More than ever, it’s time for clean, safe solar energy

Speak Up Now and Sign the Solar Bill of Rights

In the midst of some of the worst energy disasters in America’s history—the Gulf oil spill and the West Virginia coal mine explosion—lawmakers in Washington haven’t listened to the American people.

This fall, SEIA will march to the U.S. Capitol and deliver your demand for clean, safe, reliable solar energy.

Urban Americans Appear to Have Limited Understanding of How Best to Conserve Energy

A study in the August 16, 2010 Early Online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America suggests that Americans have a relatively poor understanding of how best to conserve energy in their daily lives.

The focus on curtailment actions over efficiency actions is likely related to the cost and ease of implementation.The study finds that“efficiency improvements almost always involve research, effort, and out-of-pocket costs (e.g., buying a new energy-efficient appliance), whereas curtailment may be easier to imagine and incorporate into one’s daily behaviors without any upfront costs.”Click here to download the study.

Repower at Home Diverts One Million Pounds of Coal from Power Plants, Raises the Stakes

Repower at Home’s October 10th Coal Challenge has already reached its goal of reducing energy usage for participants by the equivalent of one million pounds of coal. Now, their goal is to divert seven million pounds of coal before October 10, the 10/10/10 Global Work Party.

Join the challenge by creating an account and taking action in your home. Each action you complete saves energy and earns points. For example, the annual energy savings from programming your thermostat is equivalent to diverting 870 pounds of coal from a power plant. By completing this action, you could earn 870 points and contribute 870 pounds to the challenge goal.

From daenergymon “Thats why I don’t let ’salespeople’ work for my company. We only have techs/installers. All PV equipment needs to be UL, CSA, CE and/or ETL listed AND installed to the NEC (National Electric Code). All thermal equipment needs to SRCC listed. All installers should pass the NABCEP PV Entry Level test. These all insure proper system safety and long life. ”

More information on SRCC: In 1980 the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation (SRCC) was incorporated as a non-profit organization whose primary purpose is the development and implementation of certification programs and national rating standards for solar thermal energy equipment. http://www.solar-rating.org/ABOUT/ABOUT.HTM

SRCC: Solar Rating and Certification Corporation for solar THERMAL

UL: Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
CSA: Canadian Standards Association
ETL: Originally a mark of ETL Testing Laboratories, now a mark of Intertek Testing Services.
CE: Conformance European (Communaut Europ enne or Conformit Europ enne) 

Now back to your regularly scheduled article;

Major solar panel firms ‘are misleading consumers’

Consumer group calls on industry to clean up its act after undercover investigation reveals high-pressure sales tactics

By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

 Sunday, 25 April 2010

Most companies offered poor service and exaggerated claims

Solar power installers are bamboozling householders with high pressure sales tactics and misleading financial statistics, an undercover investigation by a consumer group has found.

Which? condemned most of the companies it came across as “cowboys” and cautioned that the Government would have to clean up the taxpayer-backed industry, vital for the battle against climate change, unless it improved its performance.

The consumer group launched its investigation after a rise in complaints about solar thermal firms. Undercover researchers rented a house in southern England and invited firms to quote for installing solar thermal systems, which use sunlight to heat tap water.

Of the 10 that exaggerated the financial savings that could be made, the double-glazing giant Everest subsequently admitted that its representative had made false claims – that its system could save 30 times more money than was possible.

Another firm, Ideal Solar energy, wrongly claimed a solar scheme could halve gas bills and grossly misquoted energy supply statistics from the energy regulator Ofgem.

Which? said: “While these two companies concerned us the most, we received poor service and exaggerated claims of performance from nearly all 14 firms.”

Its chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith, said: “Most of the firms in our investigation behaved like true cowboys – they promised huge savings that bore no relation to reality, and some really piled pressure on the homeowner to sign up immediately or risk losing a one-off ’special offer’.”

He added: “The solar industry is too important to our long-term energy needs for things to drag on like this.”

Neil McLoughlin, a trading standards officer who saw undercover footage of the Everest sales visit, said the precise nature of the quotation made the claim even more misleading and suggested the Everest may have broken the law on sales tactics by offering thousands of pounds off the price for making a decision “on the spot”.

After being informed of the “sting”, Everest said: “We’re disappointed that our representative failed to use the sales support documentation provided and made claims he knew to be false.”

In addition to boasting it could halve gas bills, Ideal successively dropped its originally quote of £8,690 to £5,860 and made a “pushy” phone call to the householder. It also misquoted statistics from energy regulator Ofgem about the proportion of a gas bill that goes on heating.

Ideal later defended its pitch, saying: “Like all retailers, we offer limited promotions on a selective basis” and added it instructed its sales agents not to specify savings to hot water bills.

Just one company, Southern Solar, was found to be helpful and provide sensible advice.

Last year, the OFT received 1,000 complaints about the solar panel industry – high for an industry with fewer than 100,000 installations in UK homes.

The Renewable Energy Association, a trade body which runs an assurance scheme for solar installers, said it was concerned by the report. A spokesman said: “We will be contacting Which? to follow up on their investigation, and take any action necessary against any of the companies which are members of our scheme.”

This is from http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/major-solar-panel-firms-are-misleading-consumers-1953587.html