INFOGRAPHIC: What Kind of Traveler Are You? - Business Insider

How often do you check your LinkedIn and Facebook accounts when you travel? Perhaps you like to stay connected or maybe you prefer to unplug completely. Either way, your social media and tech habits say something about what type of traveler you are.

Expedia has analyzed people's travel habits based on 40,000 trips booked through their site. Based on that information, they've created an infographic that shows how tech and social media habits affect travel.

Take the quiz below to see what kind of traveler you are.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/infographic-what-kind-of-traveler-are-you-2012-9

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Alton, Godfrey Open Houses ? Sunday September 16, 2012

We look forward to seeing you at our open houses this weekend.

?

Open House ? 331 Lindenwood Blvd, Alton, IL
Time: 12:00 ? 1:30 pm
Price: $94,900

Well cared for 3 bedroom brick and stone home. Completely redecorated. Large private yard with a large shed. Full basement. Beautiful new landscaping.

Open House ? 1109 State Street, Alton, IL
Time: 12:00 ? 1:30 pm
Price: $106,900

Old World Charm Tastefully Rehabbed! A Must See! This beautiful Post Civil War Era home features 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, formal dining room, and large eat-in kitchen with adjoining main floor laundry room. Numerous recent updates include; updated kitchen and baths, new carpet and flooring, freshly painted, etc? Priced to sell under appraised value. Located on the outskirts of Christian Hill. Virtual Tour Available

Open House ?3513 Glenn Drive, Alton, IL
Time: 2:00 ? 3:30 pm
Price: $100,000

This move in ready well maintained home is the perfect investment for the first time home buyer. The two bedroom, 2 bath house has a spacious living room with fireplace, dining room and eat-in kitchen. The finished basement family room with fireplace provides additional room for the kid?s play area and the screened in porch is great for entertaining.

Open House ? 5307 Dixon Drive, Godfrey, IL
Time: 2:00 ? 3:30 pm
Price: $225,000

Great family home in River Aire! This 4 Bedroom, 3 Bath home features updated Kitchen with new cabinets, granite counter top, glass tile backsplash, porclain floor in kitchen, laminate floors in dining area with doors opening to outside patio. Main floor laundry with laminate floors. Family room with gas Fireplace, and lower level Rec. room. Community Pool available for fee. Central Vac and intercom system, large Master Bedroom with walk in closet, new carpet in Family room, new floor in half bath, oven 2 years, garage opener in garage and laundry room. Roof approx. 6 years, siding, shutters, and gutters 9 years. Well insulated, $130 utilities on budget plan. Virtual Tour Available

Open House ? 814-816 Langdon Street, Alton, IL
Time: 12:00 ? 1:30 pm
Price: $95,000

Duplex ? Mirror image sides ? Each containing 3 large bedrooms up ? Large bath ? Living room and dining room with large eat-in kitchen ? All just totally updated ? Live in one side ? Rent other for mortgage payment ? This could be a good investment in a charming home.

Open House ? 722 Winter Lane, Godfrey, IL
Time: 12:00 ?1:30 pm
Price: $119,900

Screen porch, deck, wood-burning fireplace, wet bar, master suite with whirlpool tub and shower plus walk-in closet, stove, 2 refrigerators and dryer to stay. Shed in backyard has floor and electricity. Sold ?As Is.?

Open House ? 82 N. Fairmount, Godfrey, IL
Time: 12:00 ? 3:00 pm
Price: $550,000

Warm and designed for easy fun entertaining on a very private wooded lot in exclusive Fairmount. Pool and putting green with a large low maintenance Geo decking. 4 large bedrooms, upstairs master bedroom offers a room with a retreat view. Wonderful closets and storage. Professionally landscaping yard. Virtual Tour Available

Open House ? 3412 Agnes Blvd., Alton, IL
Time: 12:00 ? 1:30 pm
Price: $78,000

This spacious 2 bedroom brick home with large closets has an updated kitchen, fireplace in the living room, large bathroom and screened back porch. A bonus room upstairs includes a walk-in closet and ? bath.

Open House ? 7 Holly Hill Drive, Alton, IL
Time: 2:00 ? 3:30 pm
Price: $89,900

This well kept 2 bedroom features 2 fireplaces with an airy breezeway, screened covered patio and new shower. Freshly painted and carpets cleaned for you to move right in.

Open House ? 6525 Timber Ridge Lane, Godfrey, IL
Time: 12:00 ? 1:30 pm
Price: $339,900

Beautiful full brick 4 bedroom, 4 bath home sets on almost 3 acres. Custom built deck overlooks the private woods. The home features eat in kitchen, formal dining room, 2 fireplaces, hardwood flooring, 3 car garage, full finished walkout basement with stunning custom built bar, oak woodwork and crown molding. GORGEOUS home! Virtual Tour Availabl

Open House ? 3400 Whitecliff Lane, Godfrey, IL
Time: 12:00 ? 1:30 pm
Price: $260,000

Lovely McCormick built home, large corner lot in Whitecliff Estates. Light, open floor plan. Living room has gorgeous floor-to-ceiling fireplace made of petrified driftwood from Arizona. Large Four Season room overlooks the woods and wrap-around deck. Oversized double front doors are restored antiques. Large side windows have hurricane shutters. New A/C 2009. New furnace 2010. 2 septics. Kitchen appliances, washer/dryer, pool table stay. Security system, radon and CO2 detectors.

Open House ? 3601 Gary Avenue, Alton, IL
Time: 2:00 ? 3:30 pm
Price: $125,000

Full brick, 1 1/2 story, 4 bedroom, 3 bath home in a desirable Alton location. Updated kitchen with Corian countertops. New furnace and C/A in July 2011. New roof in 2010. Main floor master bedroom. Bathroom on each floor. Newly finished family room with ceramic tile in lower level. 2 fireplaces. Screened porch overlooking large private backyard. Workshop in lower level. Nice hardwood floors. Great price on a very nice home!

Open House ? 5111 Williams Place, Godfrey, IL
Time: 1:30 ? 3:00 pm
Price: $149,900

Great Godfrey location for this 3 bedroom, 3 bath home. Features living room, dining room, kitchen with sunroom, master bedroom with 3/4 bath, lower level family room with fireplace, bonus room and walkout basement. 2 car attached garage. Backyard is wooded with beautiful plantings and very private. Home sits on a large lot on a dead end street. Make your appointment today.

Open House ?? 1303 White Oak Trail, Godfrey, IL
Time: 2:00 ? 3:30 pm
Price: $258,000

Enjoy carefree living in The Oaks, a beautiful, professionally maintained subdivision. This 3 bedroom, 3 bath, 3 car garage, brick combo house has amenities galore to offer, including vaulted ceilings, open main floor plan, with adjacent Sun room (14?17), lower level family room with wet bar, plenty of basement storage/workshop area, and large master suite on the main floor. The backyard deck looks out over the professionally landscaped garden and green space.

Open House ?? 3115 Brown Street, Alton, IL
Time: 11:00 ? 1:00 pm
Price: $66,000

Well kept bungalow in convenient location. Two spacious bedrooms, 1 bath, large eat-in kitchen, inviting enclosed porch. Nine foot ceilings throughout, floored attic, Appliances included. 1 car detached garage. Private yard with covered patio. Make your appointment today.

Open House ? 905 Langdon Street, Alton, IL
Time: 12:30 ? 2:00 pm
Price: $147,900

Historic Middletown Home with a welcoming wrap around porch and entry foyer with a beautiful staircase. The foyer leads to the Living Room with pocket doors, Dining Room and Kitchen and Master Bedroom or Rec. Room with a 3/4 bath all on the main level. The upper level has 3 spacious Bedrooms and a full bath. The home has many updates. The kitchen features cherry cabinets, marble counter tops and an island with a pots and pan rack to stay. Beautiful stained wood floors, some crown molding has been added, and an Alarm system. The home has newer windows, roof, HVAC. Must see!

Open House ? 6528 Timber Ridge Lane, Godfrey, IL
Time: 12:30 ? 1:30 pm
Price: $350,000

Beautiful full brick Ranch, 3 bedroom, 3 bath, home sets on 2.5 acres. Sit on the covered deck and watch the deer roam in the beautiful wooded back yard. New C/A in 2011, Two fireplaces, all electric home, and Marvin windows throughout, makes this home extremely energy efficient. 9 ft ceilings, his and her closets in Master bedroom, formal dining room Cathedral ceilings. 3 car garage. Super nice home!

Source: http://lauschkeblog.com/lauschke/2012/09/alton-godfrey-open-houses-sunday-september-16-2012/

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Ben Affleck Needs a Parenting Editing/Speaking Button | Toddler ...

At least he doesn't need to worry about a Father of the Year acceptance speech

Dear Ben,

Congratulations on birth of your newest baby! There?s a tremendous amount of buzz surrounding your film ?Argo,? and your stock as a quality actor/director/screenwriter is certainly on a meteoric rise.

Oh, I?m sorry ? did you think by ?baby? I meant your newborn son Samuel? Well, of course, congratulations on his birth, too.

You?ll forgive me not mentioning him first, but based on the recent statements you gave in an interview about your position on parenting, it seems as if being a dad is kind of low on your priority list.

It?s enviable that you?re able to fulfill your career fantasies while your wife, actress Jennifer Garner tends to the parenting of your three children. There?s nothing Brad and Angelina about you guys, which is to say what they always say ? one does a movie while the other watches the kids and then they switch. Nope, the Affleck/Garner household seems to be all about the Affleck and not much about the Garner. At least in terms of your film careers. Based on what you said, anyway.

It?s a bit of a head scratcher that your wife has also been quoted as saying you?re the one who wants to add a fourth baby to your brood when it seems like being home with the children you already have is the last place you ever want to be.

Or is that not what you meant when you said this:

I?m not very present in the rest of my life [beyond my career]. My wife?s very patient. She does everything. If I have time, I try to spend time with the kids, even if just to be a physical presence, the bath, whatever. But my mind?s always going, ?How are we going to light that shot tomorrow? What?s the master shot for that scene? Is there even going to be a master?? Just ruminating endlessly.

Then there was this, too:

Anytime you think, ?I?m wasting my time here [on a movie set],? the first thought you have is ?I could go home and be with my kids.? Now, you may go home and be with your kids and very quickly start thinking, ?I wonder what?s on the work front?? Because running around after three kids is very trying. Now everything has to compete with being with my family. I don?t want to be a stay-at-home dad. Work is very important to me. I like to work. So does my wife. But I need my work to mean something to me in order for me to not be home with them.

Here?s the thing: I kind of feel the same way you do sometimes, but I never say it out loud (apparently I just, um, write it), mostly because it sounds so shocking and wrong. You get that you just admitted that you?re not physically present very often, and when you are, you?re emotionally distant? Yikes. Right?

I mean, I?m physically present with my kids to a fault. Like, ugh, get me away from them every once in a while. Please? But even though I?m with them (all. the. freakin?. time.), believe me, I?m far from present in each and every moment. Maybe it?s a touch of ADD mixed with some OCD, but I?m forever doing nine things at once, and only one of those things is actually parenting, which deserves to be more 1:1, don?t you think?

Of course there?s only two of you in your marriage; I?ve never been invited into your breakfast nook when these discussions about balancing career and family have taken place, so maybe Jen is cool with you chasing your dreams, and maybe playing the part of the good wife and mom is the role she?s most coveted.

No parent is perfect (as my 1-year-old would surely attest right now as she?s begging in her toddler-ly way from her crib to be rescued while I?m ignoring her whines so I can finish writing this), and I happen to think parents with careers other than (in addition to?) parenting set fabulous examples for their children ? I don?t want my entire life to be my kids. I want them to know I?m a whole person with interests and hobbies and skills and passions who is also a mom. That?s cool. It?s healthy. It?s all good.

Besides, I?ve never met a perfect parent who?s present at all moments with their children. I?ve just never really heard someone sound quite so cold about their home and family life as you did in this interview. For someone who is ostensibly pretty liberal and forward-thinking (or at least you pal around with people who are), you sound an awful lot like Fred Flinstone. Or every dad from 1950 mixed with a little Don Draper from the ?60s. I?m just saying.

But you?re probably not as bad as you sound though, right? Please? Because you know your kids will read this interview you gave one day, and I can?t imagine it will make them feel especially good about how you felt about them.

By the way, if you ever feel like doing a kind deed to try and earn back some good karma rewards points, feel free to invite me to spend a day on set with you. I could really use a break from my kids. Because I really get what you said. I just try not to make it a habit to say it out loud (quite as loudly as you did, anyway).

Love,

Meredith

Photo credit: Wikipedia

More from Meredith on Toddler Times:

Read (even) more from Meredith at Babble?s Strollerderby, follow her on Twitter, and check out her weekly syndicated newspaper column at MeredithCarroll.com

Source: http://blogs.babble.com/toddler-times/2012/09/14/an-open-letter-to-ben-affleck-on-his-recent-statements-about-parenting/

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seattletimes: Symphony's 'Pines of Rome' program: pictures made from music http://t.co/ZSOqs1nJ

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://twitter.com/seattletimes/statuses/246586946703466496

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Beyonce doesn?t usually email you, but she made an exception for Obama

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Internet Marketing Research | Online Marketing Research | Internet ...

Research is what I?m doing when I don?t know what I?m doing.
-Wernher Von Braun

An important part of building an effective internet marketing strategy involves starting with research. You can?t compete and ultimately beat your competition online if you don?t know what you?re up against. What are they doing right, wrong, and what?s it going to take to beat them in time and money.

In addition to your competition, you also need to become intimate with your customers and clients. What are they searching for? What words do they use to search more than others? How much is it going to cost to advertise for your most important key phrases? Will it be realistically possible to rank organically in the search results for your priority terms?

There?s a lot of information available out there and a lot that we can gather regarding your customers, competitors, industry and even factors relating to the local landscape online. When we compile it all together it will become the data that drives your business and marketing activities online.

Here are a few essential best practices that go into performing effective internet marketing research.

Keyword Research

It all starts when someone types a key phrase into a search engine. This is the point where customers starts their search and where you ultimately need to be found. Proper keyword research is part science, part guesswork and we can learn a lot about how people search using this data. It?s an essential part of how to begin an SEO and internet marketing campaign.

20% of all searches are performed with keyword phrases that have never been used before. NEVER. This is an amazing fact and a good reason why you should thoroughly investigate and analyze all the potential phrases and combinations that people use. The long tail?of potential keywords is actually REALLY long!

In addition to the total number and combinations of keywords, we can also analyze how competitive the phrase is and determine how hard it will be for you to show up on the radar. If you?re planning to advertise on Google, keyword research can also tell you how much it will cost ?per click? to tackle your priority keywords. Essentially helping you to know exactly how much it might cost to compete.

Competitor Research

Do you know your competitors? Not your competitors in the real world. I?m talking about your competitors online. They say that you should ?keep your friends close and your enemies closer? and this is certainly true. The good thing is that the internet makes it easy. Here are some tips on competitor research.

Start with the basics and identify your actual competitors online. Using your priority keywords, do some searches online and see who is?consistently?dominating the results. These are the people that you need to beat.

Consider your organic competitors and your paid competitors in the results. You might find that it?s much easier and more cost effective to rank effectively using one method or the other. Maybe a combination of the two?

Get some traffic estimates. Now, this is hard and can usually be wildly inaccurate. But it can give you a general idea what you?re up against. There are several methods and tools that you can use including Alexa.org, SEMRush.com and Compete.com.

Document what your competitors are doing within the social world. This will not only give you an idea about whether they?re engaged with their potential customers but it could give you can idea how sophisticated they are with their online marketing initiatives.

Not saying that you must have a Twitter account to be sophisticated, but social media is a legitimate way to communicate, connect and stay top-of-mind with your customers and clients. If you?re competitors aren?t engaged then there?s either a good reason for it or there?s another open opportunity for you to dominate.

Industry Research

Get some information on trends. Industry trends are available by using tools like Google Insights for search. This tool can help you with your keyword research but it can also help you see data on industry search terms. You might not be able to see information on your actual competitors (or maybe you can) but you can research larger national companies that are similar to you and relevant within your general industry.

It?s all good information and it can give you an idea of the demand and how competitive the industry is online.

Local Research

My final suggestion regarding research is to see what?s going on at home. This last suggestion might not apply to you if you?re a world-wide e-commerce business but for many small businesses local competitive research is critical.

Perform local searches for your keywords and mix in local cities like ?internet marketing company Cleveland Ohio? or ?website development Canton Ohio?. See if they?re using social media, check out their websites to see what kind of impression they make, how do they position themselves and are they doing anything good that you can ?borrow?.

You can also research some of the top local search sites like Google+, Yahoo Local and Bing local to determine if your competition has made an efforts on that front. If not, it?s a huge opportunity.

Lastly, checkout their citations. (More info about that here.) If you perform a search for their name, phone number or address online, how many results do you get? Are they listed on the top citation sites like YellowPages.com, Local.com and other important industry specific sites? If not, it?s showing that they?re not very?aggressive?and sophisticated. It?s just another way to determine how hard it will be to beat them online.

In closing, I hope this helps you get started with your internet marketing research and ultimately build a strategy to compete online. If you need help please contact us anytime. This is what we do and why we?re here for you. We have access to all the tools and the experience to help you research and ultimately build a solid internet marketing strategy for your business.

Source: http://www.sanctuarymg.com/internet-marketing-research-and-you/

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Energy democracy: Three ways to bring solar to the masses | Grist

Pollution is not the only thing wrong with the U.S. power system. It is also governed by inconsistent rules and opaque, unaccountable organizations. The average citizen has little understanding of how it works, who is in charge, or how it might change for the better. The financial benefits of electricity, like power generation itself, tend to be centralized, concentrating in the hands of shareholders and executives.

Just as a cleaner electricity system would be preferable, so too would a more small-d democratic system, one that distributes economic and social power more widely.

One measure that serves both those goals at once is simply to get renewable energy in more people?s hands. Let more people get jobs in it, invest in it, receive tangible benefits from it. Nothing diminishes partisan opposition like an income stream. That?s why renewable power remains untouchable in German politics ? lots of Germans are directly involved with it.

The biggest barrier to spreading renewable energy is its high up-front costs. Some of that is helped by state and federal financial incentives, but those are expected to decline sharply in coming years. However, there is a positive countervailing trend: innovations in the financing and ownership of solar projects that are opening distributed solar PV to a wider and wider market. Here are three financial models that are helping to drive this solar expansion.

Leasing

The conventional route to rooftop solar is to buy some panels and enjoy the payback ? in five to 10 years. This restricts solar PV to those willing and able to a) cobble together enough cash or get a home equity loan in crappy economic times, b) stay in the home long enough to earn positive returns, and c) take on the responsibility of operating and maintaining a small power plant. That?s a comparatively small segment of the public.

With a lease, you don?t own the panels on your roof; they are owned, operated, and maintained by a solar leasing company like Sunrun, SolarCity, or Sungevity. The solar company effectively becomes a utility. You pay them a monthly fee for the electricity the panels produce. At the end of the lease period (typically 15-25 years), depending on the details, you can re-up the lease, buy the panels, or have them removed.

Ideally, a homeowner will be paying less for electricity than they were before. Their utility bill will be lower because the house is now getting some power from the solar panels on the roof; those utility-bill savings should be enough to offset the lease payment. For now, though, that math depends on solar being subsidized with state mandates or rebates. This AP story lays out a typical scenario:

Tim Johnson, a high school math teacher in Philadelphia, had wanted to put solar panels on his roof for years. Like many people concerned about the environment, the thought of powering his home without burning fossil fuels had a strong appeal. But with two kids in college, he couldn?t justify spending $15,000, after subsidies, to do it.

But since March, he has generated 50 percent to 75 percent of his electricity with a set of solar panels on his roof, saving 20 percent on his electricity bills. His upfront cost for the system: $0.

Instead of buying and installing the panels himself, he signed up with SunRun, one of a handful of companies that build, own and maintain solar systems on homes. These companies earn money by charging customers for the power the panels produce.

Johnson pays SunRun $52 a month, and he pays his traditional utility for whatever extra power he needs from the grid. In all, he pays $60 to $100 a month for power; he used to pay $90 to $120.

SunRun can charge Johnson a competitive rate because federal and state subsidies pay for a portion of the installation. Also, the arrangement allows SunRun to take advantage of one of solar?s big advantages. Because it is generated near where it is needed, it doesn?t have to pass through hundreds of miles of wires, transformers and other equipment. The power price SunRun has to beat in order to entice customers like Johnson is an expensive retail rate, bloated with transmission and distribution charges that home solar doesn?t incur.

The leasing model is taking off like crazy, particularly in southern California, where it has generated some $1 billion in economic activity since 2007. A recent study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that solar leasing ?has enticed a new demographic to adopt PV systems that is more highly correlated to younger, less affluent, and less educated populations than the demographics correlated to purchasing PV systems.? In reaching farther down the income scale, ?third-party PV products are likely increasing total PV demand rather than gaining market share entirely at the expense of existing customer owned PV demand.? According to Sunrun President Lynn Jurich, ?about 75 percent of Californians switching to solar now choose solar power service? over ownership.

The biggest states for solar leasing are California and New Jersey, but leases are also available in Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Here?s a Solar Lease 101 that can compare products and generate a free quote.

The growing popularity of leasing (along with falling panel prices) is one reason that U.S. solar installations more than doubled in the second quarter of this year, bringing the total capacity to 5.7 gigawatts.

Community solar

Between 70 and 80 percent of people in the U.S. aren?t in a building suitable for rooftop solar. However, many of those people would like to be able to invest in distributed solar, not only for the financial returns but for civic or environmental reasons. ?Community solar? refers to the many ways that groups of individuals can pitch in together to buy or lease solar.

A good place to start learning is this Department of Energy-funded guide to community solar [PDF]. It divides projects into three kinds:

? Utility-Sponsored Model: A utility owns or operates a project that is open to voluntary ratepayer participation.

? Special Purpose Entity (SPE) Model: Individuals join in a business enterprise to develop a community shared solar project.

? Nonprofit Model: A charitable nonprofit corporation administers a community shared solar project on behalf of donors or members.

See also this report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), which ?examines nine community solar projects, the policies that made them possible, and the (substantial) barriers that remain.? Here are the three policy solutions ILSR?s John Farrell recommends to unlock community solar:

1. Community net metering ? to allow project owners to share the project?s electricity output. Right now, most state policies require utilities to allow net metering, but only for a solar or wind project on your own property. [Here's what net-metering is, for those not yet in the know.]

2. Simplified securities law ? to make community-based projects easier. Right now, there?s little difference between setting up a mutual fund and setting up a community solar project, and both take a lot of lawyers. (Learn more in this report.)

3. Smarter federal tax incentives ? to allow community-based institutions to host community-based projects. Nonprofits, cooperatives, cities, and counties are logical entities to build projects, but they can?t (easily) use federal tax incentives for solar and wind power. This raises the stakes for problem No. 2.

Expanding and simplifying community solar will enable anyone who supports renewable energy to invest in it ? kind of like carbon offsets, only with tangible results and and financial returns!

Solar power purchase agreements

A power purchase agreement (PPA) works similarly to a lease ? both fall under the rubric ?solar as a service,? under which a customer contracts to buy power from solar installations owned and run by third parties ? but typically at a larger scale. (Here?s a primer on solar PPAs.) For example, the military is in the process of signing PPAs with SolarCity to cover 120,000 military residences with solar panels that are expected to eventually generate some 6,400 megawatt hours of electricity a year.

It?s a great model, one the military very much favors, but some states make it difficult or impossible. A Department of Energy white paper [PDF] on the subject notes that ?

? many states, including North Carolina, have legislative barriers which impede the Army?s ability to utilize all of its available authorities by effectively eliminating the ability of rate payers in the state to enter into power purchase agreements with third party developers/operators of distributed generation. Typically, these legislative barriers take the form of definitions which define any entity which sells electricity as a public utility and places such an entity under the jurisdiction of the state?s Public Utilities Commission or Public Service Commission. ?

Other barriers such as state laws and rules on interconnection procedures, net metering laws, the ability of electric utilities to charge onerous standby charges and limits on the ability to wheel power over private wires must also be addressed in order to remove uncertainty from the marketplace. [emphasis mine]

Indeed.

PPAs are not new, but they?ve generally involved utilities and large amounts of power. It?s only recently, in the late 2000s, that third-party (non-utility) PPAs became popular in solar markets. Though they?ve gotten more common, the fact that the amounts of power involved are typically much smaller and the number of parties greater means that much work remains to standardize them.

One nifty innovation, or at least new market, for solar PPAs involves a bunch of separate businesses and/or nonprofits leasing their rooftop space to a single solar developer (or a utility), which then treats the distributed panels as a single ?virtual power plant.? (Here?s some research on the development and future of virtual power plants.) This market can draw in owners of large buildings or facilities who may not want to bother with owning solar panels, but will be attracted to a low-risk, predictable (if modest) flow of revenue.

In closing ? [applause, applause]

The thread that runs through all of these innovations in finance and ownership is energy democracy. They open up the social and economic benefits of solar power to a much broader (less rich, less elite) audience. That, not some grand federal bill, is likely the first step on the road to real political change.

Source: http://grist.org/climate-energy/energy-democracy-three-ways-to-bring-solar-to-the-masses/

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