Sungate Energy Solutions

The end of 2010 is fast approaching, and Sungate Energy Solutions wants to remind you that there are some energy tax credits that are set to expire on December 31, 2010.
Improvements to your home that make it more energy efficient, like the purchase of Energy Star rated appliances, high quality insulation and new windows qualify for tax credits through the end of this year. You’ll receive a tax credit of 30% of the cost of these items, up to $1500.
Taking advantage of these tax credits is a great way to save money not only on your tax bill at the end of the year, but on your energy bills for the long haul.
New insulation can give you one of the biggest bangs for your buck. Experts from the Lawrence Berkeley National Library estimate that about 50% of homes are improperly insulated. They also estimate that an investment of $850 in insulation for your home will save you roughly $125 a year in energy bills, paying for itself in about seven years. There are few energy efficient improvements that will pay for themselves in savings that quickly.
When you choose insulation, look for the right R-Value for your climate. The R-value measures the insulation’s resistance to heat flow. The colder your climate, the higher the R-value you’re looking for.
New windows are also great money savers, and they make your home look great too. You’ll also notice a huge difference in how quiet your home is when you have new windows. Switching from single pane to double pane windows can cut your heating and cooling bills by as much as 30%. When you’re ready to purchase, check for three numbers on your windows:
Air leakage
Solar heat gain coefficient (this is the amount of solar energy that passes through the glass )
U-factor (this is how much heat moves through the window )
The lower the number, the better on all three of these indicators.
Sungate Energy is ready and waiting to help you increase the energy efficiency in your home with these and other improvements. Don’t let those tax credits run out without taking full advantage!

Phoenix, Arizona residents certainly have reason to be green; but it’s not green with envy. Phoenix residents can go green and protect the environment even more easily because they now have access to the same great solutions from Sungate Energy that California residents have been enjoying.
Sungate offers Phoenix area residents great solutions for alternative energy, like solar panels for your home, solar water systems and other products to make your home more energy efficient.
If you’re ready to make your home more resilient against the heat of a Phoenix summer, consider adding energy efficient doors and windows. You’ll make your home more comfortable and save money by keeping that Arizona heat outdoors where it belongs. Or add a Fafco tankless water heater to reduce the amount of money you’re spending each month to heat water for your home.
When you’re really ready to go green, Sungate Energy Solutions can install a complete solar energy system to supply some or all of your energy needs. A solar system can be designed to be the perfect size for your family and can reduce or eliminate your dependence on the energy companies. Wouldn’t it be great to have the power company paying you money for a change? You’ll even get great tax credits from the federal government for installing your solar panels.
At Sungate Energy Systems, we’re dedicated to offering our Phoenix customers the very best in alternative energy solutions. Our engineers are knowledgeable and professional, and can design solutions to meet all your energy needs at a price you can afford. Once your system is installed and paid for, your system becomes virtually free.
So, give Sungate Energy Systems a call! We’re ready and waiting to help you solve all of your energy problems while we work together to save the planet. You’ll be glad you did.

The University of Rhode Island (URI) is looking at methods of harvesting solar energy which is radiated off roadways to melt ice, power streetlights, illuminate signs, and heat buildings.
K. Wayne Lee, URI professor of civil and environmental engineering, noted that there are many miles of asphalt in the US that absorb lots of heat during warm weather. Harvesting that heat could make it available for many uses that, today, cost a great deal of energy.
They are considering, for example, wrapping photovoltaic cells around the top of Jersey barriers dividing highways to provide electricity for streetlights and illuminating road signs. The photovoltaic cells could also be embedded in the asphalt between the rumble strip and the Jersey barrier in order to capture additional solar energy.
This project is especially exciting because it uses technology that already exists; meaning it could be implemented immediately. Testing is underway on lamps outside one of URI’s campus buildings.
URI has got some great ideas for new ways to use solar energy. If you want to check out the rest of the article, you can do so by clicking here.
At Sungate Energy Solutions, we’re always happy when we hear about new ways to save the planet. But the ideas that surround solar energy as an alternative really make us smile. That’s because we know that harvesting the power of the sun is one of the simplest and most cost effective ways to make use of this powerful renewable source.
When you’re ready for your own solar energy system; we’re waiting. We love helping our customers harvest the sun for their own use, so that you can feel good about your contribution to saving the planet and feel good about your own energy savings.

Smart phones are useful for so many things. One of the things we at Sungate love our Smartphones for is their ability to help us go green and save money. Here are five applications for the iPhone and five for the Android you’ll love if you’re interested in saving energy and saving money.
For the iPhone
Meter Read: Track your home’s energy consumption and learn how you can reduce it.
Green Outlet: Monitor your home’s energy use and rid yourself of those parasitic devices and other drains on your home’s energy usage.
Good Guide: Find healthy, sustainable and safe products when you shop. You can locate stores and products quickly and easily by zip code.
iRecycle: This is the most comprehensive reference of recycling information on the web.
The Green Meter: This application computes your vehicle’s power and fuel usage and evaluates your driving habits to help you increase efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and cost, and lower your environmental impact.

For the Android
Ecorio: This cool Android application allows you to track your carbon footprint and learn about ways to reduce and offset it.
No Dry Clean :Use this application to find dry cleaners who use alternative methods for clothes cleaning to help you avoid toxic dry cleaning processes.
Easy Green Tips: Get daily tips on going green, including ways to save energy in your home with this application.
Carbon Meter: This application tracks and logs your environmentally friendly activities. You can keep track of the green things you’re doing, like riding your bike instead of driving your car, and look for ways to increase those green activities.
Eco Footprint: Calculate your own carbon footprint and learn about ways to reduce it with this application from the Wildlife Fund.
At Sungate Energy Solutions, we’re interested in all the ways we can help save the planet; from installing our energy efficient and money saving solar energy systems to recycling our trash to walking instead of driving. We’re here to help you find more ways to save the planet.

Do you dread getting that electric and gas bill every month? Are your payments to PG&E as high as your car payment? At Sungate, we feel your pain.
Already high costs with the utility companies continue to rise, and many people feel that there’s nothing that can be done about it. After all, we need heat, lights and hot water, right?
But, there is definitely something you can do. Let Sungate Energy Solutions help you get SC&E (or whoever your utility company is) out of your wallet by installing a solar energy system in your home. With a solar energy system in place, you’ll generate your own energy. You can generate just enough for your own home, or potentially generate enough extra that the folks at SDG&E are actually buying your excess energy from you! Wouldn’t that be a nice change?
It’s easy to do, and the timing is perfect. Right now, if you install a solar energy system from Sungate Energy Solutions you’ll get a 30% tax credit on this year’s federal income tax. You’ll also get credits from the state of California. These credits can dramatically reduce your out of pocket costs for installing your solar energy system.
The best news is that once the installation of the system is paid for; there are no more costs. Your energy is now free! If you stay with the utility company; you can expect costs to continue to rise. But, with your own solar energy system, you’re harvesting the power of the sun at no additional cost.
When you consider how much of your money PG&E takes every month; it only makes sense to find alternative energy sources for your home. We spend a large chunk of money on utilities, and that cost is only going to rise. Installing your own system is a great way to cut costs down the road.
So, talk to us at Sungate about how we can help you get the utility companies out of your wallet – once and for all.

We’re all looking for ways to improve our environment. There are many small things we can do. But, when you’re ready to move onto the bigger things, Sungate Energy Solutions is there to help you do those things in a way that minimizes your upfront costs, protects the environment and gets you on your way to saving a lot of money in the future.

Clean energy is one of the best ways you can help save the world and save money at the same time. At Sungate Energy Solutions, we offer solar energy systems that are clean and reliable sources of alternative energy. With one of our solar energy systems, you will literally be harvesting the power of the sun to heat and cool your home, and to run your appliances. What could be cleaner than that?

You may have heard of solar energy systems, but also heard that they are expensive to install. It’s true that solar energy systems have an upfront cost associated with their installation and equipment. However, over the long term, they are far less expensive than dependence on our energy companies. As soon as you get finished installing your system, you eliminate, or greatly reduce your electric or gas bill. If you’ve financed your system, the money you save can go directly to paying the system off.

Once the system is paid off, your energy is free! So, while you may take a few years to pay off your system, think about how many more years you’ll have of free energy.

Right now is the perfect time to install your alternative energy system. The Federal Government offers a 30% tax credit to Americans who install solar energy systems. This significantly reduces the cost of your upfront investment in your clean energy solution, ensuring that you’re on your way to getting that free energy even faster.

What’s not to love about clean, free energy for your home? Call Sungate Energy Solutions today to speak with one of our engineers. We can design your clean energy system so that it works perfectly for your home and your lifestyle.

Sungate Energy Solutions is receiving lots of questions about solar energy systems for residential homes. It is, in part, because people want to do their part for the environment, but also because people want to save money! Solar energy can make you less dependent upon energy providers as well as helping you with your efforts to go green.

At Sungate Energy Solutions we offer solar panel systems to do all sorts of things to reduce your energy bills. Solar hot water is a very popular one, but many people are going even a step further. Solar PV systems are being installed that can essentially eliminate your dependence on the electric and gas companies. Free energy from the sun is a possibility for most homes!

You’ll see our solar panel systems referred to as “solar pv”. PV stands for photovoltaic. Solar photovoltaic systems are the most popular solar systems. Essentially, it works like this:

Sunlight is made of photons, which are small particles of energy. These photons are absorbed by and pass through the material of a solar cell or solar photovoltaic panel, which contains electrons. Think of it as the protons irritating these electrons. They begin to move, and the system routes them to a current. That’s all electricity really is – electrons moving along a path.

Photovoltaic systems use wire to conduct these electrons either to batteries or your home’s electrical system, where you use it to power appliances, etc.  In most cases, you’ll have a battery that will store the energy produced, especially during hours of strong sunlight. This is how solar photovoltaic systems provide you energy even when it’s dark outside.

So, now that you understand how photovoltaic solar energy works, you may want to own a system for your home. Sungate Energy Solutions can give you exactly the system you need to reduce or eliminate your dependence on the utility companies by powering your home with the sun. And, now is a great time to do it. Don’t forget that the Federal Government is offering a 30% tax credit for installing solar energy systems to your home.

“Reduce, reuse, recycle” is a mantra that has become ingrained in our brains over the last few years. As a nation, we’ve gotten pretty good at the recycle part. Reducing and reusing is the part most of us are becoming really conscious about today. We’re all taking small steps to change the way we use energy and products, and it is really beginning to add up. But, we all can do more.

One of the best ways I can think of to reduce the energy you’re using is to install one of Sungate Energy Solutions’ on demand hot water systems. On demand hot water systems heat water for you only when you need it. Traditional hot water systems keep heated water sitting in the tank at all times. It heats it over and over, whether you’re using it or not.

When you think about it, traditional hot water heaters are a really big waste. Why heat water all day long while you’re at work and the kids are at school? Reducing the amount of water we heat each day is the perfect example of living out the “reduce” portion of the mantra.

On demand hot water systems from Sungate Energy Solutions can be sized to fit your family’s needs, so that you have all the hot water you need when you need it, but that you never heat water when you don’t. This simple reduction technique might save you as much as 70% over what you’re paying to heat your home’s water now. Since heating water is the second biggest energy expenditure in your home, that’s a pretty significant savings.

So, reduce your hot water energy usage by calling Sungate Energy Solutions today and asking for your own on demand hot water system. It’s one easy way to save money and put that environmentally friendly mantra to good use at the same time!

Do you ever look at your kids and wonder what their world will look like when they’re your age? I do it all the time, and it’s a bit of a frightening proposition, in many ways.

Our water and our air are already dirty; how much dirtier will they be in 30 years? Our landfills are already full; how many more will we have to build to hold all our garbage? The marine life in our oceans is dwindling and our jungles hold fewer animals than they did 30 years ago. Which creatures will be extinct in another 30 years?

When we worry about these things, our fears should do more than simply scare us; they should be a call to action. While we can all acknowledge that, as a society, we’ve gotten a bit of a late start on our environmental consciousness, we do have one, and many people have reason to feel good about the steps they’ve taken personally.

At Sungate Energy Solutions, our employees and our customers do feel good about the steps they’re taking to create a healthier future for their children. Every day our employees see progress toward a better environment as they design and install solar energy systems, solar hot water heaters, insulation, energy efficient windows and other environmentally friendly solutions for our customers.

Our customers can see the impact their making on the environment each month when they see lower energy usage and enjoy the financial benefits of those lower energy bills. They can use their solar panels as a teaching opportunity to show their children the power of the sun and how we can harvest it for our benefit and that of the earth.

So, when you worry about your children’s environmental future; don’t just worry. Do your part. If you take the steps today to reduce your own carbon footprint by letting Sungate Energy Solutions work with you to increase your home’s energy efficiency and reduce your dependence on the utility companies, you’ll not only be creating a better future for your children, but you’ll also be giving yourself peace of mind.

Insulated windows are one of the best, yet most overlooked, home improvements you can make. New windows immediately add beauty to your home, and their design makes keeping them clean so much easier. But, the best reason to install double insulated windows from Sungate Energy Solutions is the money you can save on your heating and cooling bills. You’ll be able to keep the heat out of your home next summer.

Energy efficient windows work in both winter and summer to save you somewhere between ¼ and 1/3 of your energy costs. They do this, quite simply, by keeping inside air in and outside air out. Much of your heating and cooling costs come from leaking air if your windows and doors are not energy efficient.

Sungate Energy Solutions offers lots of options in energy efficient windows. Some people resist adding new windows to old homes, fearing they will look out of place with an older home’s design. But, with so many windows to choose from, you can certainly find ones that work well with the architectural detail of your home.

You’ll also enjoy your insulated windows for the quiet they bring to your home. They eliminate a huge amount of traffic and street noise to your home.

So, contact your Sungate Energy Solutions representative today about replacing some, or all of your home’s old windows with new energy efficient ones. We can make the project painless, and offer you the best value for the best windows money can buy. And, if you buy by the end of 2010, Uncle Sam will give you a 30% tax credit on those insulated windows, up to $1500. So, there’s never been a better time to improve your home’s energy efficiency than right now.