A new program, One Block Off the Grid (1BOG), takes advantage of collective bargaining principles to help people throughout the country buy solar power for their homes. The San Franciso-based project has rolled campaigns out in cities across the country, including Coachella Valley, Calif., Denver, Long Island, N.Y., Los Angeles, New Orleans, Northern New Jersey, and San Antonio, Texas as well as many others. People living and owning property in these cities and regions can sign up for the program for free and receive significant discounts on renewable energy installation costs.

The organization unveiled its most recent new campaign in Pittsburgh on Aug. 24. In Pittsburgh, 1BOG offers members a 15-percent group discount rate for installing PV-systems and also other and “free, impartial advice about solar for the duration of the three-month program,’ the program said. The campaign will go on for three months. The Pittsburgh program selected Astrum Solar as its installation provider in the region.

Under 1BOG programs, the more people that sign up in a region or city and use 1BOG, the bigger the discount members of the group receive when they purchase energy improvements for their home, like a PV system. By allowing communities to band together and buy equipment like photovoltaics (PVs) collectively, it dramatically reduces the price of expensive equipment. It allows the community access to the kinds of discounts that large-scale suppliers of home improvement equipment, like Home Depot, enjoy. However, savings under this program revert to those who participate in it.

When 1BOG starts one of its three-month campaigns in your city, they’ll evaluate whether or not participating homes or properties are ideal for a PV installation. Their inclusion criteria includes the following: the level of shading on your building, roof orientation, available PV-system mounting space, roof inclination (angle), material and condition, and electric service needs.

The organization said it is continuing to develop 1BOG projects in new cities all the time. Chances are, if the program isn’t in your city yet, it will be soon enough.