SOLAR TODAY - July/August 2008

THE BUSINESS
Selling Solar
Mark Bauer, an evangelist for clean energy, has some useful ideas
for promoting the technology and the business.
By Mark Bauer

When I launched Bauer Power in 2002, the goal was to help local businesses to reduce their impact on the environment. In this I enjoyed the full support of my wife Chris, a scientist at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

The company actually grew out of my experience as a residential contractor, but I had some advantages over my peers in the construction business. I’d run a successful computer company, which taught me something about practical engineering. I’d been a traveling salesman for an art supply distributor, so I knew about sales. And I’d been a Marine, so I knew how to get things done.

We specialize in the installation of solar electricity, wind electricity, solar water heating and solar pool heating, in Michigan and across the Midwest. I learned right away that a wind-and-solar company often has to create its own local market. Homeowners and small businesses may have read about distributed power, but sometimes they need help making the connection to their own operations.

solar thermal systems to generate heat on the floor. With this sustainable system in place, Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses will grow acres of plants and organic vegetables for Meijer grocery stores across the Midwest. I hope we’ve started a revolution in efficient greenhouse technology.

Growing to this level in six years required persistent promotion. Here’s my checklist for getting the word out, the foot in the door and the programs in place.

Develop relationships with—

• Local media: Write letters to the editor and communicate with local media frequently.

• Environmental groups: You share their goals and can help them with tools. Sponsor

public relations, create a brand new website ( bauerpower.com) and more.

Communicate with your legislators: Keep up on state and nationwide renewable energy initiatives and let your representatives know what you need. I’m working hard to get a renewable portfolio standard passed here in Michigan.

Provide quality service and products: Bauer Power has many referral jobs based on past projects. Word of mouth is very powerful!

Educate: We do seminars right here in the office, and I teach courses at the Grand Rapids Community College and through the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association, an ASES chapter. We educate folks at any meeting or function that will have us.

I’m convinced that Michigan will be a leader in alternative energy, and that my business will grow as part of that. Michigan has dormant manufacturing plants waiting to get back online, and let’s not forget the skilled workers accustomed to production manufacturing jobs. In addition, Michigan is a central location for transportation routes. The Midwest has the largest need for energy in our country, and Michigan, located right smack in the middle, is the 14th windiest state in the nation. With class IV to class VII winds near Lake Michigan, we could

Growing to this level
in six years required
persistent promotion.

For instance, we’re working on the largest solar installation in the Midwest, a 200-col- lector job for Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses in Portage, Mich. In our first visit, I noted that the gas-burning heating units hung under the peak of the glazed roof, with electric fans to force hot air down toward the planting beds.

“That’s crazy inefficient,” I said.

The owner replied, “Well, this is the way all greenhouses do it.”

I knew it would be more efficient to generate heat at ground level, closer to the plants, and let it rise naturally. That was an easy concept to explain. We worked with GMB, an engineering firm out of Holland, Mich., and they designed a system using geothermal and

BAUER POWER

Mark Bauer with the 200-module array for greenhouse heating his company built.

their functions. Their members are prime potential customers.

• Join groups with sustainable/renew– able energy goals: Bauer Power supports a number of organizations. For instance, we recently joined the Southwest Michigan Sustainable Business Forum as a founding member, and I’m a Lifetime Member of ASES.

• Find professional help to get your name out there: We enlisted Kalamazoo-based LKF Marketing to freshen our branding, revamp our trade-show backdrop and materials, handle

produce enough energy for three states just from wind power alone.

Americans will continue to need and want power. The fact is that our very existence relies on energy. Let’s work to make sure we can get it from reliable, clean, inexpensive sources, close at hand. ●