Unethical Practices in the Solar Power Industry

Most of the People in Solar Power are Good…

…And some steal your cheeseburgers. It’s like this:

When I visit a home to do a solar evaluation, I crunch the numbers and get a very precise estimate of the output of the system based on orientation, tilt, and shading. Now that I know that, I can get an accurate ROI. After I have this data, I present them to the customer with everything on the table. I often say, “look, you’re gonna have to either cut that tree or this just doesn’t work for you financially.” After that, even with systems that are not cost effective due to shading some people still move forward because it’s something they want to do for the earth.

Everyone in the industry has the capability and the tools to make their numbers very snug and correct with not a lot of effort.

Most of the providers out there are good people, but there are a few who are giving us a bad name. I won’t name names, because I can’t. I don’t know where these pictures were taken or who installed them. I only know my friends gave me these photos of installations they had seen that they knew, by eyeballing, shouldn’t have been done (the first picture being far more egregious than the second) unless there is some giant weird exception. In the following two photos of bay area solar installations, both trees are to the south, making the solar array shaded to all hell. Unless your company has lots of referral resources they can give you, or you know them personally, ALWAYS GET A SECOND QUOTE.

To be fair… I don’t know who installed these solar systems or what their story is. I don’t know that a solar salesman conned anyone into anything here… The owners could have plans to cut the trees… The owners could be super-altruistic and have money to burn on solar… They could even be uneducated solar do-it-yourselfers, I have no idea. What I DO know is that some solar installers get people to install systems that they shouldn’t. It’s rare but it happens. Addionally, to be fair to the hamburgler… I’ve met him. He’s got a habit… what’s he gonna do? When you get down to it he’s a nice guy… and with that laugh, how can you not love him. Dude just LOVES humburgers… Cut him a break!

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