2011 has been an exciting year for us at Sungevity. From an ice pop truck tour of the Eastern Seaboard to solid new business partnerships to hiring over 200 new SFUNsters, we’ve been keeping busy on all fronts.
In the spirit of of the season of giving, we want to give you a glimpse at some of the more exciting milestones we hit over the course of this year. Let the infographic begin!
What was your biggest milestone in 2011? Share it with us in the comments or on the Sungevity Facebook page. If you’re a customer you can access your solar milestones on OurSungevity. Not a customer but interested in a glimpse at our installation tracking and monitoring system? Click on this OurSungevity link to see what it’s all about.
Happy holidays to from all of us at Sungevity to all of you everywhere. May your days be merry and bright, and may all your electricity come from the sun’s light!
…And then…Just like magic…Our office was bombarded with cupcakes.
And we affirmed that all is right with the world.
Office consensus? The cupcakes were mind-blowing. The sea salt caramel cupcakes, in particular, were so delectable that a few of us were on the verge of tears. James & the Giant Cupcake, we will be coming back for more!
A big sprinkle covered thank you to our special friends across the bridge who somehow knew that these were JUST what we needed on a long and cold December afternoon.
I’m not going to deny it — a partridge in a pear tree would be a pretty amazing holiday gift. Ditto for twelve drummers drumming. I would even settle for four calling birds, provided they turn their ringers off at night while I sleep [groan].
If your true love dwells more on the practical side of life (or doesn’t understand the magic that is the 12 days of Christmas) then you might want to drop hints for the following five solar-related gadgets and gizmos:
1. The Ray Solar Charger. Ever walked into a meeting late with your laptop that can’t hold a charge, only to find all of the outlets taken? Quirky’s Ray to the rescue. It suctions to a desk (or a car window, or any other flat non-porous surface) and provides enough juice to fully charge a cell phone.
2. Lux solar powered jewelry turns sun into swank. Two hours in the sun equals four hours of dazzling LED “pearls,” which should be enough bling to impress even the grinchiest grinch.
3. A sun table comes in handy when you want to sit outside and Skype or Facetime with your friends , but your computer’s battery icon is lingering in the red zone. When fully charged, the table provides enough power to fuel a laptop or portable TV for four hours.
4. Feeling the need to share your solar milestones? How about a SOCIAL solar charger?
The Changers charger lets you share how much electricity you create via your social networks #ElectrifyingInnovation
5. If you’re been 0% naughty and 100% nice this year then you might just get away with asking for a hybrid automower (think Roomba, but bigger, badder, and with blades). Yes, it’s $3,000, but it’s also “the world’s first fully automatic lawn mower that is partly powered by the sun”.
Those are my top 5 picks for solar gifts this season, so. . .
What was that?
I forgot the best one of all?
YOU’RE RIGHT! I DID! The best one of all is the gift of light to a child in need. Sungevity has paired up with Empowered by Light to fight energy poverty in Zambia. For just $22 you can join the battle and make a real difference in someone’s life. You can donate a Pharox solar lighthere, or if you don’t have a PayPay account you can donate over here. It might not be as flashy as a partridge in a pear tree, but the gift of light is the gift of education, as the lights allow students to study after dusk.
Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding line, and no way of knowing how near the harbor was. “Light! Give me light!” was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour. Helen Keller
As a white knuckle flier, it has always mystified me why people would want to fly around the world. It seems like a lot of time up in the air in a confined space where a lot could go wrong and bathroom breaks are anything but luxurious. Clearly there are people who disagree; and they’ve devoted their lives to doing exactly that — flying around the world.
In 1929 the first flying man-made airship, LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, circumnavigated the world.
In 1933 Wiley Post made the first solo flight around the world.
In 1964 Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock became the first woman to successfully fly around the world.
In 2002 Steve Fossett became the first person to complete an uninterrupted and unrefueled solo circumnavigation of the world in any kind of aircraft (a balloon).
In 2005, Fossett made the first solo, nonstop, unrefueled circumnavigation of the world in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, a single-engine jet aircraft.
So what’s next? What could possibly top a solo nonstop and unrefueled circumnavigation? How about a circumnavigation without any fuel at all? That’s right. I said without any fuel at all.
In 2014 Solar Impulse will attempt to fly around the world without any fuel aside from the sunlight that falls from the sky.
The idea for Solar Impulse came from Bertrand Piccard, the first man to travel non-stop around the world in a balloon. “We almost failed (because of) lack of fuel,” Piccard said of his epic journey back in 1999. He decided the next time he flew around the world it would be sans fuel.
The Solar Impulse team has already completed the first solar day-and-night flight in history: 26 hours, 10 minutes, 19 seconds, and 3 world records! They are determined to demonstrate that progress in transportation is possible using clean energy. Their first prototype (the one that set those 3 world records) has the wingspan of an Airbus A340, the weight of a family car, and the power of a scooter. I don’t know about you, but that sure looks like progress to me.
Just imagine they are able to develop a prototype that could commercialize mass solar flight. That innovation could dramatically slash the carbon footprint of air travel, which is slated to be an annual 1.5 billion tons of CO2 by 2025.
