Solar activism meets social networking

Aside from green tech, I regularly write about practical business applications for Web 2.0 technologies and services. (Yes, there are remarkably many.) So I was quite interested to notice that a grassroots community solar organization that I wrote about last month, One Block Off the Grid, was snapped up this week by a company in the social networking space, Virgance.

The idea behind the union is to provide a platform for One Block Off the Grid to extend its "community" activism beyond its San Francisco birthplace. By pounding the pavement in its home city, the group was able to get more than 180 residents to sign up for solar evaluations at their homes in the space of two months; 35 homes contracted for installations within three weeks. By using the Virgance platform, One Block Off the Grid will do some cyber-pavement-pounding in Aspen, Colo.; Austin; Bergen County, N.J. (hey, that's where I LIVE but it isn't technically a city!); Berkley, Calif.; Boston; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Chicago; Denver; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami; New Orleans; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Sacramento; San Diego; San Jose, Calif.; Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Should be interesting to see what this accomplishes. We'll have to check back in soon.