Nami's Comments

Dear Burnett,

Thank you for providing those resources. I personally don't consider Vanity Fair, The New York Times, and Huffington Post to be "word of mouth blogs." But, since you did list "shaleblog.com" as a resource, we simply differ in opinion. :)

In addition, I also support local energy - especially if it is clean, renewable local energy, such as residential solar. Can't get much more local than panels producing energy right on your roof, installed by local solar installers.

Thanks!

Dear Anonymous, regarding clerical errors - yes while these violations may include clerical errors, 952 of them were identified as impacting the environment.

Dear Walls, I'm confused as to what you're calling "BS". Are you saying that it's "BS" that hydraulic fracturing is damaging the environment and impacting thousands of people in the U.S.? Or are you focusing on the NY actor? Or are you focusing on the word, "fracking" v. "fraking"? Fracking is commonly used to shorten hydraulic fracturing - I'm aware there is no K in fracturing.

Thank you both for your feedback, however.

This is a great post. Thanks for the summary of the report!

Thanks, Steve! It's great to know we're all in this together. :)

I second that.

Dear Steve,
It's disheartening to see how quickly you could write off a solar cause as merely a sales and marketing tactic. As President Obama made clear yesterday during his Oval Office speech, our nation needs to "rally together and act as one nation" to speed up the transition to clean energy. SunRun being a solar company neither belittles nor dismisses the cause. The cause is for 10,000 solar roofs - not specifically SunRun solar roofs.

Facebook Causes is an especially great platform for reaching out to people to rally behind a movement. There have been many causes that have started out small but grown quickly to spread awareness.

I speak on behalf of myself, not as SunRun. I'm a recent graduate deeply invested in sustainability and I'm disappointed that someone on Renewable Energy World could so quickly write off a cause for clean energy in our nation because a company started it. A company is still part of a community and I would think this is especially the case in the solar community, as we are all rallying behind one movement for clean, solar power.

I agree that we need to think big. It's time to think big and act big. But big movements are often made of or start as many smaller ones.

["You never want a serious crisis to go to waste," explained Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel when talking about the financial meltdown of 2008. "And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."]

Not only should this crisis be an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before, but also one to do things you could have done before but didn't and should. Technology for renewable energy is out there and has been out there and this recent crisis should be a wake up call that it's imperative to act. Solar technology has been around for a while and it's getting more financially viable all the time. http://bit.ly/solarroofs is the cause for 10,000 solar roofs in 2010 in the U.S. It's time we act.

I personally feel very strongly about the first and fifth commentary noted by the author. Embracing renewable energy in light of this recent disaster seems like common sense... It's so easy to forget the costs that come with dirty energy, when those costs aren't necessarily monetary. I think everyone should join the solar roofs challenge - 10,000 solar roofs in the U.S. in 2010, no matter the company, no matter the installer - just solar homes everywhere in the nation. Please join so we can grow the movement for clean energy. http://bit.ly/solarroofs

Dear Jennifer-Zajac,

Maintenance and repair services for residential solar installations can be a hassle, but there are companies out there that take complete care of your system. If you go solar with SunRun (www.sunrunhome.com), you can not only get a home solar power system for as low as $0, but they take care of installation, maintenance, monitoring, repair, and inverter replacement so you don't have to worry.

Hope this helps :)

Working with a solar financing company, such as SunRun (where I work)is also another way the customer can receive quality assurance and reduce perceived risk. SunRun (www.sunrunhome.com) partners with the top solar installation companies in the nation and thus plays the part of narrowing down the field of numerous solar companies. Also, the purchasing risk is also reduced because you can go solar for as low as $0 and simply pay a low, monthly rate for your electricity, like you pay your utility.

Nami

"It seems that these disasters like oil spills and coal mine collapses are going to keep happening until we move to cleaner, safer, renewable energy."

I completely agree, the oil spill and coal mining disaster should indeed be a wake up call. There's a cause, 10,000 solar roofs in 2010, that people should join to spread awareness of this very fact. http://www.causes.com/causes/484512

And @4r4nd0mninj4 - coming up with the cash can indeed be hard but that's why there are solar leases and PPAs available, as the author mentioned. One such company is SunRun (www.sunrunhome.com) (where I work) - we offered the nation's first solar PPA and makes home solar affordable - you can go solar for as low as $0 and start saving (installation, maintenance, etc. all included.)

This is great news! such great solar leadership is one of the reasons why we here at SunRun chose to partner with Mercury in New Jersey, to bring affordable solar to homeowners. Quality panel monitoring and evaluation are important and we're proud to say that we work with such an innovative installation partner to offer our SunRun power plans.

Learn more about mercury & sunrun's parternship on our site (www.sunrunhome.com).

Best,
Nami

As a '09 grad, I was amazed to see how many of my classmates moved on to careers in sustainability - its inspiring and motivating! I'm a recent grad now working as a marketing analyst at SunRun, one of the nation's leading residential solar companies with thousands of customers across the U.S. In regards to networking with other solar advocates out there, I create content for our site www.sunrunhome.com and our blog, www.sunrunhome.com/blog, manage our FB fan page, twitter (@sunrun, @sunrun_nami), as well as help out with other outreach events.

Being in the bay area is great if you want to connect to other renewable energy enthusiasts, especially young professionals. This is a great industry and I'm glad so many of my peers are contributing to our transition to clean energy!

Great post, Pamela! Hopefully more people will realize that these solar misconceptions are just that -- misconceptions -- and that solar is a smart and simple way to cut energy usage/costs, secure the grid & the environment. We here at SunRun are proud of helping make solar low-cost & low-risk, as you said, and look forward to bringing solar to the roofs of homeowners all across the country!

Interesting idea! It's definitely important that people realize that solar is indeed affordable, or can be through different financing options.