David Winiecki's blog
Monday June 30th, 2014
Owners of rented property are not typically incentivized to install solar because renters pay the utility bill. This is a solution to that problem. I think this is the one significant original idea I've ever had where I synthesized something entirely new and it solved an important problem. I originally had this idea on Monday June 23rd, 2014.
Awhile ago I read in Reinventing Fire that owners of rented buildings are not incentivised to add efficiency improvements or solar to these buildings because the renters pay the energy utility costs.
As a result solar is being added to these buildings slowly if at all.
I have a simple solution that I believe can solve this problem and create a sufficient incentive for owners of rented buildings or other properties to install solar.
This system has the added advantage that the building and system can easily transition back and forth between renter usage and owner usage.* If not rented, just pay the utility what the renter would pay for utility usage above.
I believe this solution also requires sales people, installation technicians, tech and account support, a security system to prevent tampering with onsite metering and other equipment, computer systems for central monitoring and account management, and business administration.
* E.g. if the owner chooses to stop renting the property out and instead use it for their own housing or office needs.
As I am about to take a job that requires giving up my rights to patentable ideas I may have (at least in domains the company is working in or currently beginning to research; this is a common practice and I understand its reasoning and do not resent it), and I do not have time to learn about the patent process or submit a patent application, I am making my best effort to claim this idea for the public domain by posting this webpage on the Internet. I hope that this page constitutes a strong enough defensive publication to keep this solution in the public domain.
I also do not have time to thoroughly investigate if this idea is novel or if a patent application for it has already been submitted by someone else, or even already submitted and approved by the government. Please do not assume this idea is in the public domain without doing some research and perhaps consulting a professional. At the same time, I can't advise on the legal wisdom of going forward with using this idea without seeking a patent or checking first if there is a patent. It's possible it's not something you need to worry about, but I have no idea so doing some research is probably wise.
Disclaimer: this information is my personal information and in no way relates to or is endorsed by my employer.