known as grid tied or grid-interactive, feeds excess power to the utility grid and pulls electricity from the grid when energy demand is greater than energy generation. On-grid energy systems are straightforward in their installation since no battery back-ups are necessary. The difference between on-grid and off-grid systems is [...]
Top 5 Mistakes of New Energy Auditors
No doubt if you follow energy or environmental issues, you’ve heard over and over again that the least expensive way to tackle our energy difficulties is through efficiency. One report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) suggested that $168.6 billion could be saved through energy efficiency by 2020. Still, some of those [...]
Microgrids: Ready to Launch
Whenever I come across an article like this on microgrids, i.e., “islands” of distributed energy generation, storage, and consumption that are not connected to a power utility, I look at the numbers. If I were a utility exec, how scared would I be about the incursion of microgrids into my turf? This article projects that [...]
Sungevity Scores $125M
Sungevity, the solar financing and solar software startup, just announced $125 million in new venture capital and project financing. It’s another sign that investors still see value in the downstream solar market. SolarCity (SCTY), recently public, is trading at $13.72 per share. The optimism embedded in SolarCity’s stock performance likely helps companies like Sungevity or [...]
Energy Benchmarking: $9 Billion Savings Potential
Energy benchmarking can unlock $9 billion in energy savings by 2020, suggests a recent report by the Institute of Market Transformation. Despite our lofty aspirations of energy independence and tackling global climate change, we are only beginning to implement the first step in the multifamily building sector – understanding our energy use. Multifamily housing has [...]
Why You Should Go Solar
The energy from the sun is powerful: Every year the earth receives 15.000 times more energy than the human consumption and many times the energy stored in the earth. Solar energy is environmentally friendly and will play a big part in the production of useful energy in the future. Some appliances we are going to [...]
Behavioral Science Can Increase Energy Efficiency Adoption
Utility operations are being forced to evolve as customer expectations shift, technological change continues and new players enter adjacent markets. As utilities chart their course in areas such as energy efficiency, smart grid, and distributed generation, they find themselves in unfamiliar positions. The second in our four-part series (See Part I by my colleague, Mat [...]