When Net Zero Solar's Chad Waits sat down with Doctor Esther Sternberg recently, she shared some of her motivations to install solar on her beautiful Tucson home: “A really important reason why I wanted solar is that I'm a physician, I'm a scientist, I'm a professor, and I have been working on how the built environment affects health and well-being. And what you do to design a space to enhance physical health and emotional well-being has to be balanced with sustainable design."
Net Zero Solar installed a solar electric system for Esther in late 2019. She also wanted to install batteries for backup on her home: “I work from home a lot, so I needed to be able to have really good internet without interruption. And there have been power failures during the monsoon, and I think every year I kept calling you was, can I get my batteries now? He said, it's not there yet. I wanted batteries from the beginning, and you told me that it's not there yet, that the technology for batteries is not there. Wait."
Reflecting on their conversations, Chad shared, “What I was trying to do was make sure that we were achieving the goals that she had, as far as the amount of energy she wanted to produce, and being forthright with her about, hey, maybe this isn't the right time to do that, but let's get things prepped in anticipation of the technology catching up and then us adding the storage down the road."
Esther agreed: “So you didn't try to upsell me. You didn't try to sell me stuff that would then have to be taken down because they were obsolete. And that resonated with me. I know a lot about health and stress, but I know nothing about electrical engineering and solar and all that complexity. So I did feel a little intimidated. But you didn't talk down to me. You explained it to me as an equal, as a colleague. And I really understood it so that I was no longer intimidated."
Dr. Sternberg shared more about the intersection between her choice to install solar and batteries with her expertise: “I've written three books. In the most recent, Well at Work: Creating Wellbeing in any Workspace, I talk about the research that I've done, with major federal agencies, major corporations, fortune 500 companies, that shows how to design spaces for health and well-being.
And in the book, I talk about how to balance that with sustainable design. So it would have been hypocritical of me to propose that people should design for health and sustainability and not have solar. You know, I've experienced power failures, power outages and, and definitely having solar and having the batteries reduce that worry. I know I'm protected at all times."
Their discussion continuing, Chad asked Dr. Sternberg how that worry might affect someone's physiology, to which she responded: “If you're dealing with a ton of anxiety, that is one of the areas when I started out in research, I was studying the effects of the brain's stress response on the immune system.
I discovered that the brain's stress response does talk to the immune system. When you're stressed, you're pumping out all these stress hormones that make you feel stress. You know, you feel your heart beating fast, and you feel sweaty, and you feel anxious, and you want to run to the bathroom. But the other thing that happens when that goes on too long, all of those stress molecules suppress your immune system's ability to fight disease, so you're more likely to get sick.
Anything that you can do to reduce stress is good for your health," to which Chad quipped, “Apparently I'm good for people's health."
Battery technology did indeed improve over the next few years. In the summer of 2024, Net Zero Solar installed six Enphase Energy IQ 5P batteries, meeting her needs for energy security. Esther noted one feature she really loves is the connection of the system to the National Weather System, with Enphase Energy's Storm Guard, where she gets a notification on the phone of any upcoming inclement weather, and the batteries are charged to 100% to provide backup.
When asked why she chose Net Zero Solar, Dr. Sternberg told us “The main reason I went local with Net Zero Solar is because my neighbors had such a wonderful experience with the team, so I thought that's a really good recommendation." She also appreciated the ability to get in touch with Chad or others from Net Zero Solar quickly and resolve any questions or issues, noting “I really deeply value the personal interaction and the ability to talk to you and your team directly."
Chad agreed, saying “90% of our business is from referrals. You know, we've worked really, really hard to keep that referral network strong. Our biggest job when we enter a sales opportunity is to make sure that we can create that trust. This is my benchmark for how successful we are."
System Details:
See More Photos of Esther's Solar and Storage System:
945 W Silverlake Road
Tucson, AZ 85713
520-207-4053
ROC# 248710, 259756