How to calculate the amount of kilowatt hours (kWh) your solar panel system will produce

Published on January 13, 2012 by Dan Hahn.
Categories: Buying Solar.

Interested to know how many kilowatt hours (kWh) your new solar panel system will kick out per year? All you gotta do is multiply the size of your system in kW by 78% of the number in the shaded region you live in the map below. Then, bingo you’re good to go!

For example, let’s say you live in Arizona and are thinking about installing a 5kW solar system.

For the sake of the example, lets say you’re living in the “2000″ shaded region.

Next, multiply 5 (since you’re considering a 5kw system) by 1560 (78% of “2000″ is 1560) to arrive at 7800 kWh.

That means on average your system will offset 650kWh from your monthly electric bill (7800 divided by 12 months equals 650 kWh).

If you’re paying $0.11/kWh, that amounts to $71.50 saved per month ($0.11 x 650 kWh = $71.50)!

Click here to get a customized solar quote for yourself!

How much surface area would be required to power the planet with solar?

Published on December 3, 2011 by Dan Hahn.
Categories: Infographics.

(click the image to enlarge it, courtesy of science-sc.com)

Solar Cynic Joe: 500k square kilometers? It might seem small on the world map, but that’s a whole ton of solar panels…

Science Geek Jane:: How cool!! That many panels would produce 94,000,000,000kWp, or 94 terawatts!

Solar Cynic Joe: BUT, that comes at a cost of $290.836 TRILLION (~5x global GDP). And that number renews every 25 years, because that’s the expected life of solar panels now.

Science Geek Jane: So it’s only about 10 Trillion a year? How much do we spend on energy a year now?

Nerdbot 2000: In 2006, Americans spent $1.158 trillion on energy (8.8% of GDP).
$10 trillion is about 16% of world GDP ($63 trillion). This project would represent the largest single piece of GDP every single year, overtaking health care.

Solar Cynic Joe: In the US, that’s $1.166 trillion a year that would need to come out of something else…

Science Geek Jane: …To power the our share of the entire world without fossils or nuclear? Hey that’s only two times the amount of our defense budget. Think about it.

Dave, Dan and Solar Fred: At the very least, get yourself a quote for solar on your home. We’re willing to bet the farm you won’t be looking at an estimate higher than 16% of GDP! You may be surprised at how good an investment solar panels are for your home.

How much money do I make in green jobs?

Published on November 16, 2011 by Dave Llorens.
Categories: 1bog, Affordable Solar.

One Block Off the Grid published some data about how much different green jobs pay. Check it out by clicking the image below.

Home Solar Power Discounts – One Block Off the Grid and Solar Power Rocks!

Cartoons can say more

Published on November 2, 2011 by Dan Hahn.
Categories: Vote Solar.

I love this cartoon. Not just because it’s easy to resound with an anti-establishment message, but because I’ve been active on some environmental discussion boards over the past 5 years. There have always, always been some blowhards piping in on why solar energy is not feasible. Reading over comments made by people like this, I can’t help but scratch my head and ask myself:

“Are these people being paid by large oil and gas companies?”

Why would you not want to invest in the future of our energy supply? The technology works, it’s getting more affordable every passing day, and we’ve already reached parity with the electric grid in many areas of the country.

Hundreds of years from now, our great great grandchildren will be astonished we were using coal to generate electricity when the technology to capture energy from the sun, wind, and water flows are abundant.

Perhaps those in control are simply loathe to consider how else they may live the lifestyles they’ve been accustomed to living off of the oil, nuclear, and gas dime.

Solar energy report on NPR’s Morning Edition Saturday

Published on October 29, 2011 by Dan Hahn.
Categories: Solar Trends.

I was surprised and excited to hear a comprehensive report on the state of the solar industry this morning on the radio. Although much of the solar related news these days has been about the Solyndra debacle, there’s a larger story which has been unfolding for 4 years now. The solar energy industry is growing faster than any other.

Listen for yourself!: [audio:http://workforceuniverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111029_wesat_06.mp3]

Don’t forget to get yourself a free quote! You may be surprised how affordable solar panels now can be installed on your roof.

Solyndra in perspective

Published on September 28, 2011 by Dan Hahn.
Categories: Infographics.

Right wingers are quick to point fingers at solar company Solyndra and their owners for waste after the government awarded them a multi-million dollar grant last year. Now, the company is bankrupt, a result of poor decision-making at the firm and a greedy few at the top.

No matter what industry you talk about, there are bound to be some bad apples out there. Hell, psychopathology runs rampant in a sizable portion of fortune 500 companies. Only a matter of time before you see some ill consequences of poor management in the solar industry.

Dave and his crew at 1bog have released another infographic to put the matter in a little better perspective. Yes, the font is a little small, click it to enlarge!

Serious about solar but could use a laugh?

Published on July 15, 2011 by Dan Hahn.
Categories: fun.

Here’s a great Colbert skewering of what the natural gas industry has been up to with their hydraulic fracking lobby:

Feel better about the country and your power bill by getting a solar quote!

U.S. government energy subsidies by type of electricity produced

Published on June 11, 2011 by Dan Hahn.
Categories: Infographics.

I made this chart this afternoon after being frustrated arguing with some coal wonks about how subsidies for renewables are a waste of taxpayer money.

These people are certainly entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. As you can see, coal, natural gas, and nuclear power receive multiple times the amount of government cheese as other renewables. These figures are straight from the U.S. Energy Information Association.

Please share and enjoy.

Solar power is exploding, getting cheaper – we’re here to help

Published on by Dan Hahn.
Categories: Affordable Solar.

You might be asking yourself what the above image has to do with solar power at all. Pretty colored rocks, right? Well, you’re right, those are pretty colored rocks. They’re actually grains of sand under a high powered microscope. By the way, solar panels are made of silicon, which is produced when you melt sand! So, boom there you go! Pretty cool, huh?

What’s even cooler than this, is the amount of solar panels produced and shipped over the past several years. Check out the graph below:

Mr. Dinwoodie (fun name, serious business) of Sunpower: “That 17 gigawatts installed in 2010 is the equivalent of 17 nuclear power plants — manufactured, shipped, and installed in one year. It can take decades just to install a nuclear plant. Think about that. I heard Bill Gates recently call solar “cute.” Well, that’s 17 gigawatts of ‘cute’ adding up at an astonishing pace.”

That’s right, last year the solar power industry installed roughly SEVENTEEN nuclear power plants worth of solar capacity. Nothing to sneeze at! The other good news about all this, is that companies are developing best practices for producing, installing, and educating people regarding how it all works. That includes us at Solar Power Rocks! That means, the cost to install solar have dropped significantly. Now, in many parts of the country from New Jersey, to Massachusetts, to Philadelphia to Los Angeles, your solar investment pays for itself in 6 years or less, and you get paid by your utility company afterward for them to be able to say they’re getting some power from a clean source like your roof!

What’s more, Dave over at One Block Off the Grid has made it so that even if you don’t have thousands of dollars lying around, you can still do this with a power purchase agreement, meaning you go solar at no cost upfront, and you get all the benefits of generating your own electricity still with a lower power bill. Sign up here for more information!

At Solar Power Rocks!, we’re dedicated to taking the “confusing” out of the entire process for you. We’re not interested to get more and more new customers. We’re mainly interested in helping people who have already reached out to us understand the whole process better. By signing up with 1Bog, you also sign up to be with us on our side too. You got a question? We answer it in an unbiased, friendly way. That’s the way we do business, and our values of integrity, authenticity, and helpful support guide everything we do. Curious about solar? Reach out here. We’ll be in touch.

Warm regards,

Dan, Dave (the 1Bog guy too!), and Solar Fred

One Block Off the Grid Expands with Solar Leasing

Published on May 27, 2011 by Dave Llorens.
Categories: 1bog, Affordable Solar.

Original article here from Susan Carpenter of the LA Times.

The group solar buying program, One Block Off the Grid, announced this week that it will begin offering leases for solar panel installations in addition to outright purchases.

Targeting homeowners who want to go solar to generate their own, renewable electricity but who don’t want to bear the entire cost burden up front, One Block Off the Grid’s solar lease lets consumers get a price estimate online without a salesman coming to their homes.

One Block Off the Grid is a San Francisco-based company that, since 2008, has been gathering homeowners in L.A. and other cities into buying groups that allow the company to negotiate a reduced solar-installation rate from a single contractor. The rate is typically 15% below market average.

In the Southern California Edison service area, an average 5.2-kilowatt installation purchased outright through the company costs $5.25 per watt, or $13,800 after rebates and incentives. The same installation financed with a 20-year lease would cost about $125 per month with zero money down.

Funded with referral fees from solar contractors, One Block Off the Grid has helped homeowners install 1,400 photovoltaic systems nationwide.

“The question was, ‘How do we get solar to mass adoption?’” asked One Block Off the Grid founder Dave Llorens.

Llorens thought the best strategy was to allow the individual players in a solar power installation to each do what they do best. One Block Off the Grid gives the price estimate. California Green Designs installs the panels and handles the paperwork for applicable rebates from L.A.-area utilities. And the firm Sun Edison provides financing when needed.

With its entry into the solar lease market, One Block Off the Grid joins Sungevity, Sun Run and five other companies offering solar leases to homeowners.

– Susan Carpenter

Photo: Rooftop solar panels. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times