Real Goods Solar

Real Goods Solar Overview

For over 30 years, Real Goods has led the sustainable living market through education, solar installation and renewable lifestyle products. In fact, we sold the first retail solar panel in the United States back in 1978! Energy independence has evolved quite a bit since that time, and we’ve been there every step of the way. Whether you’re looking to save a few thousand dollars a year with solar electricity or just want a convenient composter for your garden, we’ve got a something for everyone to live a more abundant life.

Real Goods Solar Mission

Our mission is to reduce the human ecological footprint on Earth. We do this by providing high quality renewable energy solutions and the best selection of environmentally sound lifestyle products. Using proven technologies, and professional installation practices we empower our customers to live comfortably with a lower environmental footprint. We lead by providing inspirational education, promoting community, and demonstrating stewardship through our actions. Our success is built upon the satisfaction of our customers, the alignment of our actions with our principles, and the profitability of our company. We strive to treat our employees with the utmost care, compassion, and respect, while encouraging a workplace full of fun and enthusiasm.

Real Goods Solar Services

Residential Solar

We want to make sure that your experience of going solar is seamless and easy for you. That's why we promise to be there with you every step of the way, overseeing your entire project from start to finish with a single point of contact and accountability.

Getting Started With Solar Installation

Congratulations on taking the first step toward energy independence!  Whether you are looking to save thousands of dollars on your electricity bills, devoted to the idea of a greener planet, or maybe a little bit of both, you’ve chosen a great place to get started!

Real Goods Solar is a full-service solar installation service provider, from expert in-house design and installation to utility interconnection and rebate paperwork. Our experience installing high quality solar systems and uncompromising service have made us an industry leader. We have a rich story of experience, passion and commitment to solar since 1978.

• Leading solar and sustainability for over 30 years (longer than most solar panel warranties)
• We’ve installed solar power on over 6500 homes across California and Colorado
• 8 local offices serving quality, commitment and care for our customers

Commercial Solar

We are a full-service solar integrator providing expert design and installation services for commercial systems. We focus on the following commercial categories: businesses, wineries, non-profits, low income housing, municipalities, and schools.

Large-scale power users such as businesses, schools, and government agencies can take advantage of our expertise to transform rooftops, shade structures, and available open space into efficient, cost-saving, renewable energy power plants.

Experience & Expertise Design, Engineering, Project  Management and Installation

Real Goods Solar is a leading, full-service integrator with 8 solar installation offices across California and Colorado. We have installed over 10 megawatts of commercial solar power on a variety of buildings and projects sites, from 10 kW to 3.6 MW projects.  With 12 NABCEP certified professionals, Real Goods Solar has merged an unparalleled combination of solar industry experts to provide superior expertise and a pioneering legacy in sustainability. As a publically traded company  and with $58 million in performance bonding available, Real Goods Solar is uniquely poised to carry out intricate projects of any size.

All of our systems are designed to exceed rigorous commercial building codes, and our end-to-end project management methodology assures that your system will be delivered and installed on time and on budget. Solar panels may be mounted on a variety of structures, including most roof types, ground-mounted racks, tracking poles, and trellises and custom structures.

Using the latest in high efficiency solar products and technology, Real Goods Solar designs and installs solar systems with superior features including:

• High power density for limited size commercial roofs
• Non-penetrating flat roof mounting systems
• Distinctive, architecturally-integrated systems
• Noiseless, low maintenance operation
• Clean output power for mission-critical business loads
• Comprehensive system warranty 

More from Real Goods Solar

Five Principles to Live By

Real Goods is considered newsworthy not because our methods reflect the latest trends in corporate or business-school thinking, but because we unwittingly have helped to birth an astonishingly healthy “baby”—an ethical corporate culture based on environmental and social responsibility. Led by a certain naiveté and affection for simplicity, Real Goods has discovered some simple principles that, by comparison to the “straight” business world, are wildly innovative. This has not been the work of commercial gurus or public relations mavens, but rather the result of realizing that business need not be so complicated that the average person cannot understand its workings. Our business is built around five simple principles.

• Principle #1: This Is a Business
  A business is, first and foremost, a financial institution. You can have the most noble social mission on the planet, but if you can’t maintain financial viability, you cease to exist. And so does your mission. The survival instinct is very strong at Real Goods, and that reality governs many decisions. To say it another way, you can’t be truly sustainable if your business isn’t economically sustainable (read profitable). To ensure the continued flourishing of our mission, we pursue profitability through our catalogs, retail store, residential solar sales and installation business, internet presence, and our design and consulting business.
• Principle #2: Know Your Stuff
  Knowledge seldom turns a profit, yet our social and environmental missions cannot be achieved without it. The independent lifestyle we advocate relies largely on technologies that often require a high degree of understanding, and a level of interaction that has been largely forgotten during our nation’s half-century binge on cheap power. We aren’t interested in selling things to people that they aren’t well-informed enough about to live with comfortably and happily with. We want people to understand not only what we are selling and how it is used, but how a particular piece of hardware contributes to the larger goal of a sustainable lifestyle.
• Principle #3: Give Folks a Way to Get Involved
  Just about all of our employees are also our customers and more than half of them live with solar—many live completely off-the-grid. Our parking lot looks like an advertisement for biodiesel with all the VW diesel vehicles driven by our employees.
• Principle #4: Walk the Walk
  At Real Goods, we conduct our business in a way that is consistent with our social and environmental mission. We use the renewable energy systems we sell, and we sell what works. Our merchandising team makes absolutely sure the merchandise we sell performs as expected, is safe and nontoxic when used as directed, and is made from the highest quality sustainable materials.
• Principle #5: Have Fun!
  We strongly support the best party of the year for 10,000 of our closest friends every summer in August on the grounds of our Solar Living Center in Hopland.

Real Goods Solar Locations

Contact Real Goods Solar directly at (888) 56-SOLAR

California

Northern, CA Office

301 L Kunzler Ranch Rd
Ukiah, CA 95482  

877.785.5897  
707.468.9305
CA License: #840934 

San Francisco Bay Area, CA Office

27 Simms Street
San Rafael, CA 94901

415.456.2800
415.456.2855
CA License: #840934

Central Valley, CA Office

3109 N. Miami Avenue #101
Fresno, CA 93727

559.457.8365
559.347.9757
CA License #840934

Silicon Valley, CA Office

1624 Dell Avenue
Campbell, CA 95008

408.370.3600
408.904.5477
CA License: #840934

Santa Cruz/Monterey, CA Office

1115 Thompson Avenue, #1
Santa Cruz, CA 95062

831.477.0943
831.477.0944
CA License: #840934

Southern CA, Office

41690 Corporate Center Drive
Murrieta, CA 92562

951.927.0782
951.304.3331
877.927.0782 (toll free)
CA License #840934

Colorado

Denver & Boulder, CO Office

833 W. South Boulder Road
Louisville, CO 80027

303.222.8950
303.222.3786
CO License #7664

Denver & Boulder, CO Office #2

7003 E 47th Ave Dr, Unit 700
Denver, CO 80218

888.567.6527