|  dysviz | Dec 10, 2007 9:41pm | i want to discuss the nuts and bolts of ecodesign, greenbuilding, and solar DH waterheating with others, to pool our knowledge, bounce off new brainwaves, show proposals, sketches, etc.
Anybody have any experience with the solarenrgy as a service, where you pay a monthly flat rate, same as present powerbill, for all your hotwater and electricity?
i know some utilities are offering this service, i shall dig up some links next!
here is one such story;
Solar Energy Provider for Property Owners Closes $200M Fund
Morgan Stanley Providing Financing for Solar Power Projects Targeted at Institutional Property Investors
Financial services firm Morgan Stanley has pledged $200 million in financing for solar power projects hosted by Recurrent Energy, a San Francisco-based provider of solar energy to institutional property owners.
The solar project fund will provide $100 million in financing for projects next year and an additional $100 million in 2009, according to Recurrent.
"Morgan Stanley is a leader in the industry and their commitment to financing renewable energy has been clear from the start," Recurrent Founder and CEO Arno Harris said in a statement. "We look forward to putting this new fund to work quickly to help our clients transform empty rooftops into value-generating, sustainable assets."
Recurrent, which raised an initial $10 million in funding in March, began negotiating with Morgan Stanley earlier this year, Harris said in his blog. The firm launched in 2006 and has yet to publicly disclosed any of its clients, but Harris wrote that with the fund in place, Recurrent "can offer our customers and partners the added certainty of knowing we have capital lined up ... with a leading investment bank."
The firm is one of several new groups offering solar energy via purchase power agreement (PPA), an innovative financing platform allowing customers to tap solar power without a costly investment.
Under Harris' version of the PPA, which he calls 'Solar as a Service', Recurrent installs, operates and maintains solar panels on the customer's rooftop, selling the renewable energy to the user at prices guaranteed to be competitively priced with utility rates.
Harris has targeted owners of large real estate portfolios, such as institutional investors and REITs, where his Solar as a Service model could operate with the greatest efficiency. Recurrent estimates that these real estate owners possess about 8.5 billion square feet of U.S. rooftop space, more than half of which is suitable for photovoltaic installations.
The PPA structure is gaining ground both among solar providers -- which profit from the sale of the energy and frequently have much of their expenses offset by government incentives -- and among customers, who benefit from on-site solar energy without having to buy or maintain the hardware.
MMA Renewable Ventures, a solar energy provider also offering a PPA platform, has received equity investments from Wells Fargo & Co., Citibank and John Hancock Financial Services. It has completed projects for Estee Lauder and Fetzer Vineyards and is currently installing a solar system for apparel chain Gap Inc.
here is a link to an outfit renting out to homeowners;
renu.citizenre.com [renu.citizenre.com]
The Citizenrē REnU program is the first to give you the chance to adopt green energy in your home without having to make a huge investment.
Our REnU program takes care of all the usual headaches and does it with the most attractive terms in the industry.
read more
Citizenrē REnU technology takes the idea of solar power to a new and simpler level.
Our revolutionary technology provides superior system-wide efficiency and control, and makes your overall electric service more responsive, more reliable, and more renewable!
read more
Citizenrē is also your connection to the world of green energy.
Our education section provides great information about solar power and other renewable energy, as well as the latest information on global warming and what clean-energy steps you can take now.
another site i like a lot is passivesolarenergy.info [passivesolarenergy.info]
very sensible advice for simple sunroom housedesign, have not gone so far as to buy their cd or book, i have this sort of design stuff on file someplace anyway i have the principles in my head, but these folks do a fine job of puttting the priciples on one page, including diagrams of solar path, roofoverhangs, and more.
highly recommended! |
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