Sungevity brings solar to the streets—now with free ice pops

Sungevity brings solar to the streets—now with free ice popsSungevity is taking solar to the streets with its Rooftop Revolution campaign. Earlier this week the company’s bio-diesel and solar-powered ice pop truck began touring northeast states in which Sungevity now offers its solar services. The promotional tour launched as Sungevity released the results of a new study showing that slightly more than a quarter of the U.S. is aware of solar lease options.

The truck is touring New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Delaware and Washington, D.C., through early September, hitting local festivals, fairs and other public events, giving free ice-pops to passers-by and offering them a chance to sign up for Sungevity’s iQuote for its solar leases, which have zero to low upfront costs.

The truck has iPads through which consumers can sign up for the iQuote, and this is just the start, said Sungevity Founder Danny Kennedy. He was in Manhattan giving out ice-pops on the street.

“We’re doing the eye-popping now. We’re making it easy and fun for customers to go solar,” he said.

He’ll be with the truck for a few days.

“I’m going up to Cape Cod this weekend and Boston.Then, I have to leave for a while, but I hope to come back.”

In talking with the public, he said he kept hearing the same thing, that people are concerned about their power bills—particularly with their air conditioning in the summer heat.

Kennedy’s response is: “We can cool you down and save you money at the same time.”

The responses on the street were largely reflective of the Harris Interactive study Sungevity recently commissioned, Kennedy said.

The study found that 78 percent of Northeastern U.S. residents are overwhelmed by rising energy costs, higher than national average of 71 percent. The study also found that 27 percent of respondents had heard of solar leases.

The survey also asked respondents if, after becoming aware of solar leases, would they be more likely to consider solar, Kennedy said.

“Forty-three percent said they were more likely to consider solar because of the lease,” he said. And 52 percent said they’d be more willing to make easy payments than purchase a solar array outright.

The leasing option, though relatively new, is proving to be popular, according to Kennedy.

Roughly half of the residents in California with solar have done it through a lease or power-purchase agreement.

“Which is great considering there’s a handful of companies doing it,” he said.

This is the second phase of the multi-pronged Rooftop Revolution. It’s most visibly focused on the Northeast for now as Sungevity works to grow its business there.

Earlier this month, Sungevity took over all the promotional spaces on Amtrak’s Acela high-speed business commuter train in the Northeast and offered passengers free Internet access.

That buy, as well as direct mail and other efforts in its new service areas, has increased the amount of iQuotes in the region.

“We’ve seen a large uptick in the number of iQuotes in the Northeast. It’s going to become a huge market for the whole solar industry,” Kennedy said. “We’re anticipating strong growth this year, [and] it looks like New Jersey will be our second largest market as well. We expect to continue to grow there as well.”

Image courtesy of Sungevity.