Earth Equity News

Local Solar Co-ops Help Homeowners with Installations. By Elizabeth D. Festa, WashPost, September 19, 2009. "One March day in 2008, Ketch Ryan, a long-time environmentalist, sent a message to her neighborhood group e-mail list in the town of Chevy Chase, inviting neighbors to see the modest two-kilowatt solar-panel array she had just installed on her south-facing roof to convert sunlight into household electricity. 'Loads of people came,' Ryan said. They asked questions about the process and how to do it themselves. The Common Cents Solar co-op was born then and there, founded by Ryan and neighbor Kirk Renaud... Common Cents negotiates discounts from installers, fills out paperwork, applies for rebates, bundles solar credits, helps with scheduling and even arranges to get house keys to let in contractors. Homeowners sign contracts with and make payments to Common Cents, which then pays the contractors... Solar energy co-ops like Common Cents are forming [around the country]... as neighbors band together to save money, take a stand on greener living and chaperone one another through the installation process, from roof assessments to a final hookup to the local utility's power grid. Each co-op has its own approach, finance arrangements and challenges."