$5,000 – that’s how much you could be getting paid in New Jersey this year, just for having solar panels on your roof.

It may come as a surprise, but New Jersey has the best financial incentives in the country for home solar power. The combination of high electricity rates, the federal tax credit, and solar renewable energy credits (which pay you for producing renewable energy) means a typical solar array will pay for itself in just 4 years. After that it’s free electricity and, thanks to the renewable energy credit market, a viable source of income for the next 11 years.

Even without a solar rebate, NJ beats every other state, even sunny California (where solar is immensely popular):

The two left columns show New Jersey solar payback time with and without a state rebate. No rebate = no problem.
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Woah. We have two truly incredible seats to the June 16th U2 show at Oakland Coliseum and in one month we’re giving them away to one lucky person! To enter the drawing to win , all you have to do is get one friend or neighbor to sign up for 1BOG. It’s free for them and there’s no obligation (for real).

To participate, CLICK HERE.

San Francisco, Calif. – March 22, 2010 – One Block Off the Grid (1BOG), the nation’s largest solar group purchase company, today announced the launch of its latest San Francisco solar campaign, which will offer homeowners in the city of San Francisco impartial advice and a group discount rate of $5.39 per watt on home solar panel installation. After a rigorous evaluation of local solar installers, 1BOG selected San Francisco-based Luminalt as campaign partner to service the 1BOG solar community for the city of San Francisco.

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Check out this video of 1BOG’s Dave Llorens, who visited his native New Orleans for the Pepsi Refresh Project, which doles out millions of dollars in grants each month to fund great ideas that have a positive impact on communities. Grants are submitted by consumers, then voted on by the community.

With $50,000, Dave Llorens helped five blocks of New Orleans’ homeowners go solar. What could you do? Go to www.RefreshEverything.com to get your ideas in!

A while back we wrote about how everyone seems to want to call us “ibog,” even if they know our name is “1bog.” We’ve gotten dozens of responses to the form on that page, some which make a lot of sense (“it looks like an i vs. a 1.”, “Saw article in Time and it sure looks like IBOG, not 1BOG.”), some not so much (“I bog, you bog, we all bog for cranberries?”)

…So I did the same with lbog, when someone asked me what lbog was while looking at my shirt yesterday.

Hi, this is Matt coming at you live and direct from the call center at One Block Off the Grid headquarters. We speak with thousands of people who are interested in going solar. It doesn’t matter whether you are looking to save money or save the world, we want to help guide you through the process of going solar. We offer unbiased advice and information to help you make the correct choices in your pursuit of energy independence.

After you go to 1bog.org, fill out our webform and provide all the requested information, you are part of the 1 Block Off the Grid Community. Not only will you have helped your friends and neighbors get a great deal on a photovoltaic solar system, but you will have taken the first step towards owning a solar system yourself.

What happens next?

One of the prequalification team members is going to call you, welcome you to the program and determine if solar is the right choice for you and your family. Unfortunately, solar is not right for every home. There are a variety of factors that will determine if solar will be cost effective for your home and we want to help you make a well informed decision. Here are the three major factors that we evaluate when we call:

1. Roof shading can be a major hurdle for solar efficiency. A solar panel is made of many individual silicon cells that, working together, change solar radiation into electricity. If one of the individual cells is shaded, it affects the entire panel. The amount of electricity produced is only as effective as the weakest link. If you have large trees that cast a shadow on your house, you’ll need to trim them if you want your panels to produce the amount of electricity of which they are capable.

2. Solar panels work best facing directly south. While this is ideal, not all homes have this possibility. The next best is facing southwest. Unfortunately, the further off of due south a panel faces, the less efficient it is. If you do not have a suitable south or south-west facing roof section for solar installation, you may need additional panels to get the electricity you require. Another solution to this problem is using a ground mount system. Instead of using your roof, we can mount the system directly on the ground.

3. Do the advantages of solar meet your needs?  One of the most attractive pieces of the solar puzzle is that a typical system will pay for itself in 8-10 years, while those who rely solely on an electrical company face ever-increasing rates. The money you save in electric bills will offset the price of the system and after it is paid for, you essentially get free electricity. The only draw back is that a household that spends a lot on electricity will more quickly recoup the cost of the system, while one with a low bill (typically less than $50) won’t recoup the cost as quickly. For some, there is still the incentive to purchase a system out of a commitment to the environment and reducing carbon footprints.

If your house passes this three part test,you are interested in getting your home evaluated for a solar installation, and you’re in an area where we’re running a current campaign, we will be happy to have the selected installer in your area contact you to make an appointment.

At 1Bog, we are committed to helping people adopt solar energy and reduce their dirty power consumption. Please give the team in the Prequalification department a call if you have any questions. Even if you just want to chat, we are here to help and offer advice.

One Block Off the Grid was founded with the intention of causing the tipping point in the adoption of affordable solar energy in as many places around the country as possible.  We’ve been enjoying the ride that has resulted from negotiating on behalf of communities for discounts on solar installations, and have learned some important lessons along the way.  One of those lessons has been that, despite innovative financing, increasing rebates, and lots of solar education, solar is sometimes not the best option for everyone.  Perhaps there are big trees blocking the sun from an otherwise willing roof.  Perhaps electricity isn’t consumed much in some households.  Or perhaps cost is just simply prohibitive.  There are many reasons why solar might not be right for some folks, and we’re well aware of this.

To help address this, and to help more people save money, green their lives, and lower energy consumption all at the same time, we decided to expand our model and offer group purchasing for home energy efficiency.  We searched far and wide, and eventually found Sustainable Spaces, and we couldn’t be more excited.  Sustainable Spaces is the Bay Area’s leading provider of energy audits and home energy efficiency retrofits.  We met with them a few times, only to come to the realization that we couldn’t continue our operation without offering the most cost-effective energy efficiency program out there to our members.  We negotiated a 15% discount on energy efficiency retrofits for our members, the largest pricing discount they’ve ever offered.  Basically, we went in search of an energy efficiency compliment to residential solar, and we hit the jackpot.

If your house is too cold, too hot, too drafty, moldy, if allergies or asthma are issues for your family, if your power bills are too high, or if you’ve been looking to make home improvements that will pay for themselves, energy efficiency retrofits with 1BOG and Recurve is probably a good bet!

Edit: As of late 2009, Sustainable Spaces has renamed itself Recurve.

Hundreds and hundreds of people have take our solar quiz. So how did they do? How much do people know about solar and what do they know? Find out which questions stumped them…

HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS THAT MORE THAN 50% OF OUR QUIZ TAKERS ANSWERED INCORRECTLY:

Basic Questions

California’s state rebate decreases as more people go solar – TRUE 47% answered correctly

7. Solar works better in cooler climates – TRUE 42%answered correctly

9. Solar is the most cost effective way to lower your electricity bills – FALSE 36% answered correctly

12. Solar panels are vulnerable to hail – FALSE 36% answered correctly

Intermediate

15. If I produce more electricity than i use, my utility has to write me a check because of net-metering laws – FALSE 43% answered correctly

16. Heliostats, or devices used to track the movement of the sun, can increase the efficiency of your solar system up to 200% – FALSE 19% answered correctly

17. In order to qualify for receiving the state rebate, installers must offer warranties of 10 years for their installation and inverters, and 20-25 years for panels – FALSE 14% answered correctly

19. When my power goes out, my solar system will keep my house running – FALSE 31% answered correctly

Advanced

Our advanced questions weren’t as hard as we thought and more than 50% of quiz takers got them right.  We must have smart quiz takers!

Since the dawning of One Block Off the Grid’s time, people have read “1BOG” as “iBOG“.  Even our own parents would ask us, “Honey, how are things with iBOG?”  I’m pretty sure our CEO once or twice called us iBOG (not really, but he has FOR SURE called us “1BLOG” before — probably daydreaming about Gas2.0).

Originally, we were very concerned that lots of people would never get over the “i” fascination, and we’d fail in our mission to bring low-cost solar energy to as many roofs as possible. We eventually won our battle to buy the URL “www.ibog.org“, so that solved that problem, and even the most “i” insistent could find their way to us. Great success! As a result of that, we got a glimpse into what made people think we were iBOG. A few of our favorites have included, “My fingers just type ibog,” “I have no idea,” and “Scut article logo itouch.” OK, I have to admit that I understand how someone could think that last one.

Honestly though, it’s caused an interesting problem around the One Block Off the Grid office.  Earlier today I heard someone say, “Hey man, can you pass me my 1pod?”  Unacceptable.  Later on, someone said, “Noo!  I cracked my 1phone!”  Sigh.

All that really matters though, is that we’re in the middle of launching campaigns in Los Angeles, San Diego, and New Orleans, bringing solar energy to lots and lots and lots of people.  Frankly, you can call us whatever you like (just not iBOG), as long as you help us spread the word in your city and keep on fighting the good fight.

P.S. (it’s not lbog either)

Our new website!  TA-DA ! It’s prettier, easier to use, and more exciting, or at least we think so.  You can learn about 1bog and see hot solar cities, right on the homepage.  You can check out your city, see what people are saying about us, and even get your own quote on the homepage.  We’ll miss the old website a little, but the new one has all of the same info and is well, just plain better. Don’t worry, we’ve kept the bogman front and center but have just given him a new home. Special thanks to our engineering team and we hope you like the new website.