A Little About Us (and my speech)
Feather River Solar Electric essentially is myself, Bill Battagin and my wife Denise Battagin. We are not a large company with a fleet of trucks and a 27,000 sq. ft. warehouse full of solar equipment. Nor have we just recently jumped onto the solar bandwagon with the creation of the C.E.C. "Buydown" rebate program here in California.
My interest in solar electricity turned into action when I bought my first photovoltaic panel in 1982. Since then, I have been involved in the designing, sales, and installation of solar electric and micro-hydro systems. Operating Feather River Solar Electric as a sole proprietorship, I hold an Electrical Contractor's License from the State of California ('C-10' No. 681552, since 1993), am a certified Outback Field Repair Technician and live and work on a daily basis with solar electric systems in our
home/office,
shop,
store
and nearby rental property.
Denise has the indispensable job of flawlessly running everything that has to do with "officework" and bookkeeping.
(the "speech" part)
When I purchased that PV panel 22 years ago, our home was, of course, serviced by P.G.&E. But my lust for choice, independence and an opportunity to make my own electricity without the deleterious effects of nuclear power, the burning of coal, oil, natural gas, and the damming of large rivers won out over my complacency.
For me, generating my own nearly clean source of electricity means being less hypocritical. The purchase of the original panel produced much more than the electricity flowing through its wiring. It freed me from my box and helped to show me the value of this precious, thin biosphere I have the privilege to inhabit.
To this day I am still learning about respect and appreciation in part due to my experiences with renewable energy. I believe in solar electricity, so much so that on a special day in 1996, Denise and I watched as P.G.&E. disconnected their power lines from our home. We don't miss our past connection the electrical grid, nor the power outages, pollution and politics that came with it.
Here at Feather River Solar Electric, our use of solar electricity has become a piece of the larger effort to further a change for the "greener" for all of us. Since 1998, our transportation needs have been mostly fuelled with used vegetable oil (Bio-diesel) from local restaurant fryers. We recycle all of our cardboard generated from our receiving department. Our shop is heated with wood, a locally renewable resource, in an EPA-approved clean burning stove.
Articles
For the more hardy, I have included a couple past articles from Home Power magazine for some more 'history'.
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