PRESIDENT OBAMA ADDRESSES CLIMATE CHANGE WHILE FIRST DOG BO FETCHES THE SOLUTION

— Bo Obama Leads the Pack Using Solar Panels to Reduce Carbon Emissions, Save Money and Stay Cool  —

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 26, 2013 – First Dog, Bo, today announced that the solar panels installed on his Presidential doghouse have successfully reduced his carbon paw print, and he is hounding President Obama to follow suit. Bo’s announcement follows an impassioned speech by the President in which he urged Americans to redouble their efforts in the fight against climate change. Bo’s 100-watt solar power system, which he leases from leading residential solar company, Sungevity, provides clean energy for his home’s electric fan, lighting, and electronics, all while lowering his electricity bill. Not one to sit and stay, Bo hopes to teach President Obama this new trick for addressing climate change, creating jobs and saving money all at the same time.

 

“Bo begged his owner to address climate change, and today the President did just that,” said Sungevity co-founder Danny Kennedy. “Bo is throwing President Obama a bone and showing him what the rest of the country already knows – that solar power is cleaner, more affordable, and better for America and the world than traditional dirty energy. Good boy, Bo.”

 

Bo sniffed out a Sungevity solar power system that cost him no money down and decreased his monthly electricity bill, so he could spend more money hosting canine cake-filled galas like his Inauguration Bash last January. Bo partnered with Sungevity after learning that the high-pedigree, mission-driven company was behind the 2010 Solar on the Whitehouse campaign. As part of the campaign, Sungevity offered the Obama administration a free solar system and fetched over 50,000 signatures to demonstrate overwhelming popular support for putting solar panels on the first family’s residence. The administration and then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu agreed, but President Obama has yet to honor his pledge.

 

“Barack loves this country more than I love squirrels,” said Bo, scratching his ear. “He knows solar power is good for America, but it is ruff to enact change. I’m setting an example to show it can happen, and in fact must happen.”

 

Pay As You Go Solar

By Nick Leiber, for Bloomberg

 

The bottom line: Solar power could spread in the developing world, thanks to new financing plans that reduce upfront costs.

 

An estimated 1.2 billion people worldwide live without electricity. Many depend on kerosene lamps to light their homes—a fuel that has ill effects on health and is costly. Solar power might seem the better alternative in sunny parts of the world, except the poor can’t afford the upfront cost of the equipment, which starts at around $50 for a modest rooftop system. “Even though photovoltaics have become much more affordable over the past 10 years, it’s still too expensive to be competitive with other sources of energy,” says Paul Polak, a social entrepreneur who has spent the last 25 years creating affordable tools used by millions of poor farmers and is now working on a solar water pump.

Solar pioneer Danny Kennedy, the co-founder of Sungevity, whose leasing plans have put solar power within the reach of thousands of middle-class households in the U.S., has nurtured solar startups, including Mosaic and Powerhive, at an accelerator at his Oakland (Calif.) headquarters. “The evidence is in that once you create the model for easy, affordable monthly payments, which in most cases pencil out at less than what these poor people are paying for kerosene, the adoption rates are terrific,” he says. “Pay-as-you-go, whatever the finance structure behind it, will result in the rapid electrification of much of the world that doesn’t currently benefit from it.”

 

Full article here:  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-30/selling-solar-panels-on-the-installment-plan-in-africa