Latest Blogs

As recently reported by The Daily Good, iconic singer Prince—who passed away just over a year ago—was looking for a great place to invest $25 million dollars. After a conversation with CNN commentator Van Jones, anonymously invested in US-based Powerhouse, a for profit that connects solar entrepreneurs with investors.

Since Powerhouse was established in 2013 in Oakland, California, it’s helped over 43 clean energy startups create $52 million in revenue, raised $287 million in capital, and generated over 240 million megawatts of solar energy.

In the past, residential solar systems only generated power for that particular home during daylight hours. These types of systems required the installation of battery cells in the home to store power and provide electricity in the evening hours. However, as solar technology has drastically improved, the newest and growing type of solar system uses net metering.

What Is Net Metering? Net metering allows residential homes with solar systems to not only generate electricity to power their own homes but also share any excess power they create by feeding it into their energy providers’ electrical grids. For instance, most people work during the day, so their electric use is significantly less than it is during the evening hours. All of this excess electricity created during the day is shared with other people connected to the same electric grid.

According to real estate professionals, for every $1 reduction in energy usage, on average it increases the value of the home around $20. For instance, if you reduce your energy bills by $500 annually, your home’s value increases as much as $10,000! (Please keep in mind this is just an average and actual increases in value are influenced by a number of factors including current market conditions.)

Furthermore, energy improvements increase comfort levels within your home year round. This can also help reduce other energy costs. For example, during the winter, if your home previously had cold spots, you may have put on sweaters and extra clothes to stay warm, increasing the amount of dirty clothing you had to launder, which meant you were using more energy.

A solar technologies continue to evolve and advance, it allows for a variety of creative and new ways to apply the technology for homes, businesses, and communities. One of the new concepts that is quickly growing in interest and will become a mainstay in the solar power industry in the coming years is called “Community Solar.”

Community Solar is where a community shares the solar panels used to generate electricity for homes. You may have also heard of Community Solar before as it is also been called solar gardens, solar farms, and shared solar plants. This term can be used to describe both community-sponsored installations, as well as those owned by third-parties.