The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse in Upstate New York was first commissioned in 1874. It served as a guiding light for ships navigating the busy lanes passing by Hudson and Athens in the late 19th century, helping them avoid the Middle Ground…
Read more
Sunlight doesn’t just power your solar panels – it heats your batteries. With fewer hours of sunlight per day, winter is the time of year when it’s most important to make sure the energy storage component of an off-grid solar system or grid-tie…
Read more
October 2019 saw the largest power outage in California’s history. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) cut power to 700,000 homes and businesses, leaving over one million individuals (including our co-workers at Real Goods) without power for more than two days….
Read more
Salt Lake City, Utah SPI was held in Salt Lake City for the first time this year – and it was a hit. The weather was clear, the city welcoming, and displays impressive as always. It’s a great way for…
Read more
Inverters Through The Years Any talk about solar power tends focus on the solar panels. Today let’s examine a less visible, but equally vital component of the modern home solar power system – the inverter.
41 Years of Real Goods In August of this year altE acquired Real Goods, the original purveyor of off-grid living supplies. altE’s founding CEO, Sascha Deri, commented, “As a teenager I remember reading the Real Goods catalog and Solar…
Read more
The History of altE U They say knowledge is power. Never were the two so analogous as when altE taught classes on the design and installation of alternative energy systems.
Advantages of Solar Energy Through The Years In the beginning… Light has been around since the beginning of time, but understanding how to convert it into electricity is relatively new, right? It depends on your perspective and definition of “new.”…
Read more
Designing a Large-Scale Commercial System People often ask: “What’s the difference between designing a larger commercial array versus a residential system? It’s just more panels, right?” In truth it’s a little more complicated than that. It’s an interesting exercise…
Read more
Location, Location, Location In real estate they say the three main indicators for a desirable property are “location, location, location.” This held true for altE, and Sascha also found that location can make for a good story.