Making Their Mark: Two Firms Make PA More Energy Efficient

In recent years, Pennsylvania has invested more than $650 million to expand the state's energy sector, with a focus on alternative fuels, clean energy sources, energy efficiency and new technologies. Across the Commonwealth, more than 5,000 manufacturers contribute to the sector.

This activity has also attracted major players from across the globe to PA. Two outsiders that have taken up residence here, the Mark Group from the U.K. and Sun Run from California, are focused on energy efficiency and making solar more accessible, respectively. Their common ground exists on the ground, where a growing army of employees are putting PA residents in touch with information, tools, financing and products and services.

Here's a look at their very different stories and how they're helping the state reduce its carbon footprint and save money.

Mark Group: The Veteran Energy Savers

Seemingly an eon before the word "carbon footprint" became commonplace in the American lexicon, Mark Group set up shop in 1974 in England and now operates from 25 worldwide locations, helping more than 6,000 homes become more energy efficient every week. The company's U.S. headquarters is located at the Navy Yard Clean Energy Campus in Philadelphia.

"Our most popular installation is insulating homes," says Jeff Bladen, Chief Commercial Officer of Mark Group USA. "Sealing drafts along parts of ceilings, windows, doors and walls makes an extremely big difference."

In addition to draft proofing, Mark Group also offers energy assessments, insulation and energy-efficient window and light replacements.

Bladen maintains that Mark Group's wide range of services is what helped the company gain the sort of traction it needed to become a global player in the field. "No one else offers this gamut of services," he says. "Generally, you'll find a company selling one part -- for example, a window or a water system. We start at the other end and look at making the whole house more efficient before we sell a hard good. This typically makes a project smaller and less expensive."

Research form the Building Performance Institute proves the claim. The organization reports that small improvements like installing attic insulation will yield annual savings of 20-40 percent, while switching to CFL light bulbs or installing a programmable thermostat nets a 50-100 percent savings.

Today, the company maintains Mark Group Academy, a state-of-the-art training facility to directly employ and train its own workforce. The training has come in handy, because in order to meet the increasing number of Pennsylvanians interested in greening their homes, the company's employee count increased by 40 in April.

"Pennsylvania is more progressive than most states," says Bladen. "It's promoted a lot of new technology and green energy products." For instance, the state's Sunshine Solar Program, along other incentives from the government and utility companies, has helped the Mark Group win over a new group of customers.

Even still, Bladen believes Mark Group, which is poised for a national rollout, has plenty of potential to attract more Pennsylvania customers. "We're going to be focusing on some new solar projects and on better tightening up the building envelope," he says.


SunRun: The Young Solar Upstart

Lynn Jurich, president and co-founder of SunRun, runs a company that makes it possible for Americans to have solar panels installed, insured, and maintained for peanuts in upfront costs—or even nothing at all.

With SunRun, which entered the Pennsylvania market in August 2010, growing at a rate of 300% a year, Jurich's business idea has no doubt struck gold. But it wasn't all that long ago that the company was just an idea Jurich had while visiting an incredibly polluted city.

"Growing up in Washington state, I was always in the woods and the fresh air," says Jurich. "Seeing the poor air quality in China made me realize the true, sad state of the world."

She teamed up with Stanford Business School friend Edward Fenster to get the idea for SunRun off the ground. The pair persisted despite the fact that fellow Stanford grad students shot it down, and that Jurich had a lucrative job offer in venture capital finance on the table.

SunRun, headquartered in San Francisco, started in 2007. Now with over 11,000 customers, SunRun offers two plans: a Low Upfront Plan that only requires customers to pay for the power they use each month and a Prepaid Plan that lets customers pay once at the start of the agreement instead of paying monthly bills.

"We made solar cost-competitive," explains Jurich. "We pay for the equipment to remove the high upfront cost barrier, and we own and take care of it. We are a new kind of utility company for our customers."

The company's first solar power service launched in California in 2007; now, just four years later, SunRun is operating in nine states and one in eight homeowners who went solar in 2010 chose SunRun. They debuted in the Philadelphia market just under a year ago, and they just expanded operations by opening a Philly office to meet demand for affordable home solar in the state.

"The combination of favorable regulation and the support of customers who are interested and forward-thinking led us to come to Pennsylvania," says Jurich.

SunRun has full-time account managers who are responsible for overseeing and coordinating sales working out of Pennsylvania. To get the projects completed, SunRun works with over 25 installation companies nationwide that collectively employ more than 3,000 workers; now, five of them are in Pennsylvania.

"With every six home solar installations, one job is created," Jurich says with pride.

Though the numbers aren't in yet, the Pennsylvania market is looking promising for SunRun. One partner reportedly signed up 12 customers in a single month. And, with less than 1 percent of homes in the U.S. powered by solar, there's plenty of opportunity in Philly and far beyond.

AMANDA PRISCHAK is an Erie-based freelance writer. You can read more of her work here, or send feedback here.

Photos:
A typical SunRun install

Lynn Jurich of SunRun

Shots from a Mark Group installation