Solar ambassadors provide powerful info

Oct 20 - The Sun (Yuma, Ariz.)

While solar power systems continue to become cheaper and more efficient, homeowners may still be intimidated by the process.

To alleviate the fear of going solar, and to provide first-hand advice, nonprofit organization Arizona SmartPower has created the Arizona Solar Ambassador project.

Solar ambassadors in the program are people who have systems of their own and offer free information to anyone interested in installing solar panels at their residences.

Yuma residents will be given an opportunity to meet and question solar ambassadors during Solar Up Yuma, a special event Friday hosted by AZ SmartPower, APS and the Yuma International Airport.

"The Solar Up Yuma event is a one-stop shop where the community can talk with representatives from APS, Arizona SmartPower and solar installation companies, as well as meet people within our community who have already installed solar in their homes or businesses and hear their stories," said Bill Gresser, airport board president.

"This is a great opportunity for people to learn more about energy efficiency, financing options, the variety of renewable energy resources available, and how easy the process of going solar can really be."

The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the second floor of the Yuma International Airport terminal building.

The event is free and open to the public, although attendees are asked to RSVP by calling 480-219-4395 Ext. 122 or sending on email to amohla@smartpower.org.

During the event, a booth with solar equipment will be set up, free fluorescent light bulbs will be given to attendees, there will be free food, and special guest speakers, including city of Yuma Mayor Al Krieger, Gresser, and Arizona Corporation Commissioner Sandra Kennedy, will give public addresses.

"We want to give free and unbiased advice," said Dru Bacon, a Solar Coach for AZ Smart Power who advises the solar ambassadors, who will attend the event.

Bacon lives in Goodyear and founded the Friends of the Environment group at his 55+ neighborhood. Since it was founded, 411 out of 3,900 houses in his neighborhood have installed solar systems.

"I had a career in the chemical industry, and I saw what human beings can do to the environment, and so after retiring I looked for a way to use what I had learned about environmental law and protecting the environment," he said.

That led him to volunteer his services as a solar ambassador. He frequently travels to the Yuma area to share his knowledge.

"Arizona is among the best places in the world for solar electricity, if not the best. It is free energy," he said.

AZ SmartPower is currently recruiting solar ambassadors in the Yuma area who can share their stories, photos and videos, network with potential solar customers and help navigate them through the process.

"We ask people who have solar on their house to become a solar ambassador who then can help promote solar energy to their neighbors. That way, a friend or neighbor is not talking to a salesman but to a customer," Bacon said.

As a neutral nonprofit organization, AZ SmartPower does not recommend specific installers, though it does recommend the use of an APS-qualified installer.

AZ SmartPower is also promoting the Arizona Solar Challenge, an initiative to get communities across the state to commit to installing solar on 5 percent of owner-occupied homes by the year 2015.

According to Bacon, there about 1.9 percent of homes in the Yuma area that are equipped with solar systems. Before 2011, there were about 200 homes with solar systems. Yuma is well on its way to meeting the Arizona Solar Challenge, Bacon said, noting that 2011 has seen an explosion in the number of systems coming online.

"Thus far into 2011, Yuma has added an additional 152," Bacon said. "We are on schedule to double in one year what has happened in the previous accumulative for all the years."

According to a study conducted by AZ SmartPower, 84 percent of the U.S. population has a positive attitude toward solar or wind power, but at the time of the study, less than 3 percent actually used it.

"We think the primary reason is that it is complicated and can be very intimidating for people who haven't been through the process," Bacon said. "There is confusing and conflicting information."

Although the cost of solar systems has been another drawback, Bacon said there are government incentives to offset the initial investment.

"The cost is coming down immensely," he said.

Another option is to lease a solar system, Bacon said.

"Solar installers are going more and more toward leases. They put solar on your roof for no money down and then you'll have a small residual electric bill and a lease payment. The sum of those two will be less than what you were originally paying on your electric bill."

For those who invest in solar system themselves, they should notice an immediate reduction on their electric bills each month, Bacon said.

"When you install solar you get a bidirectional meter. On a sunny day when you are making more electricity than you are using, the surplus not used by your house goes into the grid and that is metered.

"When you are using more than you are making, such as at night or maybe on a hot day when your air conditioner is running, you get those credits back. At the end of the month, if you have credits left those carry over to the next month."

Then at the end of the year, the electric company looks at the numbers and, "if you generated more than you used you get the option of getting a check or applying it to your next bill," he said.

Winter visitors who own residences in the Yuma area are excellent candidates for solar energy because they can generate solar power all summer when they aren't in Yuma, which in turn offsets their electrical usage in the winter months, Bacon said.

"Many of them never get an electric bill."

For more information about the Solar Ambassador Project, log on to www.azsmartpower.org or call 623-606-8846.

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