Featured Solar Homeowners: Susan and Chip Evans

Long time residents of Middlesex, VT, Chip and Susan are now proud solar homeowners. Chip is recently retired from his position as Executive Director of the Vermont Human Resource Investment Council in Montpelier and Susan is a reading teacher at the Doty Elementary School. They keep busy and healthy, biking, hiking, sailing, and skiing in the Vermont playground. We thought you’d be interested to hear what made them decide to go solar with SunCommon.

How did you hear about SunCommon?

We learned about SunCommon from an interview with Andrea Cohen of VBSR on WDEV. We checked the website and saw how easy it was to explore the possibility.

What were your motivations for going solar?

Our house is reasonably energy efficient, and we have heated primarily with wood for many years. We wanted to do something more to reduce our impact.

What had kept you from going solar previously?

The up-front cost was a big factor, especially when paying for college. We also had concerns about finding a qualified installer and our ability to maintain the system over the long term.

What was the ultimate deciding factor in making the jump to solar?

We had wanted to do this for years, and being able to do it without a big investment and with technical support for long-term maintenance was the key for us. The way our system is financed we have zero risk, no up-front cost and will make some long-term savings, so why not!

What advice would you give to future solar homeowners?

It feels great to be part of the solution instead of contributing to the problem. We saw this as an economical way to meet our electric needs and do something good for the environment. The system looks good, is very low profile and does not adversely affect the appearance of the house.

What are you most excited about?!

It is satisfying to see that meter clocking the clean kilowatts! And we love being part of a stealth energy revolution. Beyond being a straightforward money saving home improvement, the SunCommon model also gives the homeowner an opportunity to impact a global problem. Without anyone really noticing, this is becoming a quiet, people-driven energy revolution. Instead of a single point energy generation system like a coal or nuclear, this system is multi-point, low-impact generation controlled by energy users themselves. Anyone who has sunshine on their roof can participate. There are very few opportunities for individuals to impact the national energy system so directly. It’s hard to imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to do it.

What is the most important power device your panels will be charging?

The operation of the system is completely transparent. It powers our entire house and is always there regardless of the weather.

The process for going solar is simple. It starts with filling out our get started form. You can do so by clicking the get started button. If you want to know more details about the process and the steps involved between signing up and turning on the power, click the button below to find out more.