The Green Optimistic

By on January 29th, 2008

There’s a company that wants to throw solar panels on your house and reduce your electricity bill — for free.

Yeah, we didn’t believe it at first, either. But Citizenre, a renewable energy corporation based in Delaware, looks like the real deal. Its REnU program (for Renewable Energy Unit) complements your current utility setup to take advantage of the sun’s resources and reduce the juice you get from “the grid.”

It also lets those of us spooked by Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” to do our small part in limiting the country’s dependence on coal and natural energy sources.

WHERE DO I SIGN?

Here’s how it works:

– The company rents you solar panels on a kilowatt-hour basis.

– When you sign up, you pay Citizenre whatever rate your local electricity provider charges at that time. The bonus is you’re locked into that rate for the entire length of the contract, whether it be one year, five or 25. (That’s how you’d actually save money.)

– They install the panels on your house free of charge and take care of all upkeep.

– While it’s feasible in some sunny areas to entirely power a house with solar energy, houses in the program stay connected to the traditional energy grid.

THE INEVITABLE RUB:

There are, of course, a few catches.

– The REnU program won’t be fully operational until September, so no taking advantage of the summer sun in ‘07.

– Also, you need to own a home, since it’s a pretty massive installation, and it helps if that house has a roof with a nice, clear view of the southern sky (where the sun looks like it’s revolving around the equator).

– That house needs to be in a state that’s instituted net-metering, which essentially allows you to store up energy credit. All but nine states have passed some sort of net-metering policy.

THE SECRET

Citizenre CEO David Gregg told asap Thursday that the secret to the company is vertical integration. Gregg plans to open a factory in the U.S. in the next few months and set up a nationwide transportation system to eliminate middlemen and dependence on state subsidies.

As of Thursday morning, 3,467 homeowners have signed up for the September launch, and over 80 percent have opted for the 25-year contract, according to Gregg.

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LIGHT SAVINGS

The average retail price of electricity rose almost 12 percent between 2002 and 2005. But Citizenre’s fee doesn’t change from the moment you sign up. So, if the electricity rate continues to rise over the next 25 years, you won’t feel the pinch.

But aside from the potential cost savings, users will reduce the amount of fossil fuel required to power their houses.

LIGHT SAVINGS

The average retail price of electricity rose almost 12 percent between 2002 and 2005. But Citizenre’s fee doesn’t change from the moment you sign up. So, if the electricity rate continues to rise over the next 25 years, you won’t feel the pinch.

But aside from the potential cost savings, users will reduce the amount of fossil fuel required to power their houses.

SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN

This approach of renting PV modules (the solar panel’s real name) has been around for a while, especially in states that offer energy rebates, but it’s previously been done on a smaller scale.

“Conceptually, the idea of making an energy service available is done on a commercial basis,” said Cecile Warner, principal engineer of the National Center for Photovoltaics at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “Residential customers have had options to buy renewable energy, but this is among the first companies that I have seen where it’s available as a service rather than buying the system.”

And that brings up a good question all too familiar to twentysomethings across the country: buy or rent? Warner believes that while buying a system is a great investment, the savings you might receive via leasing matches up over the life of the contract.

Either way, Warner was excited about what this emerging market means for renewable energy.

“I think that overcoming this (expensive) hurdle for most households will be very attractive,” she said. “A lot of people just can’t scrape together the money to pay for the system up front.”

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