Puget Sound Solar LLC, Lic# PUGETSS932MU, is an enterprise of Jeremy Smithson and Pamela Burton. Jeremy started Puget Sound Solar in 2001 with 30 years of construction contracting experience, and a desire to turn Seattle on to solar energy.What began as a vague notion has gelled into a firm commitment to establish solar energy as a viable and permanent consumer choice. Jeremy believes that our customers often follow a path similar to the one he took, starting out with solar daydreaming, then progressing to education on the subject, and eventually leading to action. Along the way, Jeremy has become a NABCEP Certified Solar Thermal and Solar PV Installer, a Washington State certified Electrical Administrator, and a popular lecturer and teacher.What was initially a solo act is now part of a team effort, but his job description still includes providing vision and guidance to the company.
Pamela Burton was Director of the Pacifica Radio Archives before moving to Seattle in 1997, and remained in the non-profit world as the first Executive Director of Seattle Tilth until mid-2004.As the volume of phone calls to Puget Sound Solar increased, she pitched in to help and became the ‘front office’, taking messages at first, and learning solar fundamentals.Now she spends her day talking to prospective and current customers, utility people, suppliers, contractors, architects, and the like, dispensing information and advice, in addition to handling scheduling and customer paperwork and overseeing the treasury (whew).She served as President of Solar Washington for more than four years, developing the annual Solar Tour, helping to educate the public, and working to effect public policy.
Now in its tenth year, the company continues to be a leader in the region, keeping a staff of 12 busy full-time. The coming months promise more growth, thanks to our fantastic customers and crew!
Pamela
Killer 'Z's, Dutch Masters, Island Dwellers
David Lazerwitz is Project Manager for many of our installations and wears a few other hats as well. Dave joined our company after serving in the Peace Corps and managing various projects in Guatemala. Under his direction at Shea Homes Trilogy development we have installed over 60 kW so far in one neighborhood. He is also developing procedures for completing and commissioning projects, and is handling all-around management duties in the field as well as hands-on work. He has taken the PV installer class at Shoreline College as well as completed training and certification for installation of Thermomax and Velux solar water heating systems. Dave has done hundreds of solar installations with us and continues to keep things rolling by integrating purchasing and project planning into his repetoire as well as setting up customer data-monitoring.
In the words of his school chum and alpine sports partner, Michiel, 'he is intelligent, hard working, organized, and has a high work ethic'. Michiel forgot to mention 'polite'! We are fortunate to have Dave on the team.
aka Spiderman
Michiel Zuidweg, NABCEP certified PV installer, Project Manager, first gen Dutch-American, worked on Waldron Island levitating wind turbines and building tree-mounted PV arrays before moving back to the mainland and coming to Puget Sound Solar. Although he has a Masters degree in Physics, has taken advanced PV courses from Solar Energy International, and has installed hundreds of solar systems since 2002, he is still out in the field perfecting his skills. Not afraid to tackle any project, he has been a real asset. Curious to see how a PV array or wind generator is mounted on a tree? Check out www.solartreedesign.com , for examples of Michiel's work in this area.
You can contact Michiel any time at 206.902.6845 or michiel@pugetsoundsolar.com When not tweezing out inefficiencies in our work process, he is probably scaling some vertical rock face somewhere, or skiing the slopes of some cascade volcano. Lately he has been circumnavigating the volcanos.
Chris Toler, Solar Electrician, joined the team in September ’08.He brings a journeyman's set of skills and experience with all types of electrical work and is a key asset as we take on more commercial and institutional projects. He is one of the most PV experienced electricians in the region, with over 500 kW of local PV installations under his belt. His work is exemplary and draws rave reviews. Chris knows how to get this stuff done. Give him a set of plans and before you know it the job is complete. In addition to being a force of nature on the job site, he is also a dedicated dad and has new projects at his Vashon home, including solar. We’re fortunate to have him in the crew.
Thomas Vroom, Solar Electrician, hopped aboard in May of '08, coming from a background of commercial electrical work and training. He has since installed hundreds of kilowatts of PV in the Puget Sound region, and also pitches in to help install solar hot water collectors as well as dozens of solar hot water control systems. Thomas has been fearless (or apparently so) to take to the rooftops as he does solid electrical work on the array as well as all other aspects of PV installation. He also has roots :-) in organic farming, permaculture, and other applications of solar energy, and spends his days off pursuing various projects on Vashon Island with his other half, Jordan.
Corey Fitch is our BPI certified Home Performance Manager. Corey became experienced at home energy assessments and testing in California as a HERS Rater before relocating here to pursue a Building Science career in Seattle. As he prepared to start up Sound Home Performance he was on the solar crew for a number of projects. He has become certified for several programs offered by local utilities to give homeowners incentive to make their homes more energy efficient, and customers are enjoying big energy savings as a result of Corey's work. You can check it out at www.SoundHomePerformance.com At home, he is walking the walk, transforming his Fremont home into a high performance abode by applying Building Science as he does for his customers, creating an efficient and comfortable living space. He can often be seen with Michiel and Dave engaging in various recreational pursuits and is an avid cyclist, routinely riding all over town, recently doing the STP run with his dad.
Not Scott Cooper
Scott Cooper, Home Performance Specialist, is the second BPI Certified staff member to join Sound Home Performance. He and Corey are the core of the retro-fit team and Scott performs testing as well as remedial work. He is completing his certification process for participation in the programs local utilities are sponsoring, as well as the up-coming Homestar program. When he is not doing those things he is applying his talents to the promotion and publicizing of Sound Home Performance and the services we offer. Scott easily continues in the tradition around here that quality people somehow find our company and want to work here.
Nick Wolf
Nick Wolf is our Senior Design Engineer, NABCEPCertified, and when he arrived, he brought with him many talents as well as experience with Akeena Solar, one of the more innovative solar integrators. Nick has a thorough approach to his work and has moved our company up a notch with some nice improvements in all aspects of our design and estimating processes. Of note is his mining of customer production data to give us an even better understanding of how to predict system performance. When not putting in the hours here at the office, he is likely tending his flock of musical instruments, teaching at Cascadia Community College, renovating his home, or contemplating the conversion of his Triumph TR4 to electric drive. Did I mention his PhD in Biology by way of the UW, Simon Fraser U, and U. of Bergen? His goal: "To live efficiently, preserving and enjoying the natural world so that future generations may do the same.
Will Wrangles a Silicon Energy PV Module
Will Sumner is the latest Spanish-speaker to join the crew, and the latest who came with his own avalanche shovel. Starting with a B.A. in Environmental Studies: Human Resource Management / Human Ecology he interned in Andean Ecuador. Will left the slopes of the Andes for Maui, left the slopes of Maui for the slopes of Alta, Utah on the ski patrol, then back to the roof slopes of Maui to install solar energy systems, then to the slopes of Washington's Cascades for projects with the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance. Sounds like a Warren Miller movie that morphed into a nature documentary. Now he can be spotted with our crew on the slopes of Seattle's roofs reducing our dependence on imported energy. Will has an enthusiasm for renewable energy and will no doubt be advancing in the field as he lays down the kilowatts, and he can show you how to keep from getting buried in snow.
Ivan does the Tango
Ivan Workman, EVSE Specialist, is our first employee dedicated to the Electric Vehicle Support division. We met at a meeting of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association and it was immediately apparent that he had some depth of experience in a transportation technology that has been scarce at best. To have 12 years of EV experience at age 28 is a feat in itself, but to have done so in the near-absence of a market for EVs is remarkable. We have not been disappointed, he has spearheaded our effort to get established in the EV support service industry with knowledge and gusto, sorting out the players in this new field and creating relationships that will ultimately translate into value for our customers. Ivan is familiar with EV driving and driver issues as few others are; he has over 150,000 miles of driving various EVs for evaluation by Southern California Edison in their electric transportation division. He has encountered every possible problem with the first generation of public EVSE (Electric Vehicle Service Equipment) and has a keen eye for what works and what doesn't. We're glad to have Ivan on the team.
We are located at: 5308 Baker Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107
About Our Logo
Many people notice our snappy leaping sun with the mystical eye. It is the work of the late artist Rick Griffin. Ida Griffin graciously loaned us the use of this image provided that Rick's signature appears.
