What do we mean by "solar energy"?

Technically speaking, solar energy is energy emitted from the sun in the form of radiant light and heat. Sunlight shines on the earth every day making it a renewable source of energy that will never run out. Therefore, technologies that capture this energy and allow us to use it in our lives - thereby replacing our current dependence on non-renewable resources - are highly valuable. In fact, if we could capture all the energy that falls on the earth during one hour of sunshine, we'd have enough energy to power the whole planet for an entire year!

There are many technologies that harness solar energy, but the two most widely used energy technologies are solar thermal and solar photovoltaics. Solar thermal uses solar energy to heat water, while solar photovoltaics use solar energy to generate electricity. RE-volv only works with solar photovoltaics (at least for now...), so anytime we use the term "solar energy", we're referring to solar photovoltaics.

Key Terms:

Solar Photovoltaic (Solar PV)- The technology that turns sunshine ("photons") directly into electricity ("voltage"). Solar PV modules convert sunlight into DC (Direct Current) electricity.

Solar Panel-  A solar panel is a rectangular unit containing an assembly of connected PV cells, usually made of silicon wafers, framed in glass and metal so they can be safely transported and installed. When solar panels are combined they form a solar array.

Inverter- Transforms electricity from DC (Direct Current)  to AC (Alternating Current). AC electricity is what our homes and appliances use.

Check out the picture below for a better understanding of how a solar PV system works. Although there are many more parts that constitute a safe and fully-functioning solar system, the defining components of a solar system are: (1) the solar panels, (2) the inverter, (3) the electrical panel (which feeds power to your appliances), and (4) the electricity meter.

Solar panels are rated in Watts (W) which is a unit of power. A typical solar panel ranges from 180-360 W. In other words, if a 300 W panel is sitting directly in the sun, it will create 300 watts of power at that moment in time or about the amount of watts it takes to power a blender.

But we actually want to track energy production and the unit for energy production is Watt-hours (Wh). So a 300 W panel, if it was sitting in the sun producing power for one hour, would produce 300 Wh.

The most common unit for tracking electrical energy is kilowatt-hours (kWh). (1 kWh = 1,000 Wh) 

The average American home gets four hours of full sunshine a day, so that's when the panels are producing at their maximum capacity.

So for example, a 300 W panel getting four hours of sunshine a day will produce 1200 Wh per day or 1.2 kWh. Multiply that by 365 days a year and each 300W panel will produce 438 kWh per year. If you have 10 panels on the roof that will produce roughly 4,380 kWh per year. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average U.S. residential customer uses approximately 909 kWh per month of energy, or around 10,909 kWh per year. 

Measuring the Sunshine

There are a few things that affect how well solar systems can produce energy from the sun:

1. The time of year or time of day

Sun position during the seasonsHow the position of the sun changes the amount of power and energy a system can produce

2. Array Orientation

In the northern hemisphere, the sun is always in the southern sky - so it's ideal for solar panels to face south. Although most roof planes aren't facing due south, they can still have great potential for solar. The real takeaway here is that roof planes facing north aren't a good place to install solar.

The other factor related to roof planes is the pitch of the roof, which determines the tilt of the solar array. Tilt ranges from 0 to 90 degrees, where 0 degrees is laying flat, and 90 degrees is standing vertically. The ideal tilt for the system depends on geographic longitude, so there's no optimal tilt. The best tilt for a fixed array is generally the positioning which will yield the most direct radiation from the sun. Realistically, anything between 0-45 degree will generate plenty of solar energy. RE-volv only installs fixed array systems. However, there are solar tracking systems on the market that allow the panels to move with the sun but they can be expensive and require additional ongoing maintenance due to the moving pieces.

3. Shade

Lastly, the amount of sunlight that actually reaches the panels is a major factor in energy production. Clouds technically cast shade, but don't substantially block sunlight from reaching the solar panels. By contrast, a tree will cast nearly perfect shade on the area directly below it. When we're looking for potential sites for solar energy, we want to be aware of any trees or neighboring buildings that might cast a shadow on the solar system and reduce performance, often referred to as "shading."

Telling the Story of Your Nonprofit Going Solar

To get someone excited about your project, you have to tell a story. What is the project about and why is it important? What about this would grab someone’s attention? The story should focus on why the members of your team are Solar Ambassadors. What drives you? What got you to this place? Sharing your personal story and passion about solar can inspire others to take action.  You’ll also want to tie in how solar energy is good for the environment and by reducing the threat of climate change, is good for everyone everywhere. 

You’re going to want to come up with a catchy title and then write a few paragraphs of copy that describes your team and what you're trying to accomplish, and we'll post it on the RE-volv website. 

SOCIAL MEDIA 

You will be using social media a lot during your fellowship to tell the story of your efforts and to highlight the nonprofit you're solarizing.  We suggest you utilize Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or wherever your network is most active.

Your team will set up its own social media page to post from that you all have access to, and you should take turns posting to it. Ideally, you're posting at least once a day if not multiple times a day across multiple platforms. You also want to share all of your social media on your personal accounts as well.

Keep in mind that when you and your followers like a post, comment on a post or share a post, the Facebook algorithm will decide that it is popular content and will show it to more people. Therefore make sure you, your teammates, and all your friends and family and supporters are actively liking, commenting, and sharing your posts.

The more we share success stories highlighting the benefits of solar energy, the better!

Prepare in Advance

Remember to always make life easier for yourself where you can. Before you announce your nonprofit decided to go solar, draft short and compelling Facebook posts and tweets tagging diverse groups and organizations whose audience would be interested in the mission of your nonprofit or in fighting climate change. You'll be sending these often to keep people informed on the stage of the project.

Here’s a template that you can use and customize for each social media channel:

• Date for release: _/_/_

• Text:

• Make sure to draft a version of 280 characters or less for Twitter

• Photo:

• Campaign Link:

• Hashtags:

• Handles:

Posting on social media regularly and often will help get people excited about solar energy and your project. Actively posting updates on when the contract was signed, when the install is going to happen, pictures and videos during the installation, and then details about the ribbon cutting event and other solar education events will give people more reason to want to get involved. Remember to ask your team and personal networks to like, comment, and share your posts. That will help the posts get higher visibility. Try to post to your social media accounts at least once a day. Try posting at different times of the day as well to experiment to see when your posts receive the highest levels of engagement. To help your posts get traction, consider posting during these times.

Social Media Resources

There are a number of free resources available that can help your team with social media planning. 

Planoly is a great website that allows you to plan out your Instagram feed and has the capability to schedule posts to Instagram and Facebook, plus there's a free option as well. If your team has shared login information to Planoly, this can make it easy for multiple people to plan the social media content for the team. 

Canva is another free resource that you can use to create free graphics for Facebook, Instagram posts, and Instagram stories. You can also use Canva to create fliers for upcoming events as well.

Unsplash is a website where you can find freely-usable images that you can post on your social media accounts. If you would like to make a post about solar, but don’t have a photo that you can use, check out Unsplash to see if there are any photos that you can use. 

GET YOUR CAMPAIGN IN THE PRESS

Each team should have a goal of getting at least one news article published about your project if not multiple. This helps get the word out, which helps your nonprofit get more attention for its leadership and it also gets more people to see the benefits of solar in their community. You'll want to send out a press release and get a story published when your nonprofit signs the Solar PPA or Lease, and you'll also want to get coverage for your ribbon cutting event.

Press List - This is a spreadsheet you and your team use to compile a list of reporters that might cover the story. In it, you'll gather all the information you need about reporters, including what news outlet they work for, their email, phone number, what they typically write about, etc.

Press Release - A press release is a 1-2 page document you write that tells the story about your solar project and why it's newsworthy. You'll want to come up with a catchy headline that will get people's attention. Press releases follow a very specific format. Take a look at this example and try and use the same format.

Media Advisory - A media advisory is similar to a press release except rather than pitching a news story, you're pitching an event. It's a short document that lets the media know about an event you have coming up. For example, you're having a Solar Education event and the mayor of your town is speaking. You'll want to give the media all the information they need to show up and cover the event: who's speaking, where it's being held, what's it for, etc. Follow the format of this example.

Email pitch - Reporters get tons of press releases emailed to them every day. So you need to make sure that you're cutting through the noise. You'll need a catchy email subject line to get them to open the email. Then you'll need to summarize the press release in a few bullet points like this. Below the bullets, you copy and paste the press release in the body of the email.

Phone pitch - Right after you send the email pitch to reporters, you pick up the phone and call them. You say something like "Hi my name is Sue and I just sent you an email with a press release about our exciting new solar project, do you have a moment to talk about it?" Then dive in and tell them all about the nonprofit and your Solar Ambassador team and how this is benefiting the community. Have a short version you can pitch in a minute. Keep talking until they stop you.

Pro Tip:

Reporters love it if you show that you’ve read their work. They get pitched stories all the time. One way to get their attention is by relating your story to what they already write about. Look up what they’ve written recently, compliment them on a great article they wrote, and try to tie your story to it somehow.            

In addition, here is a great resource guide with tips for getting press coverage.

Plan a Minimum of Three Events

RE-volv's ultimate goal is to help bring people together through solar energy. That means that every time we put solar on a nonprofit there is an opportunity to get people in the community together to learn about solar, to see how it's benefiting them, to help them explore going solar at home, and to realize that the solutions to climate change are in our hands. 

That's why such an important part of your role as a Solar Ambassador is to host events and get people in your community as excited about solar as you are! We ask each Solar Ambassador team to host at least three solar education events during the year.

1. Ribbon cutting - This event will require the most prep and coordination. Once the installation is done, you’ll want to throw a ribbon-cutting party. At this event, you’ll invite local elected officials, the media, and of course the community! You'll have food, speeches, and fun to celebrate all your hard work!

2. Solar Education Week Event - Typically, the week leading up to Earth Day each year, we have each team put on a solar event to engage their community. If you have a nonprofit partner you could do an event there or have an event on your college campus or at any appropriate gathering place. Examples of events for Solar Education Week have included:

• Documentary Screening
• Solar Trivia Night
• 5k Run/Walk for solar
• Tabling at an Earth Day event
• Pizza Party with solar guest speaker
• What ever great idea you have!

3. The third event is up to you! This could be a recruitment event to get more members on your team, or to invite your neighbors to learn about how to go solar at home. It's up to you! 

Pro Tip: The key to planning a great event is staying organized. We recommend using this nifty Event Planning Tracker to help you and your team keep track of important details and think through all the aspects of hosting a great event! Also, RE-volv reimburses up to $300 annually for each team for costs related to putting on events. Prior to spending this money, check with a RE-volv staff member to receive approval of the expense. Make sure to save the receipts of any purchases that you are getting reimbursed for, so that RE-volv staff can process your reimbursement. 

PLANNING YOUR RIBBON-CUTTING EVENT 

The hard work is all done, and now it's time to celebrate the new solar installation!

Here are some steps to plan your event:

• Work with the nonprofit staff to find a good date and time to host the event

• Create a list and budget for food and drinks 

• Create a speaker list and invite them to speak with as much advanced notice as possible

• Create a plan to get the word out to the community

 Here are some key players you’ll want to add to your invite list.

1. Local elected officials love events like this. Whether it’s someone from the mayor’s office, your state legislature, or even your federal representatives, politicians love opportunities to get in front of their constituents and talk about things they care about.

Inviting the official to speak is fairly easy. Typically there is a link on the official's website specifically to invite them to events like this. Otherwise, just call their staff and telling them the date and time of the event and see if they're available. 

Pro Tip: Getting some high profile speakers will increase your visibility and get more people to come to your event! It will also get the local press to cover your event.

2. The press also love events like this. Once you have the date, time, and location confirmed, you can start reaching out to the press with a Media Advisory. You’ll want to make some phone calls as well in the days leading up to the event – and even the day of – to remind local news outlets of your event. They might be looking for something to cover at that time. If you have lined up politicians to speak at the event, the press is much more likely to come and write a story about the project.

3. The community will want to celebrate this local milestone, so make sure to publicize the event through all channels. Send out invitations through email, social media, flyers, posters, word of mouth – anything and everything that will circulate through the community. Have the nonprofit hang flyers, put out postcards, and email their constituents about the event.

4. The solar installer should be there too. Events like these drum up a lot of excitement around solar energy and people will be interested to learn more about how solar energy could benefit them. It’s a great opportunity for the solar installer to generate some leads.

Below is a quick recap of the steps that the Solar Ambassador teams will need to complete throughout their Fellowship. 

1. Look for nonprofits in your area that are interested in going solar.

2. Collect electricity bills from at least five nonprofits.

3. Join the proposal walk-through meeting with RE-volv and the nonprofit.

4. After the nonprofit signs the Power Purchasing Agreement, send out a press release to local newspapers. 

5. Take photos and videos at the installation. 

6. Plan a Ribbon Cutting event with the nonprofit. 

7. Get local politicians and elected officials to speak at the Ribbon Cutting event. 

8. Send a Media Advisory to the press to cover the Ribbon Cutting event. 

9. After the Ribbon Cutting, send out another Press Release recapping the event. 

10. Make a short video telling the story of the nonprofit’s solar journey. 

11. Partner with a local solar installer to help community members go solar at home. 

12. Pattern with local policy organizations to help people advocate for clean energy and climate policy. 

Ongoing Activities 

1. Host three events throughout the year. 

2. Blog on the RE-volv website about the work that you and your team are doing and promote all activities on social media. 

3. Attend the monthly Solar Ambassador webinars and monthly office hours with RE-volv staff to check in on your team's progress.