Archive for March, 2011

Not A Solar Economy, A Rooftop Economy

Two interesting articles that discuss various aspect of solar power.  The first, while referencing the growth of the solar market in the U.S., makes the adroit point that the U.S. solar industry needs to look more like an energy market rather than a solar market. While they suggest that solar developers consider hybrid technology deployments […]

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Small Wind Gusts Into A Storm?

Via Greentech Media, an article examining a brewing controversy in California over a small wind rebate policy that may have fostered fraudulent applications.  I have chosen to include this post less for its commentary on the potential fraud, but more for its helpful background to the economics and science behind small wind: “California has suspended […]

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Transforming Underutilized Commercial Rooftops Into Clean Energy Sources

Via Solar Daily, an article featuring a large rooftop deployment in New Jersey.  The full report is below, but the following quote is what caught our eye: “…This project exemplifies PSE and G’s commitment to transforming underutilized commercial rooftops into clean renewable energy sources.” Rooftop solar makes tremendous sense for New Jersey, which has more […]

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Industrial Strength: Partnership Aims To Expand Rooftop Solar In Greece

Via Greenbang, a report on a strategic partnership aimed at implementing an investment program for the installation of photovoltaic systems on industrial rooftops.  As the article notes: “…Piraeus Equity Partners, a company of Piraeus Bank Group, and Positive Energy have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at implementing an investment program for the installation of […]

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Rooftop Wind Turbines And Residential Wind Energy: No Longer Hot Air?

Via GigaOm, an interesting look at rooftop wind turbines: There’s a lot of reasons why most homes in America do not have their own wind turbines — high costs, permitting issues, and just plain aesthetics. But there’s a wave of entrepreneurs trying to change that, including James Post, who has developed the SmartWind RidgeBlaster and […]

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Rooftops Vs. Solar “Farms” – Is California building wrong kind of solar?

Via The Redding Searchlight, an interesting article on the economic merits of rooftop solar versus large-scale solar “farms”: “…Ex-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made his way to a remote desert location last October, not far from Interstate 15, which runs between Southern California and Las Vegas. So did U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and bunches of utility […]

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About This Blog And Its Author
As potential uses for building and parking lot roofspace continue to grow, unique opportunities to understand and profit from this trend will emerge. Roof Options is committed to tracking the evolving uses of roof estate – spanning solar power, rainwater harvesting, wind power, gardens & farms, “cooling” sites, advertising, apiculture, and telecom transmission platforms – to help unlock the nascent, complex, and expanding roofspace asset class.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has held a lifelong interest in environmental and conservation issues, primarily as they relate to freshwater scarcity, renewable energy, and national park policy. Working from a water-scarce base in Las Vegas with his wife and son, he is the founder of Water Politics, an organization dedicated to the identification and analysis of geopolitical water issues arising from the world’s growing and vast water deficits, and is also a co-founder of SmartMarkets, an eco-preneurial venture that applies web 2.0 technology and online social networking innovations to motivate energy & water conservation. He previously worked for an independent power producer in Central Asia; co-authored an article appearing in the Summer 2010 issue of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal, titled: “The Water Ethic: The Inexorable Birth Of A Certain Alienable Right”; and authored an article appearing in the inaugural issue of Johns Hopkins University's Global Water Magazine in July 2010 titled: “H2Own: The Water Ethic and an Equitable Market for the Exchange of Individual Water Efficiency Credits.”