Still catching up here, but this post brings us right to the present!
August was all about stock market decline and Hurricane Irene. The first affected us deeply; the second did not (except that we sympathized with all our troubled pals in Vermont).
The August stock market decline reminded us once again, that the footing sure is slippery on this hill we’re climbing.
We had completed, during that month, thanks to the fine efforts of Ryan and Matt, three very successful schematic designs for major projects. All three clients loved the plans.
Two of them didn’t like what was happening in the stock market, however. Projects postponed.
The third was uncertain about moving forward for a variety of reasons. Project postponed.
We got walloped, folks, all in one week!
So, although we had plenty of immediate work for all, I was a little worried about our year ahead.
It was hard to be very worried, however, because this perfect storm of postponements and hold-ups coincided with two other things:
- A veritable explosion of interest and new contracts in Energy, partly precipitated by a new leasing system from SunPower (more about that later); and
- Although the postponements made our schedule of actual 2011-2012 ready-to-go projects lighter than I would have liked, I am unable to recall a time in the recent past when we had more active inquiries than right now.
So September and October have been about building it right back up again. Things are looking entirely different than they were during the August swoon.
One of the most exciting things to happen for us in awhile is the SunPower lease program, which allows us to offer solar electric systems in three ways:
- all up-front purchase (the usual)
- partial up-front lease
- no money down lease
This puts photovoltaics favorably within the reach of everyone, whether they have savings to spend or not. For anyone with a home, a south-facing roof (or un-shaded grounds), a meter, and an income, solar is ready-to-go! This already looks like it will be very big at the residential scale, and a big backlog is beginning to accumulate.
At the same time, we are working on several commercial-scale solar projects, with others incubating.
The moral of the whole story is this:
We will keep running down every opportunity and keep doing everything possible to grease the skids. We will keep adjusting, stay flexible, and become more and more resilient. We will continue to refine our internal processes for getting work done more efficiently and effectively and we will continue to refine and diversify our marketing.
Twenty-eight remarkable people doing different things, doing them together, doing them well. We plan to keep it that way—through constant exploration, open minds, continuous improvement, supporting each other, and making the constant case to the region we serve that we’re the ones that oughta be serving it up!!
We can’t do much about the stock market, or hurricanes, or other forces too numerous to mention, but we sure can hunker down and do everything we can to change with the times and serve our mission too. Hope is not a strategy, so each time we come to a wall too tall to climb, we throw our best hat over to the other side—so we’re motivated to follow.
Meanwhile we have been doing several kinds of long-range planning, which, given the uncertainties of the times, seems almost like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? I’ll tell about this in the next post and you can judge for yourself. Onward we go. . . .
Leah
Well said and way to go, John and team SMCo.
This in particular is a wonderful line and a great reminder to us all in times of adversity:
“Hope is not a strategy, so each time we come to a wall too tall to climb, we throw our best hat over to the other side – – so we’re motivated to follow.”
Thanks!
Leah
jabrams
Thanks Leah.
It’s actually two lines, both pilfered, and then cobbled together by me. “Hope is not a strategy” comes from Benjamin Ola Akande, dean of the business school at Webster University in St. Louis, in a letter he wrote to Barck Obama about bringing life back into our economy. I can’t remember where the Hat Over Wall thing came from.
John
Connie Willliams
John, it’s always good to know about activities at South Mountain. We seem to be doing our best to keep you busy with less exciting projects on our 25 year old house. Still, every time I walk into the front door, I am filled with happiness and admiration. My happiness. And admiration for the great craftsmanship that goes into a SMCo house.
Sun power brings hope and warmth. Keep throwing that hat over the wall.
Connie
Peter Murkett
Hi John
One of the walls we face here in the Berkshires is virulent, absolute opposition to the development of “industrial” wind power. This opposition is well organized, well funded, and deeply committed. Although there are many things to be concerned about in this rapid-growth stage of wind energy development, in my thinking they do not add up to blanket rejection in any locale where the wind blows, even moderately.
The political fight is one thing, and there are voices here pushing back reasonably against the nay-sayers, but we have yet to organize ourselves into a coherent, credible alternative. I would like to sponsor a speaker who can provide factual information on the current political situation (permitting, loan guarantees, business / government deals, etc) and outline a way for thoughtful citizens with the will and the means to realize some form of decentralized, locally owned, locally consumed, sustainably generated electricity. Perhaps wind turbines cannot fulfill these requirements as well as solar, but perhaps each has a role to play. We need good, workable, inspiring ideas (abundant at South Mountain) to bring the angry, yes-no, us-them short circuit to ground.
Are you the man? If this is not your particluar expertise, can you recommend someone?
Peter
jabrams
It’s a tough one, Peter. I would certainly be happy to come and talk about what we’re doing here – some of which i’m very proud of, some of which moves painfully slow, some of which seems to be picking up steam – and what I observe around me.
The question always is: can you get the right people in the room or, when you do something like this, do you end up just preaching to the choir? If you have a way of getting the polarized citizenry into one room I’d love to help with the conversation.
One of the things I think we can offer is the model of Vineyard Power (http://www.vineyardpower.com/). In this cooperative model, the ratepayers are the members and the ratepayers are making the decisions. If the people who will bear the consequences – financial and environmental – make the decisions, it will soon become apparent what the answers are for your area – is it PV? is it wind? is it a combination? is it something else entirely?