By Greg Bolt
You can’t run your alarm clock on sunshine daydreams, but you can wake up to a solar-powered home thanks to a new program that gives members of the UO community a good deal on rooftop photovoltaic panels.Known as Solarize U, the new program is aimed at boosting the number of Eugene-area homes generating power from the sun. It combines discounts with an expedited process that can have solar power flowing to a home in a matter of months instead of the year or more it typically takes.
The program was created by the UO’s Office of Sustainability and managed by Northwest SEED, a nonprofit group that promotes clean energy in the Pacific Northwest. The group works with local solar panel installers to negotiate a group rate and develop a streamlined design and installation process and then offers a special deal to community members.
Steve Mital, the UO’s sustainability director, said rooftop solar is to energy what gardening is to agriculture.
Appeared in Around the O on October 12, 2015.