Smart Net
What is Net Counter?
A new method allowing you to generate smart electricity on your home roof for your own use.
How does it work?
You receive electricity from your installation during the day, and the surpluses are sent back to the electricity grid and accumulated as credits. On cloudy days and at night, you redeem these credits by using the electricity that they represent.
Signup our petition and demand moving to smart energy from the sun!
Smart Investment
With smart electricity from the sun, you can save thousands of shekels a year. The amount invested in a smart system is returned within 8-9 years, and you will be able to enjoy free electricity for at least 25 more years. The net profit for a household using solar panels is tens of thousands of shekels (over a 20-year period).
Want to see how much you'll save? Go to the calculator that we have set up for you.
What is the cost of a system that generates smart electricity? The cost varies depending on your roof size and your power bill. The price is about NIS 50,000 for an average house. If your monthly electricity bill is about 500 NIS, you will need a 7 kilowatt system (70 square meters of roof) that costs around 40,000 to 50,000 shekels. You will already see a return in the first month as the sun pays for your monthly electricity bill, and your entire investment will be returned within 8 years.
Solar Loans: Loans offered on the market today allow you to join Net Counter simply because smart solar electricity lets you save money starting in the first month. At Greenpeace we are working to make solar electricity accessible to everyone, and we have approached the financial institutions about the need to make these systems accessible to the general public because of the net economic benefit.
Example of a loan: If you install a 7-kilowatt system costing NIS 48,000 on a roof of 70 square meters, it will save you NIS 550 of electricity per month. If you take a loan of 100% over a ten-year period at a 4% interest rate, your monthly payment will be 493 NIS. Your savings in the first 10 years are NIS 57 per month, and after ten years, NIS 550 per month.
Tip for choosing the loan: Make sure that you have a positive cash flow from the outset, so that the amount repaid on the loan will be lower than the amount saved on electricity.
Are there cheaper systems? Basically, the larger the system, the higher your initial investment, but the lower the cost of generating electricity.
Solar energy as an investment: Smart electricity from the sun is already the least expensive energy source in many places in the world, and, according to Bloomberg estimates, in less than a decade it will become the most cost-effective worldwide. The agency forecasts that electricity production will change dramatically as the demand for old-fashioned polluting energy (oil, coal, and gas) plummets. In Israel this is already happening: at the end of March, solar energy became the most cost-effective.
Signup our petition and demand moving to smart energy from the sun!
Smart environment
Switching to smart solar electricity reduces morbidity from air pollution and reduces greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change. This is a net benefit to your quality of life and to that of future generations.
Climate change
The Earth is heating up and 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded. Climate change is reflected in more frequent and more extreme heatwaves, floods and extreme rain events, droughts and desertification, huge fires, risk to coastal cities of rising sea levels, and shrinking of the polar ice caps. Climate change is accelerating and has caused damage estimated at $2 trillion.
Without real mobilization to halt greenhouse gas emissions from polluting energies such as coal and oil, the Earth's temperature is estimated to rise 5 degrees by the end of the century. If we wish to stop climate change, we must move immediately to smart, clean electricity.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Smart electricity from the sun constitutes a net benefit to the environment: Every kilowatt of electricity produced by a solar installation emits only one twentieth of the carbon dioxide emitted by electricity from coal. A solar installation of 70 square meters saves 11.8 tons of carbon dioxide per year. To stop climate change, we need to switch to 100% renewable energy by 2050.
For decades, most of the coal-based electricity in Israel was produced at power stations in Ashkelon and Hadera. These Israeli stations emit up to ten times more pollution than the European standard. Today, close to 38% of Israel's electricity is produced from coal, and 60% from natural gas, which is also polluting, although less than coal. Following pressure exerted by Greenpeace and partners, Energy Minister Steinitz promised to close the old coal units 1-4 in Hadera by the year 2022, relying on natural gas instead. But, to move forward and bring about real change, it is necessary to switch to smart solar electricity throughout the country.
Want to see how much pollution you will avoid? Go to our solar calculator .
According to a World Health Organization report, pollution caused early death for 2,452 Israelis in 2010. A solar installation avoids emissions of dangerous substances that cause respiratory diseases, heart disease, cancer, and developmental problems. Greenpeace has reported that the old units 1-4 in Hadera have been causing the early death of about 310 people a year, most of them from stroke and heart failure. The pollution emanating from Hadera does not remain in Hadera but disperses and harms hundreds of communities over a radius of hundreds of kilometers.
Note: One smart installation reduces 36.6 kg of sulfur oxides, 35.6 kg of nitrogen oxides, and 0.98 kg of particulates that enter the respiratory system, according to data from the Kandel Committee report examining the economic benefits of renewable energies.
Signup our petition and demand moving to smart energy from the sun!
Simply Smart
The installation process is easy and straightforward: All you need to do is contact the solar electric company, and you will be enjoying smart solar electricity within three months.
Once you make contact, the solar company will send their representative to your house to measure and map your roof and offer a price estimate. Consultation is basically free for this meeting, and you can contact a number of companies in parallel for a second opinion and even negotiate the price.
Connection is simple and will usually be done for you by the solar system installers. The current procedure is the result of a public campaign led by Greenpeace to influence government ministries, tax authorities, Knesset members, and in cooperation with the Green Energy Association and other partners. The previous bureaucratic barriers (income tax, VAT, and municipal taxes) have been removed and today do not apply to people moving to smart solar electricity.
Coordination with the Electric Company: 2inspections will be arranged by the Israel Electric Corporation --1 optional, 1 mandatory, :
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An optional preliminary inspection within two weeks of the request. Typically, in the case of a house with standard electrical connections, there will be no need for a preliminary survey.
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Review inspection once the installation is completed to ensure that the installation complies with the safety standards of the Electricity Authority.
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Throw the switch: Connect the installation to the electricity grid to obtain an operating permit from the Ministry of Energy. The permit will be granted within a week from the submission of the application.
Setting up the smart system takes a day or two depending on the complexity of the project.
Signup our petition and demand moving to smart energy from the sun!
Making the smart move forward
Even though Israel is bathed in sunlight and is a powerhouse of technological innovation, it is now plodding along with only 2.5% smart solar electricity, while the other countries of the world are producing tens of percent of their electricity with smart solar systems.
In the 1950s, Israel pioneered in solar water heating, an Israeli development. If we used only our roofs to generate solar electricity we in Israel could generate close to a third of our total needs
Not surprisingly, Israel is number one in the world in cleantech innovation. Our progress in energy storage, improvements in solar panel efficiency and energy efficiency applications has contributed to making Israel the best place to invest in technological solutions for stopping climate change. However, these locally produced innovative technologies are exported and not implemented in Israel.
Meanwhile, in the rest of the world...
The countries of the world have committed to switching from the use of coal, oil, and gas to renewable and clean sources. Israel's goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions are among the lowest in OECD countries.
According to Bloomberg, renewable energies will generate 70% of electricity in Europe in 2040, compared to 32% of electricity today. Denmark produces close to 60% from clean energies, Portugal and Spain over 40%, and Germany has reached 35%. Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, Madrid, London, and other leading cities have committed to 100% renewable energy. In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Oil has been disbanded, China is investing billions in reducing the use of coal and moving to renewable energy, Australia already has about one million homes with solar systems; and the revolution continues.
Solar energy versus natural gas
We have natural gas reserves for several decades, but these are depletable and the sun is not. Also, though less polluting than coal and oil natural gas is still dirty energy that emits 10 (tbd) greenhouse gases and pollutes the environment. Profits from natural gas accrue only to the wealthy while smart solar electricity will significantly reduce electricity bills for millions of people.
Signup our petition and demand moving to smart energy from the sun!
CLIENTS
Together with you, more and more people will move to smart solar electricity. At the same time, we will exert pressure on the decision-makers and accelerate the revolution.
We demand that the Minister of Energy promotes smart solar electricity in 5 simple steps:
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Streamlining the process: More improvements are needed on the way to a smart electricity revolution. We demand that the Minister of Energy simplify the bureaucracy to the greatest extent possible - only one inspection for a solar electricity installation, cancellation of the requirement for an operating permit for small installations, a process of coordination with the Electric Corporation, and for large smart roofs, cancellation of the requirement for a building permit and refurbishment surcharge.
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Advanced Plan: With the Advanced Plan we can optimize the use of smart energy. In apartment buildings, residents will be able to share electricity, and a smart roof can be built on the decision of the majority of residents. In addition, it will be possible to rent solar roofs for electricity generation and to trade surplus production in the same area.
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State guarantees: Hundreds of thousands of families and businesses will be able to receive financing for smart roofs with the help of the state. Israel has done this in the past with regard to energy efficiency. We demand state guarantees for smart systems from the Minister of Energy. Guarantees of NIS 200 million will allow loans of some NIS 1.2 billion (about 24,000 home systems), and the state's investment in this area will pave the way for investments by philanthropic entities and for providing loans to smart systems under better conditions.
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Research, development, and implementation: Israel was ranked first in cleantech technologies worldwide in 2014. We demand that the Minister of Energy support local smart projects and implement them in Israel. Israeli technologies will be adopted worldwide and will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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Publicity: Most people do not even know that they can use their roof to produce smart electricity. We demand that the Minister of Energy promote an information campaign applying to all the roofs in Israel and making the benefits of smart electricity accessible to the general public.
Your very own power plant on your private rooftop. Learn more >>
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Net Metering saves you money!
Switching to smart electricity from the sun reduces air pollution and climate change. Learn more >>
Israel is lagging behind with 2.5% smart energy. Learn more >>
