Watch Out For Community-Wide Solar

Marin County in Northern California has one of the most successful neighborhood-wide solar purchashing programs in the nation. With collective bargaining, residents come together for lower prices, thereby making clean energy options more affordable for everyone. Marin's program, called GoSolarMarin, leverages an average 25% lower price for its community members.

SolarCity is a solar equipment provider that arranges lease agreements for Marin and similar neighborhood projects, including 30 other community solar programs throughout California, Arizona and Oregon.

In Colorado, an organization called Neighborhood Solar organizes homeowners into collective purchasing groups in the Denver area.

One location that has taken sharing to a whole new level is the neighborhood of Drake's Landing in Alberta, Canada. Over 50 households pool together their energy generation from the sun, where it is stored and distributed evenly to all residents. Pretty cool. Since 2007 when the program was launched, each home gets 90% of its energy from the sun.

Who knows, maybe the Southern Tier, NY, is next?