Yesterday (March 16) Gainesville, Fla.-based Clean Energy Logistics Lab, Inc. launched its network of Solar Ambassadors. At the solar ambassadors’ site, findsolarpro.com, people interested in going solar can learn about each ambassador’s solar project and installation process.

To encourage more people to adopt solar, ambassadors tell their story and share other information like videos of their home’s installation and live data feeds to show how much power their system is producing. Right now the site has ambassador profiles of people in Alabama, Florida, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington.

“We wanted to encourage the use of solar across the U.S. through the experiences of people who already have solar,” said Clean Energy Logistic’s Information Officer Hadley Price. In addition to connecting people with solar owners, the site also refers people to local solar installers who can come out and do a free site assessment.

The system is based on a solar ambassador project that Price designed and continues to manage for Solar Oregon.

“The difference is that they were not prepared to do anything on a national basis. This is designed to go across the country,” Price said. This project can help people find ambassadors in their neighborhood, county or state.

When a person chooses to install a system based on a referral, the installer makes a contribution to a local solar nonprofit and back to the site.

“We make money off the referral. A percentage of that money goes back to the non-profit based on an agreement made with all those companies,” Price said.

The project is going viral, Price said.

“They [i.e., solar ambassadors] are finding us. Many are finding us through grassroots efforts. It’s compelling and it spreads virally, it does it on its own,” he said. The interest isn’t limited to the United States. “We’re already getting queries from other countries. It really reaches the hearts of people in the solar industry.”

To help spread the program, Price is developing apps and widgets, like a mobile app that allows people to view the profiles on a smartphone, and has also developed a Facebook site dedicated to the project. Clean Energy Logistics also is working with solar organizations to embed code into their newsletters and more to help refer people to the solar ambassadors, according to Price.

Pictured: Solar Ambassador Martyn R.'s installation, courtesy of www.FindSolarPro.com