Tel: (845) 626-2627   Home   Contact  
Sun Volt

Sun Volt Solar

earth, the final frontier

Clean Energy, Clean Environment

We are at a cross roads in human history, we can choose to continue on as we have been, or we can make a change to improve our future and quite possibly the future for several generations to come. We are here to promote energy independence, a better environment, a secure future and a higher return on investment for your hard earned dollar. It is what I believe in, it is why I am in the solar business.

Successful Solar Business course

31 Jul 07 | Solar Electric, Training

Solar Energy International has a Successful Solar Business course which is given a few times a year. The course is taught by a contractor with over 25 years in the solar energy business. It sounds like a great way to figure out how to get a fledgling solar business off the ground:

The PV market is ripe for growth! If you are considering launching a business in solar, do not miss this opportunity to meet and talk to successful solar business leaders in our country. Students will have a chance to learn what works and what doesn’t, and will walk away with the tools to start their new business. This workshop has an emphasis on PV installation businesses, but also will look at roles of distributors, solar thermal business, manufacturing, and international opportunities.

Topics Include

  • Typical Business Models
  • Solar Career Choices
  • Advertising & Marketing
  • Start-up Business Plan Models
  • Financing a Business
  • Setting up Accounts
  • Inventory
  • Business Taxes
  • Certifications & Licensing
  • Successful Solar Policies
  • Successful Case Studies
  • System Life Cost Analysis

It seems like a lot of good information. The next course is scheduled for September 24-27, 2007 at the Sandy Hook Educational Center, Sandy Hook, NJ. I have enrolled and look forward to picking the instructors brain on everything I can think of.

I will do a post course evaluation when I get back.

Tags:

31 Jul 07 | Solar Electric, Training | Comments (0)

Renewable Energy Business viability

19 Jul 07 | Business administration, Environment

As a part of writing a business plan, you have to project what your business is going to be in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, etc. This is a very hard thing to quantify if you have never been a particular business before.

Because this business involves installing renewable energy equipment, e.g. solar panels, wind turbines, etc. on new and existing structures, the sales and availability is the driving force. If there is a sudden shortage in solar panels, then there will be none to install, which would tend to have a bad effect on those how install them for a living.

Some research is required to find answers to these and other issues. Many of these statistics can be found on line, but there are a lot of web sites out there that have to be waded through to find some things. All this takes time of course. Then there are things that are driven by emotion. The prime question is why will some one spend an extra $20K to install photovoltiac panels on there house? What is the motivation for installing expensive wind generating equipment?

The answer can be complicated. Individual motivations may include but are not limited to:

  1. Environmental Concern. Installing renewable energy systems will reduce the amount of fossil fuels required to generate electricity for that particular house. Energy to run homes in the US accounts for about 22 percent of the total energy used. This includes all end users in the commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors.
  2. Return on investment. Renewable energy technologies use natural energy sources to generate electricity. The costs associated with this are the initial purchase and installation of the generating equipment, plus any yearly upkeep. To calculate a pay back, one would use the price of the conventional energy purchased over time vs. the cost of the renewable energy system. This will give a payback period after which the owner of the renewable energy system is considered to be making money by not purchasing conventional energy for the remaining equipment life. This is known as a “return on investment.”
  3. The coolness factor. Many people look at renewable energy as something new and interesting.
  4. Energy independence. Some people desire not to pay money to large businesses for a number of reasons. They see renewable energy systems as a means to gain partial control of a world that is mostly run by others.
  5. Because there is no other power source. In the case of remote cabins and other locations, renewable may be the only viable way to install an electric system.

Quantifying those motivations for a business plan are difficult. You cannot base a business on “coolness factor” unless you are talking about something like an iPod. Yet, it does exist as several people have told me when I was installing my solar panels that it would be really cool to have them installed on their house too.

There are other indicators of solar industry growth that are more tangible. These include increased production of photovoltaic and solar thermal panels. Some of these production increases are substantial and make a strong case for large growth in the solar industry. Others include statements by solar distributors that re-enforce the shortage of installers.

Above all, the business plan has to demonstrate that you can do the job. Not only do you need to be knowledgeable on the installation and other mechanics but also some business acumen is required. How are you going to generate sales (of your services or equipment). How are you going to manage installation work. How are you going to handle administrative functions, payroll, taxes, etc. These are all questions that should be answered in a good business plan.

Tags: ,

19 Jul 07 | Business administration, Environment | Comment (1)

Membership in Solar Energy International

07 Jul 07 | Solar Electric, Solar Hot Water, Training

I decided that I should join some of the solar groups out there for several reasons. One, I think it is wise to support the efforts of these groups in spreading the word and offering workshops. Two, I think it is a good way to network. The easiest one to join is Solar Energy International or SEI. They have several levels of membership, beginning at $25.00 and going all the way to $1000.00. I chose the $75.00 “Sustaining member” level. With this membership, I will get a discount at the workshops I plan to attend, and I also get a subscription to Home Power Magazine.

Home Power Magazine looks to be one of the more interesting magazines that cover renewable energy. I have visited their web site many times and they always of interesting up to date content.

There are other organizations out there that are also interesting, but for right now I am going to hold off sending in lots of membership dues until I get my feet on the ground.

Tags:

07 Jul 07 | Solar Electric, Solar Hot Water, Training | Comments (0)

The Greater Concern

06 Jul 07 | Commentary, Conservation, Environment

I was thinking about climate change, the human race and other things last night as I drove home. I often use the drive home to contemplate things that happened during the day, things I have heard or read, concerns, plans, etc.

Driving in my car with the air conditioner on it occurred to me that humans may not be able to grasp the big picture, at least not most of them. I say this because I am fairly environmentally conscious, however, because it was a little bit warm out, I saw the need to run the AC. It may seem like such a small thing, turning on the AC in your car, but I’ll bet that act alone uses hundreds of thousands, if not millions of gallons of gas every day. Why? So our hair doesn’t get blown around?

Think about a typical house. How much energy is used or wasted by us every day on things like not turning off the lights, wasting hot water, inefficient appliances, air conditioning set too low, heat set too high. I was reading one of those store catalogs once where it was describing a small blanket. The description stated “Perfect for taking the chill off an air conditioned room.” How about turning off the AC and opening a window if you are chilly?

We are all the center of our own universe. It seems, in spite of the fact that our current communications technologies are unprecedented, that universe is getting smaller. There is so much information available, important stuff, yet most people remain fixated on Paris Hilton, or themselves.

Changing our habits to prevent environmental disaster will require sacrifice. I don’t think it is in us to voluntarily take that on. Sure, there are some who will, but most will continue on as before, oblivious, until some misfortune befalls them and then woe is me.

In this country, there is a culture of consumerism and greed. If we cannot get around that mindset, than we will go no further than this. We are constantly bombarded with advertising for items that we don’t really need. The latest greatest video games, cell phones, toys, clothes, shoes, fast food, cars, etc. How much stuff do we really need?

We need to invest the energy that we have available today in developing and manufacturing renewable energy systems for tomorrow. The current abundance of high energy fossil fuels should be used cautiously and conserved rigorously, not only because it is good for the environment, our existence as a society depends on it. Otherwise we will be like the people of Easter Island, who cut down the last tree on the island in the early 1600’s, after which a great portion of the population starved to death.

Tags:

06 Jul 07 | Commentary, Conservation, Environment | Comments (0)

Make Me Sustainable

04 Jul 07 | Conservation, Environment

I managed to find this pretty cool social website called Make Me Sustainable. It is along the lines of My Space or Face Book, only it is for people who are concerned about the environment. It has a carbon calculator, which is not precise, but still it is fun to see what the effects of using a clothes line instead of an electric clothes dryer are.

Like all social networking sites, there is a profile page, where you can talk about yourself, add a picture, talk about the things you are doing to reduce your carbon emissions, etc. You can find people and businesses in your local community that are like minded.

Right now, it looks like this is an Beta, but I think pretty soon it will be ready for prime time as they say. I am going to add a link to the side bar so people can find it. When I figure out how to put a link to my profile up, I’ll put it in the side bar. Its fun to find things like this.

Tags:

04 Jul 07 | Conservation, Environment | Comments (0)

Writing a Buniness Plan, Part I

02 Jul 07 | Business administration

This is the nitty gritty of forming a business, you have to have a Plan. Without a well written business plan, it will be impossible to secure financing, which will be critical in my business startup. I will need to purchase things like tools, a vehicle, office equipment, pay for marketing and advertising and off set expenses until the work starts coming in. As one source puts it, until you have a Business Plan (capital B, capital P) your business is still just a fantasy.

Areas and topics that a good Business Plan will cover include:

  1. An executive summary outlining goals and objectives.
  2. A brief account of how the company began or will begin.
  3. The company’s goals.
  4. Biographies of the management team.
  5. The service or product the company plans to offer.
  6. The market potential for that service or product.
  7. A marketing strategy.
  8. A three- to five-year financial projection.
  9. An exit strategy.

Those are the basics, you can add more topics if you thing necessary such as number of employees, expansion plans, etc.

The most important part is the executive summary section. This should be a synopsis of the entire plan and be about a page or so long. Without a good executive summary, you will not have a good first impression and chances are you will not receive the financing you where looking for. It should be in a Who, What, When, Where, Why, How (How much) format.

The rest of the business plan should expound on what is said in the executive summary. Include as much information as possible to backup the information in the plan.

Finally, an exit strategy may seem a little negative, however, it is important to set some type of benchmark for when to call it quits.

When my business plan is done, I will post an outline here. Also, for further reading, the Small Business Administration has a good general outline and information on starting small businesses.

Tags:

02 Jul 07 | Business administration | Comments (0)

Training programs

01 Jul 07 | Training

While I have a background in electronics and engineering, there are several aspects of renewable energy installation that I need to learn. In order to offer the New York State sponsored rebates, I need to be a certified installer, this means I need to have some training, some experience and pass a written test. For more about the certification process, visit the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners‘ web site. That site spells out all the various requirements for certifications in solar thermal, photovoltaic and wind power installations.

Fortunately, there are several training programs available in various parts of the country. The first place I looked was the local community college, they do not have a course or certificate program for solar power. They recommended contacting the local BOCES, which in New York state, is sort of the catch all for miscellaneous educational and vocational programs.

They did have a solar installer course, but it was already full.

Then I found the Solar Energy International web site. They have several workshops that look very interesting. I did a bit of research to find out if this training qualifies as training toward the NABCEP certificate required by New York state to qualify for the photovoltaic incentive program. According to the NABCEP candidate handbook, it does. The two courses I am interested in are the online PV course and the course titled “Starting your own Solar Business,” which sounds interesting indeed.

Other than those course, there are quite a few course on solar thermal, wind power, etc that also look interesting. I think my main focus will be solar energy to start, either photovoltaics or solar thermal and then I will and the other renewable energy systems to my business as time allows.

Tags:

01 Jul 07 | Training | Comments (0)