Who’s Our “Socially Responsible Business” of the Month?
An interview with Marine Schumann, co-owner of Brighten Solar
I first learned of Marine Schumann, Co-owner of Brighten Solar, when a client and I were talking about a Kinder World of Commerce. She said “You should interview my friend, Marine. She and her husband are so kind and so very socially responsible”. Needless to say, she had me at “kind”. Shortly thereafter, the three of us met, and I was not only impressed but moved by the depth of caring and integrity this young woman was radiating. So genuine, so kind and so thoroughly authentic. I enjoyed every minute of this process with her, and hope you come away feeling inspired and hopeful. With every interview, I am reminded of what Margaret Mead once said: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
ML: What inspired you to start a socially responsible company in the solar space?
MS: After years in the private sector, our desire to start our own company became clear. Energy is a fascinating and dynamic sector that needs to be reshaped in light of today’s biggest threat: Climate Change. The months of market research we conducted was thrilling, not only because we were meeting inspiring local leaders in the construction and environmental spheres but also because we were starting to believe that we could be part of the solution. We discovered that solar energy remains underdeveloped in big part due to a lack of education and many misconceptions. Our end goal is to help our community lower its carbon footprint and consume more responsibly. The best way to deliver our promise is by being exemplary ourselves, not only in our environmental practices, but also in the way we conduct our business.
ML: What are your mission and company values?
MS: At Brighten Solar, our mission is to lead the transition to a more sustainable future by engineering aesthetic solar solutions that offer forward thinking clients a profitable investment.
Our 6 core values are: Integrity. Always…Relationships Based…Client Focused…Impactful. Engineer Minded and Design Minded.
ML: How do you operationalize those values on a daily basis?
MS: I’d like to focus on a few that speak to social responsibility. Integrity. Always. Brighten Solar works to benefit all parties through openness, transparency, fairness, and honesty. We believe a happy customer is an informed customer so we spend a lot of time educating people throughout our process. We also don’t have ties with any manufacturer. We do our research and recommend and install the equipment we know is going to serve our customers best. Remaining flexible and unbiased is key because all homes are different. For instance, we decided early on not to install cobalt-based batteries, ie. Tesla Powerwall, because most of the world’s cobalt extraction is not only mined under extremely unethical conditions by children in Africa, but the chemistry also represents a safety hazard for our clients’ homes. It was, and still is, quite an unpopular decision (many want Tesla!), but we won’t sell what we don’t believe in.
Client Focused. We pride ourselves on working towards making the process of going solar as easy as possible for the client; that includes being responsive and always acting in their best interest. For instance, a lot of people end up being sold solar systems too big for their actual needs. This means more money for the contractor, but a degraded return on investment for the customer. We always recommend that people aim for a system that offsets 90-95% of their current electricity bills to optimize their payback period and maximize their rate of return. We also do not recommend leasing solar because it doesn’t make economical sense for a property owner.
Impactful. This is truly a multilevel effect. We are in this business to make an impact not only on our own lives, but the lives of our clients, our community and for the environment…leaving each of these better than before. We are trying to lead by example: sometimes this means adjusting our operations to lower our own environmental impact. We are the first solar company that went through the Santa Barbara County Green Business Program back in 2017. We are also trying to support local schools and nonprofits through education, fundraising activities and volunteering.
ML: I noticed on your website that your tagline is “Solar Done Differently”. What is the difference between Brighten Solar and the more traditional solar companies?
MS: The Brighten Solar adventure started with an observation: why were there so few solar installations in the sunny and eco-friendly area of Santa Barbara. This was a big paradox to us so we spent months researching and meeting with local leaders in the field. Solar was still suffering from fairly rigid offerings, lots of misconceptions and the process was daunting to property owners. So we designed a business model that would bridge the gap between the needs of the market and current offerings. We also created procedures and education programs to reach our community more widely.
Solar Done Differently is about providing education and guidance to help our clients define their needs, balance their requirements and preferences, and align them with their budget. We are also a fully customized solutions provider, working with architects and clients to fit any design or building constraints. We are committed to making the transition to solar as rewarding and easy as possible, and our customer service is definitely one of the elements of the Brighten experience that receives the most compliments.
ML: You mentioned there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about solar panels. Can you dispel these for us and bring us current with the advances in solar technology?
MS: Here are the top three I hear: First, solar doesn’t make sense: A lot of people still don’t understand the value of solar from both a financial and sustainability perspective. When you go solar, you generate your own clean power and stop depending on your local utility company. You save on your electric bill, and once the system is paid off (after about 6 years), you receive all of your electricity for free for the remaining 20+ years. All of the equipment (and production) is warrantied for 25 years, and the maintenance required on a solar system is very minimal With an average rate of return of 12%, there aren’t many financial products out there that can praise such high returns!
Second, my roof can’t have solar panels. That is something we hear a lot! In reality, unless your roof is facing North and receiving very little sunlight, all roofs are solar friendly. This myth comes from some big companies that only work on standard asphalt shingle roofs and can’t accommodate solar. However, solar can be installed on pretty much any roofing material using different attachments and waterproofing techniques. From clay tile roofs to PVC, butterfly pitched or flat, we’ve installed solar on all types.
And third, my solar system protects me during a power outage. A lot of people are led to believe that with solar, they would still have power in case of an outage. This is false. A traditional solar system is what we call “grid tied”, meaning that it is connected to the grid. This way, the extra solar energy generated during the day can flow back to the utility grid (against credits), and when one needs energy after sunlight hours, they can pull these kilowatt hours from the grid. However, when there is a power outage, the solar system automatically shuts off as a safety precaution to protect utility workers working on the grid to reestablish power distribution. The only way to be protected from a power outage is through an energy storage system, like a backup battery.
ML: I can see now what you meant when you said “We’re not salesy people. We’re just a team of engineers, environmentalists and passionate people, genuinely interested in being part of a great mission.” Bravo, Marine! We are so fortunate to have you as a part of our community. Keep up the great work!
Monica & Claudia
Marine and Jeremy Schumann are co-owners of Brighten Solar. To learn more, visit: www.brightensolar.com. And to view the full interview, visit: www.vimeo.com/monicalenches/brightensolarsinterview