In the continuing spirit of permanently changing my energy consumption patterns to reflect the new reality of our "here-to-stay" twin energy and climate change crises, I am converting my house to solar power. I was referred to SolarCity by my friend John Fisher of DFJ, an investor and a director of the company, as a one-stop shop to get this conversion done. We are at the front end of the process, and I will report further on my experience with the transition as it occurs. John recently converted his San Francisco home to solar and is very happy so far (it's good to be a satisfied user of your company's products/services).

Why am I doing this? Very simple-- it's a win/win. With my new 11.400kW DC (STC) 9,672kW AC(CEC) solar power system -- yes, you must convert from DC to AC -- I will immediately save almost $4,000 in utility bills in Year 1, which also means an 85% reduction in my electricity bill. Because I am actually buying the equipment myself, the cash flow break even runs about 6 years, depending on what your assumption is for the future annual escalation rate of electricity prices-- historically it has averaged 5% per year, and many expect this to accelerate.

So depending on how bearish you are about the world energy consumption situation (or how bullish you are on the price of oil) the break even may be sooner. In any event, I am reducing my fossil fuel consumption (lots of cute statistics available to make you feel good about yourself) and paying far less money to PG&E.

SolarCity is a very interesting venture, but it is not a technology company. This is a construction services company (procurement, construction, installation, and monitoring of solar panel arrays and meters) and, most interesting, a financial services company.

If you cannot afford the capital cost of owning your own solar array, SolarCity will do this for you NO MONEY DOWN. The difference between self financing and 'going all the way' with SolarCity is that you will pay about 15% lower monthly electricity bills, not 85% lower, while you pay off the system over 15 years. SolarCity will also cap your annual rate increases at 3.5%-- which is well below what you would experience with PG&E. You get to feel good, SolarCIty makes a lot more money, and I hear that some financial organizations in New York may be interested in aggregating these solar system financing costs and securitizing them-- no surprise.

The SolarLease vs. Buy Option

So here are some cute statistics:

Over the next 30 years, my system will offset:

This amount of CO2 is equivalent to the amount absorbed by 1.27 acres of trees over their lifetime and the amount emitted by driving an average car 758,642 miles.

Are you feeling good yet? I am. Seriously, check out SolarCity. Make a difference!

The Jewish people was founded on revolutionary ideas, and throughout the millennium has continued to spawn some of the most trans formative movements/religions/political parties. The Jewish people has never been "big," in terms of corporate development, never truly centralized, always with a bit of healthy chaos (much like any start-up).

For now I want to focus one of the Jewish people's first major start-up social initiatives, the Sabbath. One the one hand, hugely successful, so much so that in the US and parts of Western Europe there are  two Sabbath days....but it all  started  with one day,  on weekly cycle, which three thousand years ago was quite a move away from the norm, which was never ending back breaking work, especially for the Jews-to-be,  the  descendants of  Jacob who ended up slaves in Egypt.

Recently the concept of Sabbath has become trendy, in an age of 24/7, blackberry addiction, messaging on the go globalized world, there is a need to rediscover the Sabbath day. A few months ago Mark Bittman wrote an engaging piece in the New York Times on the move to a "secular sabbath" (see  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/fashion/02sabbath.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin).

Bottom line,  Bittman wants a break from the laptop,  the cellphone, etc, all the trappings of  the digital information age.

Even more powerful for me, however, than the Sabbath itself are the preparations for the Sabbath day. Knowing that either you have been commanded or have chosen to set aside a day for non-profit pursuits, to step off the fats track, there is a necessity to prepare. In the talmud we read of the discussions about what projects can be started on a Thursday, because you don't want to start something that will necessarily roll into the Sabbath day. Traditional Jews do all their cooking, baking, in the days leading to Friday night, when the Sabbath starts.

I bring all this up because sometimes we forget just how revolutionary old ideas were and are--human nature is not to set aside a day a week for a different lifestyle. But at least I feel I am a much healthier and well-balanced person by "shutting down" for the Sabbath. But I do need to prepare.

Much like the counseling I give all entrepreneurs -- work hard but have life balance. And prepare all the time.  And then rest. You need it and deserve it.