Link to active clock.

Here is a great clip that speaks to our problems and our solutions. It gives perspective to where we are in time and just how heavy the responsibilities of this generation really are. What we do here and now will change the course of human existence . We are all part of the problem. We are all part of the solution.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tim Padden
National Sales Director
Citizenre

Sometimes we all face a customer who dismisses your best Citizenre pitch with a waive of the hand and the statement, “I’d rather own the system myself so I could get the electricity for free.” At first you may be a bit concerned how you are going to quickly tackle the challenge of convincing this person that it’s better to pay the equivalent of, say, 10 cents a kilowatt hour for Citizenre’s fixed price plan than to pay ZERO for electricity that comes off panels that a homeowner owns outright. The good news is, like all things Citizenre, this is easy. I just say:

“That’s an interesting point, and I’ve talked to a lot of customers about the trade offs of owning a system vs. signing up for Citizenre’s solar service. But it turns out that you are financially better off signing up for Citizenre than buying a solar power system yourself. Here’s why: The average solar power system for a home costs at least $30,000 (1). But even people with $30,000 ready to invest rarely choose to buy solar panels with it because of the very low return on investment of traditional solar installations. Depending on the cost of electricity that you are comparing it to, residential solar installations will break even only after a number of years well into the teens, something like 14 years. That means it takes 14 years just to get you back to zero…it’s not until your 15^th and 16^th years that you actually start to get the RETURN part of the investment. This is why you don’t see solar panels on a lot of houses yet, because it’s got a high upfront cost with a very slow return on investment. What you could do instead is put that $30,000 into a mutual fund for 14 years and you’d expect to do a lot better than just break even. In fact, that is what you should do instead buying your own system: sign up for Citizenre solar power system and then put $30,000 in a mutual fund for the next 14 years. You’ll have solar power in you home and you’ll be much better off financially.”

There may be this follow up question: “We’ll how can you afford to offer this then?”

My answer is this: “Because Citizenre is  taking all of the pieces of the solar power value chain in-house that are currently done by different suppliers…from the manufacturing, to the warehousing, distribution, wholesaling, retailing, installation, maintenance, and billing, even the sales that you and I are doing right now…all of those profit margins for all of those different players are brought under one roof, then with the volume and consolidation efficiency, Citizenre is going to be able to put a solar power system on your property for a fraction of  the cost of what you could do if for. So in our earlier example if you’re not interested in investing in a solar power project for your home that has a 14 year break even, we can do the same thing for about a 7 year break even, and we’ve found investors that are willing to fund a 7 year break even contract if we lock your rate for 10-20 years, because they are still going to have  years left on the contract after its paid for. But you don’t mind because you are happily enjoying a fixed price solar rental system we maintain to provide your energy at a “Locked in” price. The investors are happy because they get to make money on the back end of the contract. And the environment benefits because another house was taken away from polluting power to clean, renewable energy. It’s a true win, win, win.

CALL OUTLINE

Click here to view the embedded video.

Visit www.powurlearning.com to sign up for Saturday call outlines.

Tim Padden
Citizenre

In his brilliant book,  ”A Brief History of Time,” Professor Stephen Hawking opens with the story of a well-known scientist who gave a public lecture on astronomy.  The scientist described how the moon orbits the earth, the earth orbits the sun, and how our solar system orbits around the center of the galaxy.  When he finished, a little old lady got up and said, “What you have told us is rubbish.  The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.”

The scientist gave a knowing smile and replied, “What is the tortoise standing on?”

“You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” she replied.  ”But it’s turtles all the way down!

We all know people like that little old lady.  The point is, why try to convince them otherwise?  If they believe that the universe is a big stack of turtles – or that all network marketing opportunities are illegal pyramids – nothing you present to the contrary is going to change their belief. So as you go about building your business, don’t try to convince, persuade and sell negative people.  SORT your prospects, and look for the ones that are open to opportunity.

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make, is thinking that sponsoring is a one-shot, all-or-nothing event.  Actually, it’s a process.

One that takes different amounts of time for different prospects. Your goal shouldn’t be to sell or “close” anyone, but rather to give the prospect enough information, so they can make the best decision for them.

Unlike sales, where often you are taught to manipulate or close people, in Network Marketing we are looking for people motivated enough to take action themselves.  We simply want to expose them to the opportunity, and see if they are open to it.  Some people are open to new concepts, and others are stuck with the preconceptions they’ve been taught.  You want to look for the open-minded ones, and steer clear of the others.  They are too much work, and they’re no fun to be around.

It’s not about convincing people or changing their beliefs, as much as it is about finding the people who are open to what you have. It is a sorting process, divided into stages, where the prospect indicates their level of interest and commitment at the appropriate level.

Along the way, you will meet people who believe all network marketing opportunities are pyramid schemes.  Why spend all your time trying to convince them otherwise when there are legions of people who are open to what you have?

The objective of your sponsoring process should be to weed out the non-prospects, and get the true prospects the information they need to make a decision.  Everyone we know and meet is a suspect.  They may be a candidate for the business; they might be a retail customer; or they may be neither.  Our job is to sort through the suspects and discover the real prospects.

Tim Padden
http://www.citizenre.com

Tim Padden
http://www.citizenre.com

1. Homeowner
- You must be a homeowner; renters are not eligible for a REnU system at this time. However, renters can get the homeowner to participate in our program provided the homeowner takes on the responsibility of the FRA.

2. Must be a current residential utility customer
- Homeowner must maintain their interconnection with the utility. If they fail to maintain their connection with their local electric utility, this may be grounds for default in the Forward Rental Agreement, and their REnU may be removed.

• Homeowner will pay a connection fee to the utility.
• Homeowner will be charged for energy produced by the grid at utility rate

3. Customer must be within cellular territory
- (Phone lines are no longer required) We are using a cell connection to send information back and forth. So they must have cell service available at their house)

4. Customer house should have a roof with enough space to accommodate the REnU -
note: about the same space as a two car garage with no roof obstruction such as pipes or vents. Abandoned pipes old vent pipes can be cut down. 6 inch clearance.

5. Customer must have a south facing flat or sloped roof – This may not always be necessary; however, in order to ensure that the customer is eligible, this prerequisite should be adhered to. In many instances we can install on east and west facing roofs ( if the panel sizes are the same) but never north facing roofs.

• Currently,  we only install on roofs with shingles – no rock, brick, tile, or any other roof surfaces will be installed on at this time.
• We will install on two story roofs
• we do not install on roof where the slope is greater than 30 degrees. Its too steep for us to work safely and we would have to integrate tie offs adding to the installation costs.

6. Obstruction of the array
- once the REnU is installed their can be no obstructions from the sun. Trees, telephone line wiring,  or any obstruction that may cast a shadow onto the array, this will prohibit our system from performing at %100. Chimneys and air con units need to be considered also.

7. Customer must have no less than  100 watt amp on their electrical panel
- The maximum amperage that a service panel may deliver at one time is marked on the main breaker. For most homes, a 100-amp main is sufficient to handle all of the electrical needs; many new home    builders now install 150-amp or 200-amp services to ensure plenty of capacity. Electrical service panels rated at 60 amps or lower are undersized for contemporary needs.

8. Home owner must be in our current service territory
-For a home owner to have our system installed immediately, they must be in our current service territories (Anaheim, LADWP,  Burbank and Pasadena or Redding)

9. Homeowner must carry homeowners insurance that will cover the REnU -
Most insurance companies these days cover home solar panels. In fact, many carriers may offer a slightly lower rate because environmentally-friendly people are less likely to make an insurance claim (those who are concerned with saving the environment are not likely to be smokers and so are less likely to cause a house fire). Some insurance companies have even been known to offer a 2-3 percent discount for home solar panels.
However, some insurance companies will charge an exorbitant fee for the home solar panels, arguing that it an increased value to the home. Check with your insurance agent and make sure your carrier will insure your home solar panels and see if you can get a discount or low rate. Call insurance directly not you broker to avoid a fee.

Top 5 Alarming World Poverty Statistics

5. More than 800 million people suffer from malnutrition.

4. The United States spends 0.16% of its budget on aid to poor countries, the second lowest percentage among all developed countries.

3. A worker in Bangladesh making garments for Disney would have to work 210 years in order to earn what Disney’s CEO gets paid in one hour.

2. 35,000 children a day die from diseases related to malnutrition, or 1 every 2 seconds.

1. Over three billion people (roughly half the world’s population) live on less than two dollars a day.

Top 5 Alarming United States Poverty Statistics

5. In 1968, the minimum wage was 86% of the living wage. By 1998, that figure had fallen to 64%.

4. On any given night, 750,000 Americans do not have shelter, or 1 in 400.

3. 40 million Americans do not have medical insurance, 0r 1 in 8.

2. 10 million Americans go hungry each day, 40% of them children.

1. In 1996, one in four Americans under 18 was living in poverty.

Top 10 Alarming United States Wealth Statistics

10. Since 1950, Americans have used up more resources than everyone who ever lived on earth before 1950.

9. In 2000, CEO’s earned 475 times what their average workers made.

8. 57% of those listed on the 1997 Forbes 400 started life as millionaires.

7. Americans spend more on trash bags than 90 other countries spend on everything.

6. 27% of people earning over $100,000 agree that “I cannot afford to buy everything I really need.”

5. On 15% of Americans report that they would be satisfied with a comfortable middle-class lifestyle.

4. The Unites States comprises 5% of the world’s population, yet accounts for 40% of its gasoline consumption.

3. The average size of a new home today is double what it was in the 1950’s.

2. The average American consumes 5 times more than a Mexican, 10 times more than a Chinese person, and 30 times more than someone from India.

1. If everyone in the world consumed at the same rate as Americans do, we would need six planet earths to meet the demand for resources.

Click here to view the embedded video.

-Tim Padden
House of Solar
“If you want to go quickly , go alone. If you want to go far , go with others.”

Lots of people are getting excited about all the various technologies for using biofuels of one sort or another as a replacement for fossil fuels, and they may present a short-term option. But looking at the various kinds of energy production that are possible gives some insight into the best directions to promote in terms of developing long-term efficient energy production.

A study cited on EV World makes a comparison between different crop- and direct-production methods of generating energy in terms of miles per acre per year, with some eye-opening information.

At the bottom end of the scale is soybean biodiesel, which can provide only 2,400 miles per acre per year. Corn ethanol is more than six times as efficient, yielding 18,000 miles per acre per year. But because of the relatively slow rate of production from plant-based fuels, these options far fall below the productivity of directly produced energy.

The same acre can produce 10 times as much energy from wind as it can from corn ethanol, 180,000 miles per acre per year. But both corn ethanol and wind power pale in comparison with solar photovoltaic, which can produce more than 2 million miles worth of transport per acre per year.

This is not to completely dismiss biofuels out-of-hand. The cost of an acre’s worth of solar PV arrays is far more than 100 times more expensive than planting an acre of corn. Many biofuels can be produced on marginal lands that are ill-suited for solar. And cellulosic ethanol can even be produced from waste, effectively making it a zero land-use fuel. And presumably the comparisons are based on sites that are optimal for each mode of generation. A site that is highly suitable for harvesting wind energy may not be a good site for growing corn, and vice versa.

The infrastructure and the existing “car parc” (the entire fleet of all vehicles in the country) is also going to take decades to turn over to the point where a significant proportion of the vehicles on the road are electric vehicles. Both a mix of energy sources and regionally appropriate choices need to be part of a comprehensive energy plan. But this offers a useful comparison that suggests where the best allocation of resources should be focused in terms of long-range planning for our energy future. ————————

Biofuels versus Solar
Lutz’s identification of ‘electric’ car technology as the top priority program at GM may prove prescient if 2006 turns out to be the year world crude oil production peaked. Assuming we are in for a gradual, but steady decline in oil production over the coming decade, the focus on electric drive and related energy efficiency technologies will be critical in more ways than we may think.

With the declining availability of once vast reserves of ancient sunlight we’ve been pulling out of the ground at breakneck speeds, future generations are going to have to rely increasingly on the available sunlight that falls on the planet each day either in the form of biomass-based fuels (biodiesel and ethanol) or on electricity generated by the wind or directly from sunlight.

Five Star Consultants’ Ken Regelson recently did a study that examined these alternatives from the perspective of “yield in miles driven per acre of land per year.” The results are pretty amazing and fall in line with a similar study done in Germany and published in Photon International. See Drive Further on Sunlight.

Obviously, the most efficient way to move a vehicle when measured in use of land area is converting sunlight directly into electricity to run electric cars, everything else with the exception of biodiesel derived from algae, pales by comparison.