{Quote of the Week} Susan Kraemer

solar energy quote

I normally choose an introspective or inspirational quote for these quotes of the week, and normally from a quite famous person, but this quote from one of our authors over on CleanTechnica last week really stood out as a good one worth sharing. It was a comment on an article about decentralized solar power vs centralized solar power. Useful insights:

I used to agree that distributed would be great.

But, try selling that, and then see if you think differently about utility-scale. My own experience in attempting to sell solar has led me to realize – sadly – that we will never get enough solar on individual rooftops to make any difference because – not to put too fine a point on it – most people are simply just plain too stupid to do anything different and go solar.

Even when it costs them LESS than their PG&E bill monthly, with NO UPFRONT COST – (via a PPA) people still just won’t take the leap. Even though they can save enough money over 25 years to buy a second house! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Why won’t we make clear, beneficial choices that benefit practically everyone…? Who knows?

Photo via cornishdave

4 thoughts on “{Quote of the Week} Susan Kraemer”

  1. I just left the above response and then found this piece:

    25 Cities Meet to Discuss How to Bring More Solar to Market Representatives from 25 cities around the nation gathered in Philadelphia from April 25 to 28 for the 4th annual Solar America Cities meeting to share findings on emerging trends in urban energy use and to discuss solutions to local solar barriers, such as zoning, financing and unwieldy permitting processes. At the conference, DOE’s Acting Under Secretary of Energy Dr. Arun Majumdar announced a request for information (RFI) for a solar challenge specifically designed to address permitting issues in cities. The RFI will foster solutions to help eliminate barriers to solar market development, save customers time and money, and accelerate the adoption of solar energy in communities nationwide.

    Improving local permitting processes can make it easier for residents and businesses to pursue solar installations and can significantly drive down the total cost of solar projects. Unfortunately, permitting processes and requirements vary greatly between jurisdictions, and local inexperience with photovoltaics has led to inconsistent enforcement of requirements. This can add time and costs, not only for the installers but also for the system owners. According to a January 2011 report by SunRun, local permitting, inspection, and utility interconnection processes can add more than $2,500 to the cost of each residential installation. See the Energy Blog post.

    1. yeah, this is part of the issue, but not all of it. SunRun is actually the company Susan got her setup from and who she was trying to help sell solar door to door from 😀

  2. If you look at the reasearch on innovation and see the percentages regarding early adapters, you will see that there appears to be a tipping point after about 18%. Then the middle 66% come on board rather quickly. The remaining few may never adapt. These are the ones your question/comment should apply to.

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