EcoAdventures of Dan and Paula

LED Lighting

2008-10-05T14:25:00Z

Dan is working with LED Technologies to provide new, high-efficient lighting solutions to businesses. Its an exciting new venture with a great deal of interest, due to the potential money savings, as well as the environmental benefits.

If you want to learn more - contact Dan at ledenergy@gmail.com.

Mr. Roger; Roger Mericka; Fatzilla.org ALERT

2008-10-05T14:20:00Z

Dan and I have had a very bad experience doing business with Mr. Roger, a.k.a. Roger Merickia of Ohio. We would have serious concerns about becoming involved with his new fatzilla.org venture. Mr. Roger has not delivered on any of the promises he made to us. Contact Dan if you would like more information. 608-209-1707.

Dan on the 10:00 News!

2008-04-09T04:11:00Z

Dan is turning into a local celebrity in 'green' circles. Check out the writeup on the Local ABC -- WKOW station!

http://wkow.madison.com/News/index.php?ID=20088

And - he didn't even have to get up at 4 am this time!

Thanks to new associate, Becca Hill for signing up for a Green Contest sponsored by the local TV station. They did a good job of getting the facts straight.

State of the Manufacturing company

2008-02-20T03:47:00Z

We are all anxious for the manufacturing company, Citizenre to start installing panels. In a state of the company address on Feb 4th, the President of Citizenre advises that there have been delays in obtaining the financing necessary to start the manufacturing plant. However, they are pursuing a number of options and we hope to have better news soon.

Madison Home Expo 2008

2008-01-08T04:24:00Z

We had a great time at the 2008 Madison Home Expo show at the Monona Terrace. Thanks to all who came out and talked to us. Madison now has about 50 new 'Solar Citizens'.

We had two new ecos - Josh and Evie who were able to hone their ecopreneur 'chops' by talking to lots of folks about the Solar Solution over the two 1/2 day time frame. It was great having them with us - especially since there were many times that we had 6-8 people all wanting to hear about the program at the same time.

AND - we were able to push Wisconsin over the 500 customer mark! Hopefully that will help us draw attention to our area to get the panels sooner rather than later.

Dan in the Spotlight!

2008-01-08T04:20:00Z

This last weekend Dan was interviewed by NBC news as part of promoting the 2008 Madison Home Expo show at Monona Terrace. I've included the link to see a video of his interview below... but the link will probably roll off of the nbc15.com website soon - in the meantime we're trying to get a copy of it to save.

Check it out!

http://video.nbc15.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?clipId1=2071195&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=In+Studio+with+Rental+Solar+Dot+Com+1%2F5%2F08&d1=180667&redirUrl=video.nbc15.com&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//video.nbc15.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp%3FclipId1%3D2071195&at1%3DNews&vt1%3Dv&h1%3DIn+Studio+with+Rental+Solar+Dot+Com+1%2F5%2F08&d1%3D180667&redirUrl%3Dvideo.nbc15.com&activePane%3Dinfo&LaunchPageAdTag%3Dhomepage&clipFormat%3D&rnd=44025686

Living With ED!!

2007-11-08T04:41:00Z

Wow! The Rental Solar program was featured in a recent Living With Ed episode.. Very exciting - check it out at:

http://www.livingwithed.net/egallery.asp?CID=23&xepisode=Season%202

Chicago GreenLifeExpo

2007-10-06T04:15:00Z

Last weekend Dan and I were in the Northbrook Mall in a northern Chicago suburb for a Green Life Expo. Unfortunately, the event itself wasn't managed well - wasn't any promotion, and we didn't get any traffic. But on the plus side:

1. We got to meet several of our colleagues from the Chicago area who helped staff the booth (Hi Rich, Bill, Caron, Cheri and Jen!) That was the definite highlight of the weekend!

2. I bought some clothes at a nearby Anne Taylor store (they had good prices in petites)

3. We did sign up several of the other vendors... and a few passerbys.

The Lesson learned is to do more research before we commit to and pay for these types of events!

Dan is lining up more events in ChicagoLand for October. I have mom duty 3 out of the four weekends... so am likely to not be doing the shows with him -but we now know a number of folks in Chicago who can help out!

Dan's Audio Message to Midwest Ecopreneurs

2007-09-21T13:30:00Z

Madison Willy St Fair - WOW!!

2007-09-21T03:17:00Z

The annual Willy Street Fair was AMAZING! Dan, I and my 10-year old, Dawn, went to the warm-up event on Saturday afternoon and heard an incredible band / singer from Africa. Dawn wheedled Dan into buying the CD for her.  We spent a few hours wandering the area - listening to music and eating the fair food.

Sunday was the main event - Dan was there early to assemble the booth. After singing in church, I dropped Dawn off at grandma and grandpas and joined Dan in time for the kick-off parade. From then on, we were off to the races. In a span of 6-7 hours we'd signed up 20 customers (including sign-ups by team-mate Duane).   We had a steady flow of interested Madisonions... and a few out-of-towners.   We probably gave out a hundred fliers and business cards.

It was fabulous and energizing! A GREAT EVENT!

Our next event will be in the Chicago Northbrook Mall Sept 29-30... and we have to get our act together for an inside venue. Dan will apply his usual mechanical know-how and come up with something.

New and Improved Web Site

2007-09-09T23:19:00Z

Spent a few days putting up a new and improved website with a more intuitive URL: www.rentalsolar.com. Dan and I have been working quite a bit with the new Regional Sales Manager: Roger Mericka. There's a lot of activity going on, and I am optimistic there will be more news about the Citizenre Plant very soon!

Orton Park Festival

2007-08-28T11:54:00Z

Dan and I spent the weekend at the Madison Orton Park music festival. This has got to be Madison's largest venue for outdoor music: Blues, Rock, and Zydeco to open and close the event. We had to put up our 'gone dancin' sign for the last (Zydeco) band and join the dancing throng.

It was two days of gorgeous sunshine that was a very welcome break from the nearly constant rain of the prior week. The grounds were a bit muddy - but the people came out in droves in search of great music, food, community and SUN! We were there with our Solar booth - what could be more appropriate!

One of the Ecopreneurs on our team, Duane Faitel, also stopped out, and we were able to sign up quite a few folks to reserve their Solar Electricity sytems.

Chicago Green Home Fair

2007-08-14T17:42:00Z

We were able to combine a business and personal trip to Chicago this past weekend. We participated in the Chicago Green Home Fair - a small, yet well-attended event focusing on homeowners wishing to incorporate environmentally-friendly services and products into their remodeling and building projects. We also got to met and work with our Chicago Based Ecopreneur - Bill Cardy.

Signed up a few customers, and made some good contacts with environmentally-aware providers in the Chicagoland area.

Fete De Marquette - What a BLAST

2007-07-16T02:46:00Z

Oh my - what a weekend! Dan is still cleaning up the soon-to-be-famous SunnyDawn Booth from the Fete de Marquette music fest in Madison. Great food! Fabulous people... and the Dynamite Music!!!!

Talked to a lot of folks from the area about the REnU opporptunity, and signed up quite a number of Madison's Finest.   Lots of folks interested in Renewable Energy in good ole' Mad-Town.

Dan has been on site every second of the event - I was there Friday night and half the day Saturday... and another Ecopreneur team-mate, Duane, worked with Dan on Sunday.   I was a less than reliable helper. since I've been fighting a nasty summer cold.

Time to do the computer/paperwork... and get ready for another busy week!

Tennis woes

2007-07-16T02:40:00Z

2007 has been a rough tennis season for me thus far - I'm playing up a level from the last several years (due to a serious glitch in the USTA computer ranking system) , and am running into some very tough competition in singles. A few weeks ago I got stomped by a (very nice), very nice, very very tall, 19 year old woman who weighs about as much as my left leg.   Faring a bit better on my mixed doubles team...

Tonight won a nice mixed doubles match on a gorgeous evening with one of my fav tennis partners - Paul.. He's 6'4"... so we make quite a contrast on the court. Each of the three courts on my team won tonight! Yea team! We have such a nice group of people on my mixed doubles team.

At least I can amuse myself with these blog entries...    Actually - I've bailed on my womens team the last two weeks due to a very nasty and persistent summer cold, which eventually morphed into a sinus infection. Can't do singles until I can run and breathe simultaneously!

MidWest Renewable Energy Fair

2007-07-10T01:43:00Z

Dan and I were in Stevens Point a few weeks ago at the MREA. We talked to a number of folks about the REnU opportunity. This was a well-informed environmentally aware group. A number of people were interested and signed up at the fair. We also talked to a number of people who already had solar panels and / or were considering purchasing a system rather than renting.

Ironically Paula's son, who attends school at UW-Stevens Point, was out of town - so we didn't get a chance to see him on this visit. Maybe next time.

Welcome!

2007-06-19T00:13:00Z

Welcome to Dan & Paula's Blog! We're still experimenting with this site - so bear with us as we tinker. We hope to post our thoughts regarding some of our more memorable adventures here.

To start things on a positive note - we had an absolutely great experience at the recent WaterFront Music Festival in Madison, WI on the weekend of June 9-10. Great weather, great music and great people! We love Madison! (Correction ... Dan loves Madison, and I love it in the SUMMER) ... Paula... your humble fledgling web/blogmaster