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Every industry is full of them. The obvious one that comes to mind is the dodgy car salesman. The thing is, it doesn’t stop us from buying a car. We still need one!

The solar industry, in its infancy, attracted more than its fair share of these vultures. They swarmed like flies to dog shit. Unfortunately, this caused a lot of harm to the industry and made a high percentage of people sceptical for no good reason.

After doing solar installs for too many years, I once applied for a solar sales job. I started with two days ‘training’. Suffice to say I didn’t take the job because the product wasn’t really mentioned too much. The ‘training’ was all about high-pressure sales techniques.

Thankfully there is only a small percentage of companies that operate like this. SolarQuotes has a built-in bullshit detector that picks them up a mile away. All the installers have been vigorously vetted, so you don’t have to worry.

Greenwashing is pretending your product is greener than it is. Exhibit A: the current ‘renewable gas‘ marketing campaign/disinformation.

Brownwashing is claiming a green product is not green at all. The ‘proof’ is often made to sound legitimate by combining hopelessly out-of-date published research with outrageously pessimistic assumptions.

For example, 20 years ago, it took a lot of energy to make a very inefficient solar panel. If you then model that panel on a roof in northern Europe, you can attempt to convince people that ‘solar panels will never generate the energy used to make them!’ and ‘solar panels will never pay for themselves financially’. Whereas in 2022, up-to-date data indicates a system in Australia will fully repay its energy debt on a roof in Australia in under 12 months.

Brownwashing is the scourge of the solar industry and the environmental movement. No one likes lies, whether it’s the result of malicious lies, out-of-date or incompetent research or all three. But it shouldn’t put you off. Solar power is a proven technology that, after years in the shadows, is now mainstream. It makes economic and environmental sense no matter which way you cut it.

SolarQuotes has spent the last thirteen years cutting through the brownwashing (and some over-eager greenwashing) and seeking the truth.

 You don’t ‘need’ a consumption monitor in order for your solar power system to work. It will produce exactly the same amount of power with or without one, but that power may not be put to the best use. It’s kind of like driving blind.

You’ll save more money in the long run if you have a consumption monitor. Your inverter provides only basic data of power produced by the system – not your consumption.

A consumption monitor fills in the blanks by comparing solar power production with your electricity consumption. This tool goes a long way to solving the conundrum of quantifying your power usage, leading to better economic outcomes for you.

Plus, it may come with a fancy app that you can play with and show off.