WiserEarth Group Support

1BOG (One Block Off the Grid) organizes big groups of people together who want to get solar energy, and gets them a huge discount.

Homeowners looking to buy solar panels face a few problems:

1. It’s expensive
2. It’s complicated
3. They don’t know which installer they should trust.

1BOG organizes people in a community to go through the process together. This approach has several benefits:

1. An organized community can buy solar in bulk, so 1BOG negotiates with installers to get impressive discounts for each homeowner in the collective.
2. We make the process much more simple and painless, as well as use our deep solar energy expertise to educate consumers throughout the process.
3. We offer safety in numbers, and unlike the installers themselves, our incentives are always aligned with yours.

1BOG Team and Contact Info

How do I get started?

Savings in numbers! Safety in numbers!
The more people sign up for the program, the bigger the savings and the better the terms we are able to negotiate with installers and manufacturers. Our goal is to get solar on more roofs, and that involves cutting the cost of your solar system significantly.

This is how it works:

1. Sign up right now (just look to the right).   There’s no obligation and we keep your info private.
2. Spread the word around (the more we get on board, the more everyone saves) by telling your friends.  If you really want to step it up, become a field organizer or volunteer.
3. Receive regular updates and a few solar 101 emails (don’t worry, we’re not spammy AT ALL) from us.  You’ll know when we’re getting close to starting your area.
4. When we reach critical mass in your area, we’ll launch a request for proposal (RFP) to installers in your area and begin negotiations and vetting.

Once we have successful campaign in your city, we will run a new program 3 times a year, so don’t worry if you’re not part of the first round of 1BOG solar homes. You will still benefit from all of the 1BOG program perks including our cost savings, and group contract as well as access to all the info from our vendors selection process.  As long as there are interested residents willing to commit to solar, 1BOG will be available to negotiate on behalf of the community and help neighbors join together to get cheap solar safely on their roofs.

 

Who’s eligible?

1BOG programs are open to all residents who own their home or own an investment property.  If you own a business and are interested in exploring solar as an option there, you should let us know that while signing up, as we might be able to include it in the program.  Not all homes are ideally suited for solar power. After you register for 1BOG, when we run a program in your area your home will be evaluated to ensure it is appropriate for solar. The following summarizes the solar qualification criteria.  

 

• Level of shading
• Orientation of roof
• Amount of space available for panel mounting
• Roof inclination, material, condition and age
• Electrical service requirements

1BOG FAQ  (also, please check out 1BOG University)

How do I sign up?

Use the sign up form on the right to join the 1BOG community in your city. You will need to provide your current electricity usage data, and later in the process we’ll ask you to have a short solar assessment done on your home. This assessment is necessary to make sure your home is a good candidate for solar.

Which cities are eligible for 1BOG?

Any city! Yours doesn’t have to be on our list to be considered for a 1BOG program.  As soon as we reach a group of 100 people signed up in a given region, we can launch a 1BOG campaign immediately. We just launched 20 cities and will be adding more in the weeks and months ahead.

In the meantime, you can help to start spreading the word by becoming a volunteer or field Organizer. The bigger your group gets, the more leverage we have to negotiate good pricing for everyone.

NOTE: By signing up for 1BOG right now - wherever you are - you’ll help us identify the cities with the greatest interest, and help us decide how to best use our resources!

How can I get my neighbors to sign up?

The success of this movement depends on getting as many people to commit to using solar energy as possible. You can help spread the word about 1BOG by emailing your friends, neighbors and colleagues. If you’d like to setup a neighborhood meeting about the 1BOG program, you can contact us, and we’ll help you get organized. You can start now by using some of the handy tools available in our Field Kit.

How much will solar cost me?

When we negotiate and select an installer in your city, the pricing will be posted on your city’s page.  You can always check out our solar economics page for information on solar costs.  The pricing will vary program-to-program and city-to-city, but it will always be discounted from the going market rate for solar in that location.  You are always encouraged to prove this to yourself by getting bids from non-1BOG installers.

Is it only “One Block?”

Nope, it’s just a metaphor, we want to take one block’s worth of energy usage out of every city per program.

Is it really “Off the Grid?”

Nope, it’s a metaphor, we want to take that amount of power out of the equation and make it clean energy instead of often dirty grid power.  But understand, the solar systems are still connected to the grid (that’s how you’re able to sell energy back to the utility).

If it’s not “One Block” and it’s not “Off the Grid,” why are you called “One Block Off the Grid?”

…  Quiet, you… it’s a good name.  We like metaphors, and it goes really well with our super cute bogman logo.

How does 1bog get paid?

1BOG is free to all participants! The reason it works as a business is that all solar installers pay fees in exchange for customer referrals. When we take a whole community and give a solar installer access to everyone in that group, they are getting a lot of new customers, and they pay us a referral fee per home.

What if I’m a renter?

If you’re a renter, as it stands, you gotta get your landlord on board.  It’s possible, it’s just difficult.  We’re brewing a turnkey legal solution paired with a few other things to super-simplify this concept, blowing this market wide open.  Keep your eyes peeled for our blog (you can subscribe to our RSS feed)

How do you vet the installers?

We have people from the solar industry who make sure the RFP process is comprehensive.  Plus, we also get to see the different installation practices, warranties, products offered, and corporate structure of dozens of installers across different states.  We have a unique knowledge base to make sure we get a good company and negotiate a good deal.  We also vet past installs done by the companies we are selecting from.