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

Yesterday (Monday the 29th of March) I went to a rally where our (the state of Illinois’) current governor Pat Quinn announced his running mate for his reelection. The pick for Lt. Governor is Sheila Simon who championed trying to get Photovoltaics on a city building when she was a city of Carbondale, IL council woman and when she was running for mayor of the city.

I did end up writing a proposal to be installed on the Eurma Hayes Child Development Center which may still happen especially since the price of PV has fallen over 50% in the last year and a half.

Pat Quinn’s office (when he was Lt. Governor) actually had all us renewable  energy installers on a conference call to try and determine what is slowing or stopping renewable energy installation in the state of Illinois. Two things are stopping the installation of renewables: one is the fact that the state is operating without a budget and keeps sweeping all or most of the money out of the RERP (Renewable Energy Resources Program) so it is completely unreliable, which in term makes it so we rarely tell our customers about the program. Second is there is no good financing programs for solar. Solar will not be regularly installed or mainstream until people can pay off a loan instead of pay for an utility bill. There is a payoff with a solar system but never with an electric bill.

At the rally Pat Quinn said he has brought honesty to the state and with Sheila Simon on his side will continue to do so. As long as people are paying as part of their utility bill into the RERP that money is supposed to be set aside to create rebates for the installation of renewables. I respectfully ask all the state government but especially Pat and now Sheila to make the state honest and stop stealing our renewable energy program money. Make sure the RERP is fully funded!

Lets get the state of Illinois Energized with Renewable Energy!

Tips for Greener Travel

As you may know our company installing across 8 states in the Midwest so we do A LOT of driving. We have a ‘do the speed limit’ policy as reducing your speed to 55 mph from 65 mph may increase your fuel efficiency by as much as 15 percent; cut it to 55 from 70, and you could get a 23 percent improvement. Also the peace of mind of not having the intensity of driving faster. Going even 5 miles an hour slower is so much more relaxing. On your next trip try it. 

What Can You Do?

To travel with a lighter footstep:

• Stay closer to home. The less you drive, the easier your trip is on the environment. Instead, take an alternative form of transportation, like a train or a bus.
• Increase your fuel efficiency on the road. Inflate your tires, and drive at a leisurely pace.
• If your trip requires flying, or driving a long distance, rent a hybrid. Hertz recently started renting Toyota Prius at major metropolitan airports, and for inner city driving, check out car shares. Zipcar, available in bigger cities like New York, Chicago and Washington D.C., provides hybrids on a per-hour basis.
• Get to know the country through the window of a train. If you’re really intent on taking a big vacation, consider splurging on an Amtrak North America Rail Pass ($999 peak/$709 off-peak; www.amtrak.com). The pass allows you to travel to over 900 cities in both the U.S. and Canada for 30 consecutive days.

More tips like this can be found on http://www.thegreenguide.com/fastfact