Solar Power's Future is with Free Enterprise

This disclaimer: I have no financial interest or investment in the companies discussed below. My point of view is a personal one as a consumer only.

I just ready this article in Bloomberg Businessweek about what the magazine describes as a "Bright spot" in a solar power industry troubled by scandal, over-promising and under-delivering. One of the companies mentioned is SunRun. We weren't surprised as we worked with SunRun on the solar power installation at our house.

Solar panels are priced to move, and companies like SunRun have figured out a way for solar power to work for their business model, and more importantly for folks like us on Main Street USA. We installed a 24 panel system at our house, but instead of buying the system, we're leasing it from SunRun. No money upfront and the monthly cost is half of what our power bill used to be. During the lease, SunRun pays for all warranty and maintenance. We can pay off the lease anytime we like, but right now it makes sense not only on the financial bottom line, but the environment as well.

No money up front, reduce cost of electricity and cut emissions. Ka-ching.

Here are the stats for this past January, our first full month with solar power:

• We generated 460 kWh of power, more than we consumed.
• Saved 652 pounds in Carbon Dioxide emissions.
• Saved 1.66 pounds of Nitrogen Oxide emissions.
• Saved .59 pound of Sulfur Dixoide emissions.

A "Clean" sweep!

All this during the shortest times of daylight of the year. As the days grow longer, we'll generate more power. I should also note that we've had a couple of 2-foot snowfalls which cover the solar panels and on those days you don't generate much if any power. The key is total generation each month.

REC Solar did the install and it just took a few days. The roof of our two story home is quite high so you can't even see the panels from the street. An advantage we have is the side of the roof where the panels are installed face due south, so we get 98% exposure to daylight and the height keeps the panels clear of shade from trees etc. The system even cranks out power on cloudy days, but it's the sunny days where you really generate the juice and we get about 350 days of sun here in Colorado.

The company provided all the technical information, installation diagrams etc for our HOA which approved everything in less than two days. In fact both SunRun, REC and Xcel have been terrific before, during and after the installation.

Three meters are installed, two by Xcel Energy and one by RunRun. The first two measure net power use and that generated by your system. When you generate more than you use, we'll get credits back from Xcel. We're selling power back to the power company! In our basement is what's called the inverter, which is about the size of a mini-fridge and mounted on a wall out of the way. You can also measure system production there along with RunRun's website where you can log on and monitor:

• Daily/Monthly power generation
• Total power generation of the life of the system
• Emissions savings
• Projected vs actual power generation
• Projected weather for each day

Just like the hybrid SUV we drive, we went solar because it just makes sense. The technology and business model have reached the point where you save money from day one. We didn't need some massive government program telling us to do it, it just made good economic sense.

Companies like SunRun are generating jobs, saving people money and are a classic example of identifying a challenge, then making it work for them and us. Something our government has proven incapable of. (Over and over and over)

Free enterprise IS the future of solar power. As stated in the Businessweek article, companies like SunRun are proving it.

Brian Olson
Owner/Consultant
Conversation Starters Public Relations

TV. What a interesting concept.

I just read an interesting piece in Businessweek about how "Marketing Missteps Stalled TV Sales." Cliff Edwards writes that 2010 pretty much sucked for folks selling televisions for a living.

Speaking as a consumer, Cliff's story didn't surprise me. We have 4 TV's at our house. Two are HD, two standard-def. As there's just two of us living here, 4 is more than enough.

I saw a 3DTV Demo last year and while it's cool, it was the dang glasses that had me saying no. At least for now. Priced at $150 a pop and with batteries that need replacing there were too many potholes in that visual road. So, how many pairs should you have? What if 5 people show up to visit instead of 4 for your Super Bowl party? What happens if you forgot to replace the batteries in some of the glasses? Who would be the odd man/woman out? The industry is working on that, but not to the point where I'm going to buy. Or even think about buying.

Oh yeah, there's the whole LACK OF PROGRAMMING too.

Again, Cliff nails it when he talks about the marketers focusing too much on jargon like "LCD," "LED," "Wi-Fi Capable," and "Internet Ready."

Say what? None of them said the darn things were just TV's that had some other features. But ultimately they were just TV's.

Lastly the economy didn't help and isn't helping today. A lot of folks dropped big bucks on flat screens just before the bust. We're not remotely interested in dropping more bucks on something that marketers seem intent on confusing us about.

It's just a TV. When we get home, we want to turn it on and watch programming. That's it. If the TV can do some other things, fine. But don't over complicate one of the most basic forms of entertainment the huge majority of us have known all our lives.

Never has the KISS rule applied more.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

Not much Green in "Green." (Yet)

"Green" is being over-hyped. Reality isn't keeping up with expectations.

Examples:

According to a post by Ragan Communications 95% of products have misleading labeling when it comes to being environmentally friendly. Talking and walking are two entirely different things.

Then there's Vestas Wind Systems. Their last earnings report was dismal and the stock took a big drop. Then this week they reported they're laying off 3-thousand workers. The company also predicts weak future demand. Why? No capital available to buy the systems, especially to build the infrastructure to get the power from where the wind is, to where the demand for power is.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports that "Solar panels at sports facilities generate more goodwill than power." Progressive Park in Cleveland has a $180,000 solar array that produced 29,000 kilowatt hours over the last three years. The facility itself consumes 17 MILLION kilowatt hours per year which according to BusinessWeek is enough to power 1500 American homes.

Recovering the initial investment on wind and solar is measured in decades. In most stock portfolios, it's the green stocks that are in the red. Green energy just isn't living up to ever increasing expectations spewed mainly by politicians but not the industries that produce them. That said green does and must have a future.

As I've posted here before, we're a very long time from realizing and benefiting from the potential of alternative energy like wind and solar. I hope I live long enough to see it all because it's where we need to be moving in the future.

In the meantime, the same politicos touting all things green need to remember we have existing resources in coal, gas and oil that will be needed to bridge the gap to the promised land.

We can, and need to have it both ways.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"

Empower yourself. Ditch the Cell Phone.

Just read the August 9-15 edition of my favorite magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek. In the "Etc" section Joel Stein writes about major moguls who conduct life sans cell phone. Warren Buffett doesn't use one. Neither does Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire who just bought the New Jersey Nets. He says "Nyet" to cell phones.

We're a nation of 280 million mobile subscribers and according to Joel, we even interrupt sex to take a call. Say what?

So what's with not having a cell phone? Joel thinks it's all about control, a power move. Want to deal with Warren Buffett? By not having a cell phone, Buffet can make you wait until he's ready to deal. He controls the schedule. With his enormous success, it's hard to argue.

Granted, all these mega-successful people have staff around them, who do have cell phones. My guess is folks like Buffett have borrowed them from time to time. But on their time. Don't call me because you can't. I'll call you when I'm ready and maybe you're not. Power move.

All this got me to thinking if cell phones have really improved our lives. Walk down the street and you see people yakking on their phones. Ditto for coffee shops, and the guy in the seat behind you on the airplane before they close the door. And for some strange reason, people seem to think they need to talk loudly while on a cell phone so we can all share in the conversation.

A digital tower of babble for all of us to share, even though we don't want to. There's a time and a place for cell phones and it seems it's all the time and every place.

I doubt I'll get rid of my cell phone. I've been using one since 1987. Bad habits are hard to break.

Maybe Warren could stage an intervention for me. I just got to figure out how to get a hold of him.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversations about you"

The Art of the Sale(sman)

Just read (twice) this great article in the June 14-20 edition of Bloomberg Businessweek. It's a profile of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Writer Devin Leonard portrays Jobs as the ultimate marketer. (Disclaimer time: I'm an Apple Shareholder)

I have no idea as to the value of the free publicity Apple receives compared to what they pay for traditional PR and Marketing. But the ratio has to be top heavy with the former.

When Apple roles out a product, it's a news event, a happening, with bloggers and analysts building up pre-launch "Mo" for days and weeks in advance. BUZZ louder than those horns you hear at the World Cup.

The most recent examples of course, are the new iPhone and the iPad. The new iPhone buzz started when an Apple Engineer "lost" a prototype at a restaurant. Tech Blog Gizmodo got its hands on the device and the free PR machine rolled into action.

At the "official" unveiling, Jobs quipped, "Stop me if you've seen this before." Wow. We should all be so skillful.

As Businessweek writer Leonard points out, "With the media landscape so fragmented, stopping the world in its tracks isn't easy anymore." But he adds that Jobs is the least great pitchman. Until the next great pitchman comes along.

All this gets back to my belief that what's key in communicating your message, is content. Regardless of the pipeline, you have to have a message and product that captures the hearts and minds of your target audience.

My daughter, who like me is an iPad owner, told me that while using it at the airport recently, several people came up to her and asked her about the device. When was the last time anyone came up to you and asked you about the laptop you were working with?

So even though you post on Facebook and Twitter, have videos on YouTube or just pitch to the local morning show keep one thing in mind: You, your message and product/service have to connect with Main Street.

It's a "Buzz" thing. Buzz is good.

Brian Olson
CEO and Founder
Conversation Starters LLC
"We get the conversation started." About You!