SunPower using Facebook, sweepstakes to teach about solar energy

Company offering free solar array for Internet contestYup, that’s the grand prize of SunPower’s new Solar Discovery Game, a $25,000 high-efficiency photovoltaic array for your—or a friend’s—home or small business. Even if you don’t win the grand prize, you could win two tickets from Hawaiian Airlines (valued at $800), flip cameras (valued at $100) or a host of other prizes in the weekly random drawings. The company unveiled the sweepstakes on June 21 on the first official day of summer.

“It has been a great way to kick off the summer, but the intent of SunPower's Solar Discovery Game is really simply to educate participants about solar, while providing the opportunity to win a high-efficiency SunPower solar power system,” said SunPower spokesperson Ingrid Ekstrom. “With this game, we hope to inspire SunPower's growing online community to discover more about emission-free solar power, and share that knowledge virally with friends and family.”

The sweepstakes is being held on Facebook. Contestants can visit the company’s Facebook page and enter the contest there. So far it’s been working. Since launching the sweepstakes, already more than 7,000 people have joined the Facebook-based contest.

The company is using the power of social media to show people the benefits of solar, according to Ekstrom.

“We hope to educate as many people as possible on the benefits of solar power through the Solar Discovery Game, and that they will share that knowledge within their own communities, and encourage others to play,” she said.

Weekly drawing winners will be chosen at random. But the sweepstakes also includes a series of questions, on which they are scored.

“The participant with the highest score when the game ends on September 14 wins the grand prize,” Ekstrom said. “Contestants who have also won weekly prizes are certainly eligible for the grand prize.”

The winner of the grand prize will be named on September 16.

“This is the first SunPower contest of its kind. It’s easy to play, and offers an opportunity to expand your knowledge of solar, collect badges for your Facebook page, and win great prizes,” Ekstrom said.

The prizes are being offered by SunPower and its sweepstakes partners, which include Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Del Monte Foods, Hawaiian Airlines, eBay Green Team and California Academy of Sciences.