Solar energy discussions by Proven Energy Solutions

Summer Saving Ideas

mpellegrini — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:27:46 +0000

Summer Saving Ideas

Welcome, the more you know the more you will SAVE!

Using Energy-Efficient products can help you….20% of your household energy use is spent on your appliances

*there are programs available through your utility company for appliance recycling

*rebates on energy-efficient appliances and home improvements available through your utility company

Lighting

*change incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent and save about 75% less energy and lasts 10 times longer with just as much light

*use energy star products

GO SOLAR

Proven Energy Solutions (PES) representatives are available to help you understand how a Photovoltaic (PV) system works and how to provide you with the best cost saving system for your home or business. PES not only provides you with a FREE ESTIMATE on a solar system, we discuss with you various ways you can install energy efficient improvements before going solar to allow you the ability to downsize your system and SAVE you money.

SUMMER is here CALL TODAY for your FREE ESTIMATE!

5/25/2010 DSIRE-Corona DWP Solar Partnership Rebate Program

mpellegrini — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:41:09 +0000

Recent changes in Solar Partnership Rebate Program for the City of Corona, CA courtesy of DSIRE.

This morning President Obama releases a statement regarding Home Star Legislation

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 22:49:06 +0000

Statement by the President on House Passage of Home Star Legislation from the White House.Gov

It is our belief that we share with President Obama regarding our country needing to take the lead in clean energy and global economics.

Proven Energy Solutions believes in working with our customers to make a differnence in all our futures.

Solar Energy Advantages

mpellegrini — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:06:02 +0000

Solar Energy Advantages

1. Saves you money

After the initial investment has been recovered, the energy from the sun is practically FREE
The recovery/payback period for this investment can be very short depending on how much electricity your household uses
Financial incentives are available from the government that will reduce your cost
It will save you money on your electricity bill if you have one at all
It’s not affected by the supply and demand of fuel and is therefore, not subjected to the ever-increasing price of gasoline
The savings are immediate and for many years to come
The use of solar energy indirectly reduces health costs
Solar energy does not require any fuel

2. Environmentally friendly

Solar Energy is clean, renewable (unlike gas, oil and coal) and sustainalbe, helping to protect our environment
It does not pollute our air by releasing carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulphurdioxide or mercury into the atmosphere like many tradional forms of electrical generations
By not using any fuel, Solar Energy does not contribute to the cost and problems of the recovery and transportation of fuel or the storage of radioactive waste
Therefore, Solar Energy does not contribute to global warming, acid rain or smog
It actively contributes to the decrease of harmful green house gas emissions
It’s generated where it is needed

3. Independent/semi-independent

Solar Energy can be utilized to offset utility-supplied energy consumption. It does not only reduce your electricity bill, but will also continue to supply your home/business with electricity in the event of a power outage
A Solar Energy system can operate entirely independent, not requiring a connection to a power or gas grid at all. Systems can therefore, be installed in remote locations

4. Low/no maintenance

Once installed, there are no recurring costs
Solar Energy systems are virtually maintenance free and will last for decades
They operate silently, have no moving parts, do not release offensive smells and do not require you to add any fuel

Gov. Schwarzenegger announces signing of legislation to promote CA green economy

mpellegrini — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:08:33 +0000

Governor Schwarzenegger is committed to keeping and creating clean energy jobs that will influence national policies and better our childrens future.

Please read further information we found on Governor Schwarzeneggers recent press release date 4/21/2010.

Control over your energy use

mpellegrini — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:39:29 +0000

Today is the perfect day to switch to solar for energy independence!

As we quickly enter into the summer months, longer daylight hours and a higher sun angle will provide you with more solar power. Proven Energy Solutions is here to help you get started.

The sun provides enough energy to meet all the world’s needs several times over. Proven Energy Solutions goes a step further to combine BOTH solar power energy producing systems AND cutting edge energy conservation techniques to maximize savings with building architecture and appearance as key components. Proven Energy Solutions provides you with the best solar equipment with superior knowledge and service. We use the highest-rated manufactures in the industry.

Start saving money today!

Follow these easy steps:

1. Complete the contact form or call for free estimate

2. Schedule a site evaluation and design (we review your utility bills for the past 12 months and discuss with you your solar energy goals)

3. Installation of your solar system

4. Start Saving! You made a wise Investment

Call Proven Energy Solutions at 877-265-9715

Arizona – A perfect state for solar

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:48:52 +0000

Arizona – A perfect State for Solar Call 877-265-9715

Seriously Hot Summer Savings with a Solar System installed by Proven Energy Solutions

Arizona has the highest percentage of sunshine than any other state. A solar system installed by a Proven Energy Solutions professionals enables our customers to lead by example to have a better future for their families and friends. By taking action today, they are making a decision to be a solution to our on going environmental concerns and greatly increases the overall energy savings.

Some good reasons why solar is right for you

Reduce or eliminate electric bills

Electricity from the unlimited sunshine. The obvious high temperatures and clear skies in Arizona allow you over 300 days of sunshine to convert into electricity for your home. Proven Energy Solutions helps you to make sure you are making the best choice for your future. We provide a free in home estimate and ask that you please contact your utility company for a copy of your last 12 months of electrical bills to do a full analysis. The amount you can save truly depends on the size of your system and the amount of energy your family uses. Once you have a solar system installed for your home, you immediately begin to generate your own solar energy. This year alone, SRP and APR raised rates 8.8% for electricity and may even go higher within the near future. A solar system quickly pays for itself!

Lock in your electric rates and guarantee your protected from utility hikes

Electricity is getting more and more expensive and rate hikes are in clear site for most homes and businesses within the year. The time is now to go solar, with rates up to $3.00/watt. In addition, there are state and federal incentives and each utility company offers a separate rebate amount that you receive after the solar system is installed and working. Proven Energy Solutions representative will work with you to complete and file all the necessary paperwork. To lock in your rate means we will ask you to sign a paper called a Lock in Agreement in which we send over to the loan officer.

Clean, renewable energy

Clean energy comes from natural resources such as wind, sunlight, water, and geothermal heat. Wind and Solar are able to provide your home or business with heating, electricity and hot water. By using these resources we will be helping to reduce pollution, while creating our energy independence and developing new jobs for everyones future.

Solar Rebates = 65% in Arizona

Proven Energy Solutions can help you get started and save you thousands of dollars now! The state and federal offer incentives to get you started. Once you have installed either a solar thermal system or a photovoltaic system you are eligible to receive an income tax credit worth up to 30% of the installed cost. These systems must be certified by the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation (SRCC) to be eligible. There are also many states that are now offering incentives as well in addition to the federal credits. Proven Energy Solutions will help you to determine which programs will provide you with the most return on your investment (ROI). Call today for your free estimate! 877-265-9715

FREE
ESTIMATES

For results that you can depend on!

Call 877-265-9715

Email: sales@provensolar.com

Proven Energy Solutions has new up to date information on the DWP Rate Hike provided by Fox LA City News

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:37:27 +0000

DWP Board Approves Electricity Rate Hike

Updated: Thursday, 15 Apr 2010, 9:08 PM PDT
Published : Thursday, 15 Apr 2010, 6:49 PM PDT

Text Story by:
City News

Los Angeles – After weeks of increasingly acrimonious dispute, the Board of Water and Power Commissioners bowed today to pressure from the City Council and voted unanimously to increase electricity bills by an average of 4.8 percent starting July 1.

The rate hike is considerably smaller than the 6.5 percent increase the board approved on March 18 and a 5.7 percent increase approved March 31. Both those increase were vetoed by the council.

The council reiterated on Wednesday that it would support a rate hike of no more than 4.8 percent during a recession.

“It has become apparent to the commission… that what we need to do is take a deep breath, work with the City Council, work with the mayor’s office, and try to do what is best for the city of Los Angeles,” Commission President Lee Kanon Alpert said today.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said, “With the approval of a compromise plan today by the Board of Water and Power Commissioners, the city now has a reasonable rate plan that safeguards the financial health of the Department of Water and Power while protecting ratepayers.”

Villaraigosa added that the rate hike “addresses the concerns of ratepayers, commits the DWP to clean, renewable energy, and maintains the fiscal well-being of the DWP.”

DWP Acting General Manager Raman Raj warned the smaller increase would “make it almost impossible” for the DWP to meet a goal — set by Villaraigosa — to have renewable energy make up 20 percent of the DWP portfolio by the Dec. 31.

Raj said it would also force the DWP to scale back certain operations but added, “We will take whatever actions are necessary to ensure our bond rating is maintained.”

“Though the recommendation before you (the commission) is not what was originally requested, we believe it will garner the most support and therefore secure approval,” Raj added.

Villaraigosa’s deputy chief of staff, Matt Szabo said “no solution, which is where we were last week, was simply unacceptable.”

Under the city Charter, the council has more than a week to decide whether it will assert jurisdiction over the rate hike.

If the council allows that period to elapse without taking action — which is likely because the board went along with its recommendation — then the rate hike will stand.

Raj said he will wait until the rate hike becomes final before deciding whether to release $73.5 million that the city had been expecting from DWP. He has been withholding that money since the council rejected a previous rate hike proposal last month.

Ray Ciranna, the acting city administrative officer, said without that infusion of cash from the DWP, the city’s budget deficit would grow to $221 million this fiscal year, instead of shrinking to $148.9 million.

The rate hike approved by the board today will take the form of a six-tenths of a cent per kilowatt hour increase in the DWP’s Energy Cost Adjustment Factor surcharge.

Of that amount, a half-cent would be used to offset the DWP’s failure in recent years to collect a large enough surcharge to cope with volatile fluctuations in the prices of oil and natural gas.

The other tenth of a cent would be used to fund Villaraigosa’s programs to develop new sources of renewable energy.

DWP Chief Financial Officer Jeff Peltola initially estimated the rate hike proposed by the council would average out to 4.6 percent system-wide. However, he later corrected that and said the rate hike would actually average out to 4.8 percent system-wide.

All DWP customers will have their bills increase 4.8 percent because the DWP offers discounts to those consume less energy, Peltola said.

Large businesses can expect a 5.3 percent rate hike; medium-sized businesses, 4.7 percent; and small business, 4.3 percent, Peltola said.

The breakdown for residential customers will be determined, in part, by a rate restructuring ordinance pending before the council, said Joseph Ramallo, spokesman for the DWP.

Raj said a series of rate hikes is necessary to meet the DWP’s fiscal and operational targets.

A study conducted by experts from PA Consulting had recommended a series of four rate increases of up to 6.5 percent each, over a year. When pressed by the council, however, PA Consulting said a minimum increase of 4.8 percent might be enough to “tide the DWP over” for a few months.

Szabo said Villaraigosa is determined to meet his renewable energy target of 20 percent by 2010, and 40 percent by 2020. He said the goal is to avoid being fined hundreds of millions of dollars by the state, and have Los Angeles be coal-free by 2020.

“He is committed to that goal and we are going to continue to work with the council to make sure that we can do what we need to do to achieve that goal,” Szabo said. “If it means a future rate adjustment, then that’s what it means.”

Asked how the mayor would defend a rate increase to Angelenos struggling to make ends because of the recession, Szabo responded, “Look, no one wants to make these decisions. This is tough time to raise

rates and we would not be doing it unless we absolutely had to do it, but we’re committed to making sure that the process is as open and transparent as possible.”

Proven Energy Solutions will do our best to keep you informed as to all updated information as it is reported.

Ca.Gov recently posted information on the California’s Renewable Energy Programs

admin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:18:06 +0000

California’s Renewable Energy Programs

California, with its abundant natural resources, has had a long history of support for renewable energy. In 2007, 11.8 percent of all electricity came from renewable resources such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and small hydroelectric facilities. Large hydro plants generated another 11.7 percent of our electricity.

Around the turn of the 20th century, tens-of-thousands of homes in Southern California took advantage of the “California sunshine” to heat water for their homes. The oil crises of the 1970s gave rise to concerns over dependencE on fossil fuels. At that time, federal and state tax credits helped establish a new solar and wind industry. Wind turbine farms cropped up on the slopes of hills in three primary locations.

Following deregulation of the electric utilities in 1998, the California Energy Commission was placed in charge of a new Renewable Energy Program to help increase total renewable electricity production statewide. This followed decades of bi-partisan legislative and gubernatorial support for renewable energy, helping to make California a recognized leader in the field.

From 1998 to December 31, 2006, the Energy Commission’s Emerging Renewables Program funded grid-connected, solar/photovoltaic electricity systems under 30 kilowatts on homes and businesses in the investor-owned utilities’ service areas. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) funded larger self-generation projects for businesses.

The Energy Commission’s program provided market-based incentives for new and existing utility-scale facilities powered by renewable energy. It also offered consumer rebates for those installing new renewable energy systems. The program also helps educate the public regarding renewable energy.

In January 2006, the CPUC created the California Solar Initiative (CPUC ruling – R.04-03-017), which moved the consumer renewable energy rebate program for existing homes from the Energy Commission to the utility companies under the direction of the CPUC. This incentive program, for renewable systems of less than one megawatt, began in January 2007 and provides a total of $3.3 billion over 10 years.

Beginning in 2007, the California Energy Commission started managing $400 million targeted for solar on new residential building construction. The funds from the Energy Commission will help renewable projects between 2007 and 2011. Called the New Solar Homes Partnership, it focuses on new residential construction.

Committee overseeing Renewable Energy:

James D. Boyd
Vice Chair and Presiding Member
Renewables Committee

Robert B. Weisenmiller
Commissioner and Associate Member
Renewables Committee

Utility Companies and Renewable Energy

In 2002, California established its Renewable Portfolio Standard Program, with the goal of increasing the percentage of renewable energy in the state’s electricity mix to 20 percent by 2017. 2003 Integrated Energy Policy Report recommended accelerating that goal to 20 percent by 2010, and the 2004 Energy Report Update further recommended increasing the target to 33 percent by 2020. The state’s Energy Action Plan supported this goal.

In 2006 under Senate Bill 107, California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) was created and codified the 20 percent goal. It is one of the most ambitious renewable energy standards in the country. The RPS program requires electric utilities and provicders to increase procurement from eligible renewable energy resources by at least 1 percent of their retail sales annually, until they reach 20% by 2010.

On November 17, 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order S-14-08 requiring that California utilities reach the 33 percent renewables goal by 2020.

Timeline for Electricity from Renewable Resources

2002: Senate Bill 1078 establishes the RPS program, requiring 20 percent renewable energy by 2017.
2003: Energy Action Plan I accelerated the 20 percent deadline to 2010.
2005: Energy Action Plan II recommends a further goal of 33 percent by 2020.
2006: Senate Bill 107 codified the accelerated 20 percent by 2010 deadline into law.
2008: Governor Schwarzenegger issues Executive Order requiring 33 percent renewables by 2020.
2010: Electric utilities must generate 20 percent of their electricity from renewable resources.
2020: Electric utilities must generate 33 percent of their electricity from renewable resources.

City of Los Angeles Green Rate Hikes

jblack — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 23:46:40 +0000

We found the article below (courtesy LA Times) very interesting especially for those interested in purchasing solar systems. Recently, the City of Los Angeles increased electric rates to fund renewable energy projects. This means higher electric bills for local businesses and homeowners making renewable energy projects like solar systems more attractive.

L.A. mayor gets his “green energy” rate hikes

March 30, 2010 | 3:34 pm

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa scored a partial political victory Tuesday when the Los Angeles City Council approved utility rate increases of 4.5% to 6%.

The mayor has said the added revenue will help the Department of Water and Power move away from polluting coal-fired power plants to renewable fuels. The Water and Power Commission will have the last say on the rate hikes, which were about 25% lower than what Villaraigosa had proposed.