Posts by West Coast Solar
Practical Ways to Get Started With Home Automation
If home automation hasn’t already found its way into your life, there is a good chance that it will in the next year. Amazon’s Echo Dot and Google’s Home Mini were the two biggest sellers of the holiday season, and while they offer features like voice search and automatic reordering of your favorite Amazon products…
Read MoreHow Does Solar Power Work?
The sun is the number one source of energy for much of what we use today! Many homeowners and business owners are beginning to take the leap from grid to solar for many reasons. For example, solar panels can save you money on your electricity bills. These panels also help to lessen the impact…
Read MoreHow Solar Panels Cope With Less-Than-Perfect Weather
Sacramento enjoys an average of 269 sunny days each year. That makes it a great city for solar panels because panels work best when they are in direct sunlight. But what about the other 96 days of the year? That’s more than three month every year that Sacramento experiences dreary, drizzly and cloudy weather. Is…
Read MoreHow We Custom Design Each Solar Panel Installation
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solar panel solution. Each installation job needs to be carefully considered so the client gets the most solar energy production out of each panel. That’s why our San Francisco company works hard to customize each installation that we do. We want to make sure our customers are…
Read MoreCommonly Asked Solar Panel Questions
Our world, and California specifically, is increasingly becoming more and more concerned with finding sustainable and greener ways to get energy. So what’s the solution? For many homeowners, the top answer is solar panels. If you have considered investing in solar panels for your home, you probably have a few unanswered questions. Today, we are…
Read MoreCan I Afford Solar Panels?
While having a passion for the environment and hoping to save a little money are both awesome reasons for looking into solar panels, many people pause when they see the upfront cost. Though most people know about the possible benefits they could reap from a solar installation, most don’t have the money to pay for…
Read MoreFun Facts About Solar Energy
We are beginning to see people grow more of an interest in solar power, and it isn’t surprising to us. After all, the consumption of non-renewable energy sources is still not decreasing, but these resources are finite. Many forward-thinkers have turned towards other energy options, such as wind, solar, and water to power their cities…
Read MoreLive Oak School District Dedicates New Solar Panels
The Live Oak School District, located in Santa Cruz, California, recently completed construction and implementation of a solar panel array at six different schools which have a collective capacity of 416 kilowatts and will save the district $2.5 million. How Solar Energy Benefits School Districts LOSD commissioned Chevron Energy Solutions to design, build, and maintain…
Read MoreMaking Lemonade with Lemons: Turning Landfills Into Solar Plants
One of the main challenges for solar energy in California is finding space to construct large-scale photovoltaic panel arrays that can produce the amount of electricity needed to power thousands of homes. Although there is a lot of vacant land, it is sometimes difficult to convince communities of the most appropriate use of this resource.…
Read MoreMayor has ambitious goals for making Lancaster the solar capital of the world
Recently on this blog we reported that the city of Lancaster, California, became the first metro in the United States to push forward an ordinance requiring all new homes to feature solar energy solutions. The regulation states that residential properties built on lots of 7,000 square feet or more must include 1- to 1.5-kilowatt solar…
Read MoreMicroinverter industry experiencing strong growth
On November 5, Enphase Energy, the leading producer of solar microinverters in the world, posted its third quarter earnings report, showing that the company is benefiting from enormous growth in the solar hardware industry. Enphase generated $62 million in revenue and achieved a gross margin of 28.1 percent, the highest in its history. Microinverters are a very exciting…
Read MoreNavigating the World of Solar Tax Credits and Benefits
Summer is almost here, and if you’re starting to feel the heat, you’re probably cranking up your air conditioner and seeing your electrical bill fly through the roof. After all, it’s estimated that 20% of all electricity used by U.S. homes goes to air conditioning, and during the day, energy rates rise as more residences…
Read More