Senator Proposes Ten Million Solar Roofs in Ten Years!
Thursday, March 11th, 2010Solar installations in the U.S. will be cheaper than ever, if Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has his way. He’s working on the Ten Million Solar Roofs Act that could create one million well-paying jobs and provide 10% of U.S. energy. If the bill passes, we’d see federal rebates of $1.75 per watt to cover up to half the cost of a new solar system. This is on top of the current 30% federal solar tax credit and many state incentives.
Sanders’ goal is to install ten million solar panels and 200,000 solar water heaters on American homes and businesses. This would generate 30,000 megawatts of PV electricity, tripling U.S. solar energy capacity.
Another smart thing about this bill is that it encourages distributed energy. Basically, it is much quicker and easier to install solar on buildings already connected to an electricity grid than to deal with the headache of building a new power plant and transporting the energy to people who need it.
The fact is, solar is good for the U.S. Families with solar panels save money on their electricity bills and increase home values. And, as we at 1BOG know, solar installations create many more long-term jobs than a coal or nuclear plant.
In a recent Grist interview, Sanders states: “The average nuclear power plant will produce about 1,000 megawatts for that $10 billion dollars. [With solar] we can produce 30,000 megawatts for $30 billion and they’re going to produce it for $300 billion.”
Hmm, does spending an unnecessary $270 billion during a recession sound a little odd? We thought so. If you’d rather go with Bernie’s idea, then call your senators and tell them how you feel! Here at 1BOG we’re excited about this meaningful step toward energy independence and green job incentives.
Howdy, Texas 1BOGers! We’re excited to announce the launch of 1BOG’s first Texas solar program in San Antonio today. We know Texas gets a lot of sun and homeowners use a lot of energy to keep themselves cool. That makes the state the perfect place for solar – and for 1BOG!
San Francisco, Calif. – February 17, 2010 – One Block Off the Grid (1BOG), the nation’s largest solar group purchase company, today announced the launch of San Antonio’s first solar group purchasing campaign and 1BOG’s first ever campaign in Texas. Homeowners throughout the entire city of San Antonio can now sign up for free to join 1BOG’s San Antonio solar campaign for the group discount rate of only $4.80 per DC watt, the lowest solar price ever offered to any 1BOG community. After a rigorous evaluation of solar installation companies, 1BOG selected solar installer Standard Renewable Energy (SRE) as its campaign partner to service the San Antonio 1BOG community.
Last Friday, we held our first customer appreciation lunch with three wonderful customers from our first campaign: Thomas and Joyce Beutel and Maria Chacon. As a way to help build real dialogue and community around going solar, 1BOG is going to have regular customer feedback sessions so that we can keep working to meet your needs and work toward our goal of tipping the scales for solar adoption. 
If you’ve been thinking about solar, CPA Kenton Smith’s 
Great news, 1BOGers! Today we announced the first ever group purchase of solar on the east coast. We chose New Jersey for its great state and utility rebates. The incentives are so good that our CEO Dave Llorens commented, “I want to move to Jersey and buy homes, just to put solar on them.”
