Kirby and Elizabeth

Last week we were amazed and honored to find a thank-you note from Kirby and Elizabeth, two Sunetric customers, on our Facebook page. You can read the whole thing there, but here’s an excerpt:

Solar is the only way to go. … I don’t have to worry about maintenance or anything else. I can’t believe the difference in my electric bill. … With the electric company rates continuously on the rise, I don’t understand why Sunetric’s doors aren’t being broken down with a rush of people who want to go solar.

The installation team was fantastic. They installed the system like the true professionals that they are. Everything was installed in less than one day and the appearance of the system is fantastic. It is actually hard to tell that I have solar panels on the roof when looking at the house from the street, as the installation looks so good that it truly appears as if it is an original part of the home.

We pride ourselves on our expert installations, taking as much care as possible to make your system a part of your home without messy and destructive alterations.

More Happy Customers

Be sure to read up on our Residential Case Studies — we’ve got four families (and counting!) sharing their experiences from start to savings. See how Scott and Morgan are saving $300 a month.

Are You a Satisfied Sunetric Customer?

We’d love to add you to our team of Solar Ambassadors! We are proud to have served each of our nearly 2500 customers and we want to share their stories with the world. So we’re reaching out to everyone and offering the chance to join the Sunetric Solar Ambassador program, and get paid for it! It’s easy — tell us a little about yourself and your installation, and if you are chosen as a Solar Ambassador, we’ll give you a $100 gift certificate to your favorite restaurant! Find out more:

Click here to apply to become a solar ambassador

Every month, Sunetric introduces you to a member of the Sunetric family. The Sunetric commitment to top-notch service is a value shared by every member of our company, and each of our employees has something special to offer our customers and all of Hawaii. As a full-service solar integrator, our expertise spans every part of the consultation, design, and installation process.

Meet Rachael Pericas, Residential Project Manager

Rachael is in charge of managing the residential operations department here at Sunetric — she supervises and administers all of Sunetric’s residential jobs from start to finish.

My top priorities are maintaining our customer’s satisfaction throughout the entire installation process as well as making sure installations are completed on time. I interact with customers, our residential crews, subcontractors, our internal operations team, and our sales force every day. Another very important part of my job is managing Sunetric’s installation schedules — on a typical day I oversee schedules for 8 installations a day and up to 40 installations a week.

As you can probably tell, Rachael keeps busy!

Rachael’s Story

Born in California and raised in Colorado Springs, CO., Rachael attended the University of Colorado Boulder for a year before moving to Oahu to attend the University of Hawaii. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science.

Rachael began working with us in 2008 as an administrative assistant, quickly being promoted to scheduling manager and then to project coordinator before becoming our residential project manager.

She’s taken an interest in studying CAD — computer-aided design, or how we design our solar installations — and is planning to go back to school for her master’s degree in the future.

Rachael at Sunetric

It was Rachael’s background in environmental science that brought her to Sunetric: “I wanted to get into the environmental field and work in a position that helps Hawaii become more environmentally friendly and green.”

Her work inside the company has also been a considerable boon to Sunetric:

I am really proud to have been part of creating a standardized work process for residential operations and to incorporate the company’s first ERP system into full operation within my department. I’m also proud that I was a part of a team — called Sunetric 2.0 — which analyzed Sunetric’s processes to make them more efficient and standardized and then led the company to make necessary changes.

Sunetric and Sun

When she’s not running a tight ship at Sunetric, Rachael loves going to the beach. “I love being in the water. I spend time with friends, play croquet, brew beer, hula hoop, and I love listening to music and traveling to see shows. I plan on traveling in the future. Early next year, I’m planning on traveling through South America and spending time in Brazil with my brother who is studying abroad.”

Both energy production and waste management practices have had adverse effects on the environment around the world. Nowhere else are these negative impacts felt than on an island, where space is limited and resources are in short supply. In Hawaii, recycling programs are as commonplace as policies mandating use of renewable energy sources – non-profit and government agencies promote them both statewide.

Waste in landfills emits methane gas, which can have a negative impact on the environment, adding to the problem of power plant emissions. Add in the rising expenses of energy and waste handling and an economic dilemma is the result. As a state where tourism is one of the main economic boosters, Hawaii can simply not afford to not be environmentally sustainable.

Renewable energy has been pitched in Hawaii for a while, and solar power and incentives to push its use have proliferated on the islands over the past few years. Both government-based and non-profit programs support widespread recycling of waste by both residents and tourists. On the Big Island, the County of Hawaii Department of Environmental Management governs the rules for recycling paper, glass, metal, and plastic, while other county-sponsored programs cover scrap metal, mulch, hazardous, waste, and electronics.

Also on the government level, the Office of Solid Waste Management (OSWM) must report to state legislature on waste reduction efforts. The OSWM is the administrating body to several programs designed to fund recycling efforts. An example is the Glass Advance Disposal Fee Program, in which fees from distributors of goods stored in glass containers are used to fund county recycling programs. Similar entities include the Deposit Beverage Container Program and the Motor Vehicle Tire Surcharge Program. It is a state priority to keep the environment in pristine shape, because that is why tourists keep coming back, and the economic value of tourism in Hawaii makes it vital to the state’s financial health.

Private businesses are perhaps the most visible when it comes to getting the word out on recycling. Oahu-based RRR Recycling processes paper products collected by its own recycling truck and vending machines. Reynolds Recycling has literally dozens of locations on four different islands to collect metal items, while Recycle Hawaii focuses on providing public education at no cost to raise awareness. Recycling education is taken very seriously on the islands. The Kokua Hawaii Foundation distributes recycling bins to schools on Oahu and provides training through its 3R’s Recycling Program, which also assists with pickup up plastic, paper, and bottles in schools. The company also sponsors in-class environmental education for students, focused on the message of what they can do to benefit the environment.

Non-profit and government agencies even work together, as is the case with the Maui Recycling Group. Responsible for the Maui Green Building Program, the group has worked with government agencies on the island to implement and promote the program and other initiatives like education and training. An OSWM report in 2010 indicated that all of these programs are working. The waste diversion rate in Hawaii, for the 2008 and 2009 fiscal year, was higher than both the national average and goals set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency. It is clear that Hawaiians are taking environmental conservation seriously. The state could be a model for recycling programs in other states and countries around the world as the population grows and non-renewable resources decline.

Being on an island means there tough choices when it comes to using and generating power. High energy prices have plagued Hawaii for years as the cost of oil from the Middle East have impacted the state’s economy. The most economically feasible approach is to produce energy somewhere locally. Any effort to do so, however, must take into account the preservation of our local environment – Hawaii’s natural resources are the foundation for the state’s massive tourist base, a significant asset to the state’s economy. Solar power has gained ground over the past few years, and geothermal energy has been explored for even longer. The pace is accelerating as new technologies come into play, and geothermal power promises to be a player in the efforts to create a sustainable power infrastructure in Hawaii.

Geothermal has been explored as an energy source in Hawaii since the 1880s. The leader of the Kingdom of Hawaii at the time, King David Kalakaua, consulted with Thomas Edison on using volcanoes to make power and transport it to different islands through underwater cables. It was not feasible at the time, but the idea has not faded, as private firms and government agencies continue to seek more sustainable ways to power Hawaii. There is currently one geothermal plant as of this writing, located on the island of Hawaii: the Puna Geothermal Venture facility. The Puna facility is able to generate 20% of the power on the Big Island.

The Puna power plant is actually located on the Kilauea Volcano. Underground wells have been drilled into the ground to bring up steam that drives turbines in the plant. Liquid is surfaced too, and plans are in the works to make use of this as well. For now, it is re-injected back into the ground along with condensed steam, so there are hardly any emissions at all into the air. Not only does the power plant avoid polluting the environment, but it has total efficiency in producing power from elements that are returned to their source.

While generating this power using the forces that created the islands, Hawaii Electric Light Company saves on the expense of purchasing 144,000 barrels of oil each year. While this is quite an impact and an extremely positive step on the path towards completely sustainable power, the rest of the Hawaiian island chain remains without a means to harness the geothermal energy generated by the Puna Geothermal Venture plant. Engineering plans for cables passing between islands under water have been in place since the 1980s, and the state considered a cable between Hawaii and Oahu, but government subsidies weren’t available to complete the project.

Several present-day developments are renewing the promise of geothermal energy. As of February 2011, the Puna Geothermal Venture has entered into an agreement with Hawaii Electric Light Company to expand its output. In June, the electric company began to actively seek information on the steps required to expand the geothermal energy capacity on the Big Island, and state lawmakers have even established a task force to stimulate new geothermal development on the island. The quest to make geothermal energy dominant in Hawaii is well underway, combined with the technological capability now in place to do what couldn’t be done in the 1800s. The prospects of geothermal generating plants and laying inter-island cables are a reality as Hawaii struggles to loosen the grips of power dependency.

Climate change is already having negative impacts on Hawaii, both in the state’s natural environment and its economy, and will eventually affect human health. From the loss of coral reefs to the destruction of beaches, the loss of endangered animal species, and the effect on tourism, the costs of climate change threaten to overtake the Hawaiian economy. Rises in sea level, erosion, and changes in weather patterns threaten to overwhelm the islands if nothing is done to reverse the changes in the climate or mitigate the effects. Unlike island nations that are being overtaken by water with little recourse, Hawaii has the capability to implement renewable energy resources, and already emits the least greenhouse gas of any state in the US.

Experts have already attributed the disappearance of Whale Skate Island in northwest Hawaii to rises in sea level. While the coral reefs are currently in good condition, changes in the ecosystem can quickly cause bleaching and break down the integrity of the reefs, leaving the coastline exposed to the mercy of the sea. Beach replenishment could potentially cost up to $6 billion if the sea continues to rise at the current rate, says the environmental group Next Generation Earth.

Tourism is a major economic asset in Hawaii, accounting for 18% of the gross domestic product in 2008. If beaches are submerged and environmental disasters plague the islands, then it is most likely that tourists will avoid the islands. Sea walls have already been built along Waikiki beach, which opponents say could decrease the real estate value of many exclusive properties. The rise in sea level is affecting the coastal community today, proving that the problems associated with global warming, which lawmakers have bickered about for years, are a reality. With 90% of the state’s energy demands met via imported oil, the current situation does little to prevent future blight.

Climate change issues have been addressed by many authorities. The Ocean Resources Management Plan, which makes many proposals to help local, state, and federal agencies as well as policy makers and businesses deal with the impacts of climate change, was formed in 2009. Also, the state has also added a dollar to the cost of importing each barrel of oil, the funds from which will be used to develop renewable energy sources. Renewable energy is plentiful on Hawaii, as there are many hydroelectric, wind, and geothermal power sources, not to mention solar. Incentives for installing solar systems at homes and businesses have sparked a surge in photovoltaic use. Solar power generates energy from the most renewable resource there is–the sun–making it the most viable alternative to imported oil products.

The Clean Energy Initiative was launched in 2008, with the goal for Hawaii’s economy to be 70% clean energy “within a generation”. Recognizing the issues of climate change and discussing solutions is a step in the right direction. However, to avoid dramatic and disastrous consequences to the environment, economy, and human health, real-world actions beyond policy-making and planning need to take place soon. This is the only way to alter how humans produce and consume energy, and avert catastrophic environmental changes.