Homeowners contemplating going solar usually run into one of two obstacles: the expense of a solar power system or the sheer confusion involved in figuring out what rebates apply and what system to use. A new organization, 1BOG (“One Block off the Grid”), is trying to take some of the pain out of both challenges.
Launched in San Francisco earlier this year, 1BOG is organizing groups of consumers to collectively purchase solar energy systems. This summer, their first round of community purchasing slashed the price of solar, including materials and installation, by 43 percent — even after accounting for federal, state, and local rebates. 1BOG is currently in the process of expanding to 11 other cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego and Denver.
Husband-and-wife team Sylvia Ventura, a former advertising executive, and Dan Barahona, a Silicon Valley software executive, created the organization after going through the exacting process of researching, buying, and installing solar on their San Francisco home last year. After realizing how challenging the project was, their first impulse was to create a website, Solar4SF.org, to share what they’d learned and save other consumers the headache of repeating their research.
But then it occurred to them they could do more. By aggregating groups of consumers, they figured they could wrangle discounts from suppliers and bring down the often prohibitive cost of solar power systems. They threw together a website and started spreading the word at farmers’ markets and other community gatherings. By this summer, about 100 San Francisco residents had signed up. 1BOG sent out requests for proposals to area vendors. The winning bid came from Real Goods Solar, a Hopland, CA, company that made the first-ever solar panel sale in the United States 30 years ago.
John Cranshaw, a San Francisco physician, had been toying with the idea of installing solar on his Sunset home for about eight years. It wasn’t until he heard about 1BOG that he decided to move ahead, mainly because the price finally made economic sense. In fact, the cost was so attractive that Cranshaw chose a system that will provide slightly more energy than he actually needs. The extra juice will come in handy down the road, he says, if he ever buys an electric car or replaces gas appliances with electric ones.
Currently, 1BOG operates completely as a volunteer effort. If it scales, Ventura and Barahona may consider turning it into a for-profit company. Their main motivation, however, is to spread the use of renewable energies. “We’re committed environmentalists,” says Ventura. “We have two children, and we want to leave something behind that’s a little better than what we have now.” 1BOG.org.
— E.B. Boyd