Dedicated to Promoting Sustainable Business Practices
Sun Light & Power, founded in 1976, had a primary purpose - to promote the proliferation of solar energy solutions. This was the first mission I envisioned when I graduated from UC Berkeley as a Mechanical Engineer. My desire to see solar collectors on every rooftop has blossomed over the years into the passion that now pervades the very fabric of the company, and informs all decisions made within the business.
Gary Gerber, PE
President and CEO
Sun Light & Power’s mission is tocreate a living environment that serves people's intrinsic needs, supports the human spirit and preserves the planet's resources for future generations.
Our Vision
Sun Light & Power is committed to making a positive difference in the world; both by providing exceptional service, products and expertise in solar energy to our customers, but also by standing as an example of the good business practices that support our employees and the community that we live in.
Our Values
Safety is the first priority
Strive to build a collaborative work community
Always act with integrity
Deliver unmatched quality
Practice sustainability; live & work green
Benefit Corp Overview
As one of the first California registered Benefit Corps, we have ingrained into our corporate DNA and baked into our company bylaws, our commitment to People, Planet and Prosperity. We became a Benefit Corp at the earliest date possible in California (January 3, 2012).
B Corp certification is like an organic produce certification for sustainable businesses. It is Patagonia versusWalmart. If you vote with your dollars and care about social and environmental issues, do business with B Corps and become a part of the solution!
Benefit Corporations are required to create a material positive impact on society and the environment. We are expected to meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and most importantly, accountability. We are also required to measure and report on the corporation’s impact on employees, suppliers, community, customers and the environment through a 200-point scale Impact Assessment. A minimal score of 80 is required to be eligible for B Lab certification.
Here are just a few examples of our Benefit Corp commitments
People
The people of Sun Light & Power (our “Team”) are truly the most valuable assets of the company and we treat them as such. From the very first point of contact with Sun Light & Power, people wanting to work at SLP know that this company is different from most others. Through our hiring process we inquire deeply about the values and behaviors of the prospective team member, and we take great care in selecting people who are a good cultural match with our company and who share the commitment that we all feel to doing good for the planet. Hence, we find that the type of behaviors that support sustainability come quite naturally to our Team. For example, most of our Team chooses to live within 5 miles of the office and a large percentage of the office staff bikes regularly to work. We enhance this behavior by encouraging the use of bikes and public transportation for our field crews through our travel policy, by providing company transport from the office to our worksites, and by making available a safe place to store their bikes and their personal tools. We have built showers so that our team[KB1][GG2] members can “freshen up” after biking in. We are also a dog-friendly workplace, so that team members do not have to leave their canine companions lonely at home during the day.
At company events we always provide fresh and organic foods, with gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan[KB3][GG4] options. Our founder, who owns chickens, often brings in dozens of his organic free-range eggs to share.
We have a relatively flat salary structure at SLP. Our top managers (including the founder) only make at most 5x the entry-level worker pay, and many of the field workers make close to or in some cases more than[KB5][GG6] the salaried management.
We give back to our community in several ways; through encouraging volunteering with a well-established low-income solar installation provider (Grid Alternatives), through participation in a local annual beach clean-up event, through[KB7][GG8] making special efforts to hire from local workforce development programs, and more. And we offer 2 company-paid days off per year for every team member, so that they can choose which causes and charities that they wish to support.
Planet
The preservation of the planet’s resources is central to Sun Light & Power’s company mission as a solar design and installation company. But beyond that, we strive to be an example of good planetary stewardship in our business practices. Some examples:
- Our 20[KB9][GG10] company vehicles are all powered by either 100% biodiesel fuel or electricity;
- A 7 kW photovoltaic system powers the Sun Light & Power main offices; and more PV is planned as we continue to grow
- The company offices are heated and cooled by a high efficiency mini-split heat pumps
- A significant portion of our front office heating is supplied by a passive “Trombe wall” system which converts the sun that strikes the front wall of the building into heat for the office[KB11][GG12]
- We have retrofitted our offices to use high-efficiency lighting, timer switches, lots of daylighting, and a light-sensing control system in our common area hallways that turns lights off whenever the skylights are providing sufficient illumination
- Whenever possible, rather than turning on mechanical systems for cooling, we rely on natural convection from outside air, along with a low-energy “swamp cooler” for part of the offices
- As the company has expanded we have used recycled and re-used materials for our construction projects, including re-used framing, recycled windows and doors, glass tables made from surplus sunroom parts, leftover and recycled plumbing tubing and parts, and much more
- All of our office workstations were purchased used, as were our ergonomic Aeron chairs (also made from recycled materials)
- Our office floors are covered with a variety of environmentally-friendly materials, including natural wool carpeting, carpeting made from recycled soda bottles, easily replaceable carpet squares, or else they are left as uncovered concrete
- We use low-VOC paint in our offices, and we provide ample natural ventilation with operable skylights throughout the offices.
Prosperity
Sun Light & Power was not founded for the sole purpose of making money. Our founding principle was to provide a good living wage to the people who work here and to provide us all with meaningful employment that satisfies our desire to good in the world. This is the Prosperity that we seek.
One of the reasons that Sun Light & Power has refused to take on outside investors is because we cherish the control that we can exert on the way that we do business. Unfortunately, one downside to the lack of outside investment capital is that we can only grow the company “organically”, using the money that we can either borrow from a bank (or friends) or earn to generate the working capital to operate the business. This means that our ability to share profit among the team depends on every member of the team contributing to our financial success. When there is profit (after taxes), and we have the working capital that we need to achieve our goals, we share what we can among the team members, based on a formula that factors in longevity with the company and contribution of the team member.
We have a continuing goal to expand our other benefits (more paid time off, better medical, dental and optical health care, retirement savings plans)to our team as we can afford to. This is one of the reasons that Sun Light & Power wants to continue to grow – because growth not only helps to spread more solar power across the land as quickly as possible, but it also broadens the financial base of the company and allows us to spread more profits and benefits among the team.
Sun Light & Power is a warm and welcoming place to work. We have a high level of employee satisfaction and we are constantly looking at ways to improve.
We are a certified Alameda Green Business
The Bay Area Green Business Program, a founding member of the California Green Business Program, distinguishes small businesses that protect, preserve and sustain our environment with a certification. Sun Light & Power has been a certified Alameda Green Business since 2002.
[KB1]Do we still have showers?
[GG2]Yes
[KB3]We need to get back in the habit of doing this.
[GG4]Yes we need to do better
[KB5]Does wording need to change here? Accurate still?
[GG6]Still true
[KB7]Not sure we still do this
[GG8]Yes we do
[KB9]I need a proper count on this
[GG10]This is correct
[KB11]Is this still accurate?
[GG12]Yes