One can imagine that when the telephone or automobile (or any type of new technology) came out, there were hucksters and frauds taking advantage of the uninformed. Unfortunately, the solar industry is going through these growing pains.

Solar technology is not new — solar panels have been on satellites since the 1950s — but a combination of factors has allowed the solar industry to explode worldwide over the past five years. While annual solar installations in the United States have skyrocketed over 300 percent from five years ago, customer education has lagged behind.