Open Neighborhoods announced that it has joined the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator as one of its newest portfolio companies. Open Neighborhoods has established an online project bidding and solar comparison-shopping service for residential, commercial, and tax exempt property owners and multi-family communities in greater Los Angeles seeking to reduce utility bills with solar energy.
The regional website, at www.GoSolar.LA, offers discounted rooftop solar electric and hot water installations from leading contractors, and $0 down financing programs along with neighborhood-scale group-purchasing programs recently recognized for providing the lowest cost residential solar in the state of California.
Representatives of Open Neighborhood and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator will be hosting a webcast on Thursday December 20th at 12:30pm to discuss GoSolar.LA and the LA Cleantech Incubator. Register to participate at www.GoSolar.LA/webcast
The City of Los Angeles is strongly committed to expanding clean energy innovation and to providing assistance to high-potential cleantech companies as they grow and expand their operations. Funded by the CRA/LA and the LADWP for the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator accelerates development of cleantech start-ups by offering flexible office space, CEO coaching and mentoring, and access to a growing network of experts and capital.
A UCLA Luskin study found that nearly 1.5 million rooftops throughout Los Angeles County could be used as solar power generators, enough to generate 19,000 megawatts from rooftop solar including over 5,500 megawatts of solar in the City of Los Angeles, enough to power the city on most days. While solar panel costs have dropped rapidly, the process of selecting an installer through operating a solar energy system can add significant time and cost to project completion, representing 40 to 50 percent of costs according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The Open Neighborhoods approach to streamlining solar installations in Los Angeles can help accelerate deployment and make solar an even more cost-effective source of clean energy. We welcome Open Neighborhoods and look forward to making our resources and relationships available to help drive its growth in the region, said Fred Walti, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator.
James Brennan, President of Open Neighborhoods, said Sunshine is an abundant natural resource in Southern California, with great potential to reduce energy costs. We look forward to working with the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, local utilities, solar contractors and property owners to help further streamline and scale the process of going solar."
http://openneighborhoods.net/open-neighborhoods-joins-los-angeles-cleantech-incubator
