Ford Helps Move Solar to the Home

And moves a few $s back to the Sierra Club in the process.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Nov. 23, 2014



Sierra Club Receives $500 Donation for Each Residential SunPower Solar System Installed Through the Program



The Sierra Club is joining Ford and SunPower’s Drive Green for Life program to help more Americans move toward emissions-free driving.



Drive Green for Life offers Ford customers who own electrified plug-in vehicles, including Focus Electric, C-MAX Energi Plug-In Hybrid and Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid, a $750 rebate on a SunPower residential solar system to generate clean, solar energy for the home and for electric vehicle charging. Ford stated that owners of its C-MAX Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid are also eligible for the programs benefits.



The Sierra Club will receive a $500 donation from SunPower for each rooftop solar system installed through the program.



In 2011, the Sierra Club launched a PHEV/BEV initiative advocating ways to curtail oil use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Sierra Club also conducts public education to promote PHEV/BEVs, including through the annual National Drive Electric Week and its interactive online EV Guide. Through the Drive Green for Life program, electrified vehicles charged with SunPower systems becomes a reduced emissions form of mobility.



SunPower dealers will work with interested customers to design a solar power system for their home and discuss flexible financing options. Each Drive Green for Life customer will receive their rebate and a donation will be made to the Sierra Club once the solar system is installed.



Sun Power Panels



Quite a bit more expensive but far more productive and proven to last.



This past June, SunPower’s E20/327 Solar PV panels were tested by an independent PV testing group Atlas Material Testing Technology. The high-efficiency Solar Panel underwent the rigorous Atlas 25+ Comprehensive PV Durability Testing program and, upon completion, showed less than two percent power degradation.



The Atlas 25+ testing protocol includes long-term environmental exposure that requires modules to have less than eight percent degradation over the testing period to receive SGS certification. The program is designed to subject modules to the environmental degradation stresses which can be expected over long-term service. In addition to achieving less than two percent power loss, the SunPower E20/327 Solar Panel also passed two additional criteria: no visual aesthetic changes and no change in electro-luminescence.



Atlas 25+ is a proprietary multi-dimensional durability test program designed to subject photovoltaic modules to the environmental degradation stresses which can be expected over long-term service. The program exposes solar panels to a series of stresses, including UV-A/UV-B exposure, salt spray corrosion, condensing humidity, solar/thermal humidity cycle, solar/thermal humidity freeze cycle, Arizona and Florida solar tracking – including peak summer – and initial, final and multiple interval measurements.



SunPower Mission Statement: We believe in the promise of the sun.



It is the most abundant, most liberating energy source of all.



We believe the sun belongs to everyone.



We’re committed to unlocking its vast energy so all of us can enjoy the freedom it provides.



We believe that quality matters.



Since 1985, we’ve created the very best solar solutions in the world – and set a few records along the way.



We believe in changing the way our world is powered.



For our kids. For the planet. Forever.

2014 Ford C-MAX PHEV-19 Energi





As seen at Torrey Pines State Park in San Diego yesterday.

In more practical terms, before Federal PV panel incentives disappearing in 2016, a 7.5 kW system should cost between $15 and $20k installed. Possibly enough to run an average sized 2,000 sq. ft. home with net metering spinning the meter backward for an overall $0 net cost bill year round. Big if(s) here of course. With all the BS fees on today’s electric bills, most probably average $100 to $125 a month year round. A 7-yr. loan on $20k at 4.5 percent is $93 a month. See where the addition of a solid PV install can create net savings over any period? And especially if you are a PHEV/BEV owner. ;)

Ford Helps Move Solar to the Home