Anthem set to participate in solar challenge

MARC BUCKHOUT ~ MANAGING EDITOR ~ 4/6/2011

Anthem has seen the light.
At the March 23 community council meeting the board unanimously agreed to take part in the Arizona Solar Challenge.
The project, presented by Arizona SmartPower, will see Anthem compete with up to 13 other Arizona communities to see which can be the quickest to have 5 percent of their homes using solar power. The goal is to achieve that mark by 2015.
Toni Bouchard, the state director for Arizona SmartPower, explained that the non-profit has been around for 10 years and has a mission of promoting clean energy.
“Clean energy hasn’t been sold to people like any other consumer product,” she said. “For a time there was a question of how to market it. We’ve found that people are confused as to how to go solar. There isn’t a trusted source.”
To ease that fear and offer some direction Arizona SmartPower, which is funded by APS to help them meet standards, offers participating communities the opportunity to take advantage of solar coaches.
“They’ll come in and conduct workshops about solar,” she said. “We don’t sell anything, we don’t take a commission. We recommend people get three different bids. The size of the solar panel you need is dictated by your energy use.”
In addition to the coaches Arizona SmartPower will call on people within the community that have already gone solar, and ask them to share the knowledge they have in going through the transition.
Board member Bill Clower called it a wonderful idea.
Board member Ron Jerich added,” The more I read into it the more committed to it I became.”
SmartPower isn’t limited to Arizona. Bouchard said the organization also has a presence in Michigan, New York, Hawaii, Connecticut and Massachusetts as well.
The organization said their research shows that 85 percent of Americans say they prefer energy generated from sources such as wind and solar, but that less than 3 percent actually purchase it. They view their role as closing that gap.
The company explains that with more than 300 sunny days a year, the sun is one of Arizona’s most abundant natural, renewable resources and it only makes sense to harness
the power of the sun to help reduce smog, pollution
and green house gasses.
Bouchard said Arizona SmartPower has already conducted successful pilot projects in the Sunnyslope area and also in Flagstaff and is excited to see the program expand throughout the state.
Community Executive Officer Jenna Kollings suggested to the board that Anthem can help facilitate the effort by offering up space for the solar coaches or home owners already using solar to give talks about the process.
“I think this is a positive, exciting thing for Anthem to be a part of,” she added.
For information about Arizona SmartPower go to azsmartpower.org. From there viewers can find more information about the Arizona Solar Challenge.