Welcome to the
Run on Sun Monthly Newsletter

Westridge Solar Project Honored, Featured

Readers of this Newsletter will know all about the 52.3kW solar project that Run on Sun recently completed installing at Pasadena's renowned Westridge School for Girls. Now that project has garnered a "Green City" award for the school and was featured as the cover story in the Annual "Green Issue" of Pasadena Weekly.

Westridge Wins Green City Award

It is well known that Westridge School has a long-standing commitment to sustainability. For example, its Upper School Science Building was designated as a LEED Platinum building, the first building in Pasadena to earn that coveted designation.

This month, as part of Pasadena's Earth Day Celebration, Westridge was honored again - winning a Green City Award for both its Run on Sun installed solar project and for installing water conservation equipment that reduced irrigation water consumption by 30%.

Pasadena Weekly Features Solar Project in Green Issue Just in time for Earth Day, Pasadena Weekly produced its annual "Green Issue" on April 19, and the Westridge project grabbed the cover story — featuring Run on Sun Founder and CEO, Jim Jenal, in what that "Solar Kid" described as a sassy pose.

Titled, "Solar Flair: New solar installation at Westridge School brings environmental lessons to life," the piece features interviews with Westridge's Head of School, Elizabeth McGregor, Facilities Manager Brian Williams, and three students who are part of the school's environmental group known as the Green Guerrillas. The story reveals the school's deep commitment to sustainability in everything from solar power to drought tolerant plants.

This first of what we hope will be many solar projects at Westridge really highlights the value of these projects for all schools, especially those in the Pasadena Water and Power service territory. Good rebates and a solar company that really understands your goals makes a solar power system installed by Run on Sun a "no-brainer."

Contact us today and let's get going with YOUR solar project!

PWP to Slash Residential Rebates!

Pasadena Water and Power (PWP) just announced that it will slash its residential solar rebates by 30% effective June 1, 2012. EPBB rebates will drop from $2.00/Watt to just $1.40/Watt. PBI rebates for residential customers will decline from the current $0.302/kWh down to $0.212/kWh.

Potential clients who wish to secure a rebate under the present rates must have complete and correct rebate applications on file with PWP by May 31, 2012. Partial or incorrect applications will be rejected and will have to be re-submitted at the lower rate.

Unaffected are commercial and government/non-profit rebate rates, which were most recently reduced as of December 1, 2011.

We always experience a crush of inquiries about possible solar projects in advance of a major rebate reduction like this one. Potential clients are encouraged to act quickly to avoid the hassle of trying to get the necessary paperwork completed at the last minute.

To get the process started, please visit our solar power site evaluation request page.

Acknowledging Climate Change
Doesn't Make You a Liberal

We don't usually borrow from other blogs (although we have seen our work re-appear in other locations from time-to-time) but this piece over at the Climate Denial Crock of the Week titled: A Republican Meteorologist: Acknowledging Climate Science Doesn't Make You a Liberal, was so good, so important, that we really felt that this needed to be shared as widely as possible.

Paul Douglas is a Minnesota meteorologist and, as he puts it, "I am a moderate Republican, fiscally conservative; a fan of small government, accountability, self-empowerment, and sound science. I am not a climate scientist. I'm a meteorologist, and the weather maps I'm staring at are making me uncomfortable. No, you're not imagining it: we've clicked into a new and almost foreign weather pattern."

Douglas then goes on to layout the reasons why he believes that climate change is real - and no, he doesn't rely upon Al Gore. But neither is he swayed by Bill O'Reilly or talk radio. Instead, he relies upon the scientists who have studied this for thirty years and who have gone from, again in his words, "concerned [to] bordering on apoplectic."

It is really a wonderful piece - well written and well-reasoned. Here is one more (extended) quote:

Climate Change: The Ultimate Test for Capitalism. Let The Markets Work

I'm an entrepreneur. The eight Minnesota companies I've created ultimately employed hundreds of professionals. Where others see chronic problems I see opportunity. One of my companies is Smart Energy, with a new level of wind forecast accuracy for global wind farms. Last summer, in response to the most severe two years since 1816, my partners and I launched a new, national cable weather channel ("WeatherNation Television") — to keep Americans updated with 24/7 storm reports. "Global Weirding" has arrived. Why bother? Because it's the right thing to do. And because going green will generate green. As in profits. We won't drill our way out of this challenge; we'll innovate our way into a new, lower-carbon energy paradigm. Something we're pretty good at. Professional skeptics will hold up Solyndra as a reason why this will never work. For the sake of our nation's future – don't believe them.

"The Mother of All Opportunities": Turning America Into The Silicon Valley of Energy

We can figure this out. Frankly, we won't have a choice. But I'm a naive optimist. We can reinvent America, leaving us more competitive in the 21st century, launching thousands of new, carbon-free energy companies – supplementing, and someday surpassing anything we can expeditiously suck out of the ground and burn, accelerating an already-warming planet. We don't have to bury our heads in Saudi sand – we'll never "frack" our way to a sustainable future. It's time for a New Energy Paradigm. There's no silver bullet. But there's plenty of (green) buckshot, if we aim high and point America in the right direction.

As one of those "new, carbon-free energy companies," at Run on Sun we completely agree with this reasoning. And frankly, we don't understand how one can claim to be conservative but not be concerned about conserving the environment upon which everything else in life is based. Thankfully, some like Douglas totally get it and we can only hope that by speaking up - and having their statements repeated by others - they will encourage other true conservatives to step forward and acknowledge the simple truth - you don't have to be a liberal to believe in climate change.

You owe it to yourself to give the entire piece a read. Here's the link: A Republican Meteorologist: Acknowledging Climate Science Doesn't Make You a Liberal.