Solar Community Initiative, Is It Coming To You?

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Please make sure you listen to the front page show with CISCO's Senior Manager, Workforce Resources and Energy, Ali  Ahmed.  Let's join CISCO others as we bring this new employee benefit to all companies.



Who would have ever guessed that the World Wildlife Fund would be a major facilitator when it comes to seeing homeowners converting over to solar. Well last year they began the Solar Community initiatives with a core of great partners and we here at ReNewable Now want to continue to share what they're doing with our readers. And we are very fortunate in this special edition of ReNewable Now to have an exclusive radio interview with one of the core partners Cisco and their Senior Manager Workplace Resources Global Energy Management and Sustainability, Ali Ahmed. But to before that please learn more about this great program, and who knows maybe ReNewable Now will help bring this program to your town soon.

The Solar Community initiative, the first nationwide bulk solar purchase program launched October 22, 2014 to give homeowners across the US and Canada easy access to more affordable, clean, renewable energy – one of the most effective actions individuals can take to address climate change. The initiative, facilitated by WWF and managed by Geostellar, presents a new approach to purchasing, financing and installing solar panels at a uniform discounted price to anyone in the US.

Developed in concert with 3M, Cisco, Kimberly-Clark and the National Geographic Society, the initiative gives employees of these companies, their friends, families, and communities across the country access to solar power for their homes at a flat rate that is on average 35% lower than the national average and roughly 50% less expensive than the average electric utility rates. This means that the American homeowner can have solar panels installed for zero money down, with average monthly savings on their utility bill of over 30% – all of which could make clean energy an easier choice for more American homes.

Conceived as an employee benefits program, the initiative brings large companies together to leverage the bulk purchasing power of their substantial aggregate employee base, their families, and communities. This allows for significant discounts and increased savings that enables widespread adoption of solar energy across all 50 US states and several Canadian provinces. The offer will start as a benefit to more than 100,000 employees of the participating companies; if one percent choose to power their homes with solar, more than 74,500 metric tons of carbon emissions would be avoided each year – the equivalent of taking more than 15,000 cars off the road.

“This takes the bulk purchase model from individual neighborhoods and organizations to a national scale,” said Keya Chatterjee, senior director of renewable energy at WWF. “A coast-to-coast, low, flat rate helps mitigate two major barriers of solar adoption -- complexity and price -- making it possible for more American families to save the planet without leaving their homes.”