Sun, Sun, Sun… Let it Shine! (Sing it out loud as in the chorus of “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles)

Marching in the People’s Climate March inspired me to take action on installing solar at my home! I have been wanting to do this for a long time, so what am I waiting for?! I’m sure I can’t afford it, but there’s no harm in researching those zero down options for leasing and loans, right? So here goes…

Today, I happened to see an article on Treehugger (this cannot be a coincidence!) entitled “Google and SunPower pump $250 million more into residential solar leasing” by Zachary Shahan, who covers solar technology and regular ‘ol technology for Treehugger. In the article, Zachary covers the benefits and not-benefits of solar leasing. One of the steps for figuring out if your house is a good option for solar, and learning how much savings you can accomplish (as if savings was the point of solar – duh!) is to visit EnergySage, a company out of Cambridge, MA (yay, Massachusetts!) and plug in your address and info from your current electric bill. It was super easy to sign up and enter the information. I hesitated before checking the box that asked if I wanted to get quotes from local installers. But that is the whole point of the website, so I went ahead and did it. I drew the line at entering my phone number. I will wait and see what happens online first. But, hey, go for it if you’re not a nervous ninny like some people I could name.

Once you complete the form at EnergySage, you wait for the installers to contact you. Basically, they’re fighting over you. And that feels good, admit it! I’m picturing them actually wrestling in some sunny parking lot. Probably wearing hardhats with solar logos on them. Cool!

Meanwhile, they set you up with a Your Marketplace page where you can “Manage your property profile, monitor quotes, research installers & products and compare quotes to choose the best option.” I added a few more details about my home and financing preferences (“Grab money as it floats down from the sky” wasn’t one of the options. Darn.)

So now… I wait! And run outside a hundred times today to obsessively peer from the sun to my roof and check for shadows (no! no shadows!) on this beautiful, cold, sunny, autumnal day in the Berkshires. I’m psyched!