Archive for the ‘General Interest’ Category

When it comes to solar energy you can get pretty creative. We found a list of 15 Wacky Solar Power Products from Calfinder. The list includes everything from solar window curtains to a solar powered bra. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go purchase a solar bra.

The groSolar Marketing team has been hard at work brainstorming some out of the box ad concepts and rolling them out. Look for our new ads throughout our direct markets in the coming months in print and online!

A bit more of an in-your-face ad we are testing in Vermont:

Wired: “Bloom vs. Solar: Which One Is Best?”

San Francisco Chronicle: “Solar bill will help California’s energy future”

New Hampshire Business Review: “PSNH solar proposal sparks objections”

Press Republican: “Bill would encourage solar, wind power”

Los Angeles Time: “Incentives to rise for home solar arrays“

I saw this picture on a Treehugger slide show, and laughed because of the image. Then I laughed even harder when I read the quote from the photographer, Jesse Fox:

I came across this scene last week outside the Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. One solar firm’s attempt to make some sort of metaphorical statement about the business? Or just a convenient, live billboard? The camel’s owner, whom I found sitting a few steps away, could provide no clues.

It’s winter in Vermont and the lakes and ponds have been frozen for a few months which means that the ice fisherman are out in full force. It’s not uncommon to see ponds speckled with ice shanties (or bobhouses, depending on where you are from) which offer an escape from the cold, blustery temperatures on the ice. But how often do you see a solar ice shanty like this one? Check out the homemade solar air heating panel. Simply face south and the shanty stays nice and toasty!

The San Diego Union-Tribune: “Bill gives solar-power credits to more users”

San Jose Mercury News: “Pilot program could bring more solar panels to cities such as Cupertino”

EnergyBoom.com: “U.S. Renewable Energy Industries Say Long-Term Growth Reliant on Government Action”

The Quincy Cove: “Massachusetts Initiating Solar Reform with Government Grants”

The Baltimore Sun: “Maryland Aims For 100,000 Solar Rooftops in 10 Years“

Walt Ratterman 1952 - 2010

Walt Ratterman, of SunEPI.org had been missing in Port au Prince, Haiti since the earthquake on January 12th. Sadly late Sunday night, February 7th,  Walt’s family was notified that their worst fears were confirmed, Walt was one of the thousands that perished in the devastating earthquakes that paralyzed Haiti.

Walt was a great advocate and champion of the solar industry as well as humanitarianism. Walt was selflessly devoted to helping the less fortunate and worked with many organizations for many wonderful causes including Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) and Partners In Health (PIH) in Haiti to improve the delivery of energy to health care facilities, work in Rwanda, Jordan, and Palestine with Engineers Without Borders – International, and Solar Energy International to provide photovoltaics training for engineers in Jordan and the West Bank, Palestine.


” In between installs, Walt would be somewhere on the other side of the planet, either delivering pallets of blankets to Afghanistan, or setting up a microhydro unit in the mountains of the Philippines, or teaching small villages in India about community solar.   We would receive emails from Walt, from some remote locale, using his solar powered satellite connected laptop that he carried everywhere.    True to form, Walt died doing what he loved to do, helping the people of Haiti.”

-Richard Deutschmann

groSolar VP Policy & Market Development

The loss of Walt Ratterman will be felt throughout the world but his legacy and work will live on through his family, friends, and the lives of those he touched. Our deepest condolences go out to Walt’s friends and family, the world is better off for having had him in it.

The New York Times Blog: “Renewables Industry Promotes Its Potential”

Business Week: “Banks Lured by ‘Sexy’ Solar, Wind Energy Projects”

Ecologist: “What’s stopping us getting solar power from deserts?”

Solve Climate Blog: “Anxious Geothermal, Solar Industries Looking to U.S. Interior for a Hand“

If you haven’t heard, groSolar sponsored NASCAR driver, Leilani Munter for a race in Daytona this past Saturday. Yep, a solar company sponsoring a race car driver. Seems kind of off-brand, right? Actually, it allows us to send an environmental message to over 75 million race fans.

“We all have carbon footprints,” says Leilani Münter, one of racing’s few female drivers. “It’s more obvious for me because you can turn on the TV and actually see me burning my fossil fuels. ‘There’s Leilani being the hypocrite, taking laps around the track!’ But everybody takes a car to work or gets on a plane. It’s impossible to be perfect. It’s totally about doing what you can.” Which is not easy when you’re in NASCAR. After watching An Inconvenient Truth in 2006, Münter decided to make her environmental passion public. “It was not taken well,” she told me. “I had marketing people tell me, ‘You need to just shut up and drive your race car.’”

Find out more about Leilani at CarbonFreeGirl.com.

Upcoming photographer and journalist, Ian Jansen-Lonnquist, put together a great video for Project Survival Media from his photographs of the installation at RSD Companies in White River Junction, VT and his interview with groSolar’s Bryan Carroll.