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Sangha Energy Offers Solutions Through the Weather

Generac installAs 2015 draws to a close California’s drought is giving way to an expected “hard El Nino.”

Of course that’s a welcome respite for the Central Coast’s ranchers and any of a number of municipal water systems that rely on surface water, but there’s a hard reality to winter weather. In normal years the same electric grid that strains in summer under the draw of millions of air-conditioning units also bears a heavy load as temperatures drop and the switches are flipped on electric heaters and furnaces.

The same water that is needed so badly back in the lakes and river systems is going to wreak havoc getting there. Mudslides, road wipeouts and trees toppling in the wind and a home in the suburbs is just as vulnerable to having the copper wires that tie it to civilization cut as is a mountain cabin.

Industry studies estimate around 47 percent of utility outages are the result of strong storms. In short, for utility companies and their field workers it’s the hardest time of the year to keep your home tied to their grid.


Fortunately, there are other options. Sangha Energy, a local company founded with the explicit intent of giving homeowners and companies true energy independence wants to help. In fact, with a special beneficial corporation status under California law, they’re uniquely qualified to offer alternative energy systems that match a client’s need rather than padding a sales invoice.

For the last three years the majority of Sangha’s business has come from off-grid living, designing the complex integrated systems for a single residence. Even though it’s a lofty ambition for some to live entirely independently that’s not all or even most of what Sangha is all about.

Company founder Tod duBois explains that the word Sangha, meaning community in Sanskrit, perfectly sums up what they’re selling, “community energy.”

That can mean a lot of things, but to start it’s about providing the energy to keep your family or small business going. Partnering with local electricians, and the industrial scale generator manufacturer Generac, duBois is offering a simple but oft overlooked solution.

Automatic standby generators, paired with your own in-home micro-grid are designed to protect from power failure and restore power within seconds of an outage. “You can’t heat a home on battery backups,” duBois notes, “And until recently, utility grade power was considered too expensive on a backup system.”

With the series of generator options available, assessing individual needs can be tricky, but that’s part of what Sangha will help with. The systems are not the type of thing you pick up at Home Depot.

Generac produces eight series of heavy-duty generator, from the kind of small unit that will keep a refrigerator and lights going in a cabin to the kind of units that sits in hospital basement and could keep a commercial operation running on their own. The most popular, the Guardian series, comes in several sizes, features a quiet enclosure to keep from bothering the neighbors and can switch between natural gas and LP fuel in a few seconds, without the need for any tools. Depending on the model prices hover in the $2,500 -$4500 range.

For more in-depth information, go online to sanghaenergy.org/generators and follow the “Email and Expert” link to discuss your needs. Checkout their other services and solutions offered by Sangha Energy or call 805-545-7818.

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