The Solarponics Name

The TV show “Friends” was originally going to be called “Across the Hall”. Was there a close second when you were coming up with company names? How did you guys come up with “Solarponics”?

It is hard to remember if there were other names considered as it was 1973 when the name was developed. We were living in Ely, NV when the 1973 oil embargo took place and the closest major city was over 300 miles away. When you live in an area where the coldest winter temperature is 40 F below zero and everything is trucked into town, then you get concerned when you see people on the TV news lining up for gasoline in the major cities. However, when you looked at the towns natural resources, geothermal -energy to grow vegetables in greenhouses was available, the wind speed averaged about 14 mph- enough to use windmills and there were 345 days of sun per year – enough to use solar energy for heating, it was then that realization of Solarponics came into being. We move back to SLO in 1975 to develop a business to provide solar energy to the citizens and businesses of SLO, Southern Monterey and Northern Santa Barbara counties.