DYK, You Can Share Your Energy Stats on Facebook?

In an industry first, SunReports, a San Francisco-based company that provides residential solar energy monitoring for both solar PV and solar hot water systems, is now enabling owners to share their system performance data with friends on Facebook (News - Alert).

Customers of San Francisco-based SunReports who opt into the Facebook tool can choose how frequently to post their energy data onto their Facebook Walls: daily, weekly, or monthly.  These “Energy Performance Updates” include energy equivalents to make their data more intuitive—for example, equating the amount of solar energy produced by their systems to miles driven in a car, or tons of carbon dioxide emissions avoided.

By creating a way for individuals to share and compare solar energy system performance via Facebook, SunReports:

·         Allows consumers and businesses to widen the visibility of their solar installations,

·         Offers branding opportunities for solar manufacturers and installers, and

·         Facilitates global discussions about solar energy.

“Unfortunately, solar owners usually don't have much of a chance to talk about their solar energy systems with more than a few neighbors,” said Thomas Dinkel, CEO of SunReports. “This tool changes that. Now, people can share – and yes, even show off – their commitment to green energy with Facebook's 700 million users.”

“As a business owner, this makes my solar energy system many times more valuable than before,” said Alex Winch, owner of Toronto's Beach Solar Laundromat. “Now we can broadcast our commitment to solar energy to our community in a clear, understandable way. I think this is going to translate to a lot of new customers for us.”

By placing manufacturer branding alongside the solar production data, SunReports now offers the only enduring visibility for manufacturers and installers in the entire solar value chain, and creates an opportunity for automatic referrals via the social network.

“As a manufacturer, we are concerned that our branding is lost once the installation is completed and the panels are on the roof,” said Rick Reed, President and CEO of Fontana, California-based SunEarth. “Now our brand endures in the eyes of our customers, and more importantly, in the eyes of their friends.”