Solarize Troy is a group of volunteers in Troy, New York that have come together with the goal of bringing solar panels to Troy residents at a reduced price. The concept is to gather community stakeholders and have them educate the community through local outreach, gather a group of interested buyers, collaborate to find a solar installer, and negotiate a lower price in exchange for the sheer volume of purchases. Basically, volunteers gather enough interested buyers in Troy to get a 'buy-in-bulk' discount from a solar installer of their choosing. The goal is to get a low enough price to provide the incentive for a large group to convert from fuel based energy sources to solar.
Why would the solar companies go for this when they can find their own customers? It actually turns out that offering a lower is worth it for the solar companies because the solarize volunteers have already done a lot of the legwork involved in community outreach and marketing, not to mention the purchasers are already screened and informed interested buyers. This business model, known as a solarize purchasing cooperative, has been a success in the Southeast Portland community and others across the country.
Solarize Troy started with a former project manager for IBM some other locals that were already involved with Transition Troy and Transition Albany, other local initiatives that pursue adaptation for climate change and sustainability. The group came together as the 'steering committee' and reached out to residents to see who was interested. By June 2014 that had about 75 interested homeowners. The group then sent out a proposal to solar vendors that include not just specifics on pricing, but also product quality requirements and company responsibility. They got a handful of responses and after consideration chose RGS Energy, a regional provider based in Vermont. After the discounts RGS gave Solarize Troy and the government tax credits and rebates, it ends up being that the homeowners end up paying $6500 for a $30,000 panel. Not too shabby.
Incentives from the government coupled with Solarize initiatives like this spreading to communities across the county, professionals expect most homeowners to convert to solar energy within a few years. The way it will happen is that the demand for solar will be driven up, buying increases, and prices will eventually follow because the incentives will fade out. And that's exactly the point of the incentives and solarize initiatives, to increase demand across the country until those incentives aren't needed anymore to make solar energy viable for a larger audience in the market. There are skeptics, such as the Greenpeace activist Danny Kennedy, that believe the relationship between our government and regulated energy monopolies will push back against solar energy from taking over the market. In an interview Danny Kennedy calls these energy monopolies "King CONG" for the major corporations in the coal, oil, nuclear, and gas industry (I thought CONG was a brilliant name). Skeptics, including myself, think that the government isn't going to just let the solar industry grow and take over a lot of the market because a major shift to solar energy would disrupt the centralized power, shifting the power of the energy industry towards the people. However, I also agree with Danny K. when he said that a shift to solar is possible with enough "social will and political pressure" society can beat King CONG by being "smarter, better, and cheaper", and I think that is exactly what initiatives like Solarize Troy are accomplishing.
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Why would the solar companies go for this when they can find their own customers? It actually turns out that offering a lower is worth it for the solar companies because the solarize volunteers have already done a lot of the legwork involved in community outreach and marketing, not to mention the purchasers are already screened and informed interested buyers. This business model, known as a solarize purchasing cooperative, has been a success in the Southeast Portland community and others across the country.
Solarize Troy started with a former project manager for IBM some other locals that were already involved with Transition Troy and Transition Albany, other local initiatives that pursue adaptation for climate change and sustainability. The group came together as the 'steering committee' and reached out to residents to see who was interested. By June 2014 that had about 75 interested homeowners. The group then sent out a proposal to solar vendors that include not just specifics on pricing, but also product quality requirements and company responsibility. They got a handful of responses and after consideration chose RGS Energy, a regional provider based in Vermont. After the discounts RGS gave Solarize Troy and the government tax credits and rebates, it ends up being that the homeowners end up paying $6500 for a $30,000 panel. Not too shabby.
Incentives from the government coupled with Solarize initiatives like this spreading to communities across the county, professionals expect most homeowners to convert to solar energy within a few years. The way it will happen is that the demand for solar will be driven up, buying increases, and prices will eventually follow because the incentives will fade out. And that's exactly the point of the incentives and solarize initiatives, to increase demand across the country until those incentives aren't needed anymore to make solar energy viable for a larger audience in the market. There are skeptics, such as the Greenpeace activist Danny Kennedy, that believe the relationship between our government and regulated energy monopolies will push back against solar energy from taking over the market. In an interview Danny Kennedy calls these energy monopolies "King CONG" for the major corporations in the coal, oil, nuclear, and gas industry (I thought CONG was a brilliant name). Skeptics, including myself, think that the government isn't going to just let the solar industry grow and take over a lot of the market because a major shift to solar energy would disrupt the centralized power, shifting the power of the energy industry towards the people. However, I also agree with Danny K. when he said that a shift to solar is possible with enough "social will and political pressure" society can beat King CONG by being "smarter, better, and cheaper", and I think that is exactly what initiatives like Solarize Troy are accomplishing.
Word Count: 583
Sources:
- Kickstarting the Sun — Metroland. (Katelynn Ulrich). Retrieved September 12, 2014, from http://metroland.net/2014/07/17/kickstarting-the-sun/
- Rooftop Revolution: How Solar Energy Is Putting Power Back in the Hands of the People | Alternet. Retrieved September 12, 2014, from http://www.alternet.org/environment/rooftop-revolution-how-solar-energy-putting-power-back-hands-people?page=0%2C1
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