Archive for April, 2011

Solar Leasing

Via GreenTech Media, an interesting analysis of the residential solar lease space: We’ve covered the perception challenges faced by the solar industry when it comes to consumers installing PV on their rooftops — many think it’s too expensive. We’ve also covered the steps the industry is taking to lower the “soft costs” of residential solar […]

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The Garden State: New Jersey Solar Incentives

Via The Energy Collective, an interesting overview on the various incentive programs currently in place in New Jersey: “…Everyone seems to know that California currently leads in the nation in installed solar capacity. Many, however, do not know that New Jersey is the second largest solar state in the U.S. with 137 megawatts of installed […]

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Lowering Solar Installation Costs: Solar As An Asset Class?

Courtesy of Greentech Media, an interesting report on potential ways to reduce solar installation costs and the idea of potentially creating solar as an asset class: “…A recent report to the DOE from solar leasing and installation firm SunRun claims that installation costs can be reduced by 50 cents per watt simply by harmonizing the […]

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The Next-Gen Utility: When Every Rooftop Is a Power Plant

Via GigaOm, an interesting article on the impact on solar panels, wind turbines, etc. on utilities’ traditional business model.  As the report notes: Will your local utility one day go the way of dinosaurs? Well, as more home and business owners install solar panels, wind turbines and other electricity and heat generating equipment, the roles […]

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Plant The Roof

Via American Progress, an article on green roofs: It may or may not be surprising but one of the best ways to make your house greener is to literally make it greener. Green roofs, or living roofs, offer a number of important benefits not only to the environment but also to home and property owners. […]

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Sun For Rent

Courtesy of The Boston Globe, an interesting report on the economics of residential solar panel leases in Massachusetts: It’s an old energy problem with a new solution: After decades of facing prohibitively high costs to install solar panels, Massachusetts residents will be able to lease the panels for a tiny fraction of their upfront cost. […]

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About This Blog And Its Author
As potential uses for building and parking lot roofspace continue to grow, unique opportunities to understand and profit from this trend will emerge. Roof Options is committed to tracking the evolving uses of roof estate – spanning solar power, rainwater harvesting, wind power, gardens & farms, “cooling” sites, advertising, apiculture, and telecom transmission platforms – to help unlock the nascent, complex, and expanding roofspace asset class.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has held a lifelong interest in environmental and conservation issues, primarily as they relate to freshwater scarcity, renewable energy, and national park policy. Working from a water-scarce base in Las Vegas with his wife and son, he is the founder of Water Politics, an organization dedicated to the identification and analysis of geopolitical water issues arising from the world’s growing and vast water deficits, and is also a co-founder of SmartMarkets, an eco-preneurial venture that applies web 2.0 technology and online social networking innovations to motivate energy & water conservation. He previously worked for an independent power producer in Central Asia; co-authored an article appearing in the Summer 2010 issue of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal, titled: “The Water Ethic: The Inexorable Birth Of A Certain Alienable Right”; and authored an article appearing in the inaugural issue of Johns Hopkins University's Global Water Magazine in July 2010 titled: “H2Own: The Water Ethic and an Equitable Market for the Exchange of Individual Water Efficiency Credits.”