Solar Upgrades

The latest home gadgets

By Yardi Blog Staff on Jun 4, 2015 in Technology

As green features become more and more important both from an environmental point of view, as well as a tool to increase occupancy and attract eco-conscious renters, the pressure is on for apartment owners. While many green upgrades do come with a high price tag, plenty of green upgrades can be achieved at relatively low cost and plentiful gains down the line. We explore the easiest solar-powered green solution that you can introduce into your apartment communities right now.

• Easily one of the least eco-friendly amenities, the pool can easily be greened harnessing the (free) power of the sun. It can be as simple as switching to solar-powered pool lights. Once bought, these tiny gadgets work away on their own. It’s as simple as placing them in a pool, where they will automatically charge during daylight hours and come on at night, when the sunlight fades. Some also have lightshow features that can set the mood for an impromptu pool party. Others also double as pool sanitizers, dispensing chlorine while giving off light at night.
• If you really want to green your pool, but don’t want to switch to saltwater, there are numerous mineral-based and solar-powered gadgets that cut down chlorination by 80 percent or even more. While these gadgets take care of algae and microorganism, they don’t clear surface debris.
• If you’re looking to fully automate pool maintenance, a solar pool skimmer is just the thing for your apartment community. This little gadget cleans up to 95 percent of surface debris, eliminating the need to hand skim, while also significantly cutting down on filtration and bottom cleaning. The solar-powered robot also features solar-charged batteries, meaning it also works well into the night. It can also double as a chlorine dispenser.
• BBQ facilities are one of the more durable amenities apartment communities can offer. While sports fads come and go (remember when you just had to have a tennis court?), a nice barbeque with the neighbors is pretty all-American past-time. However charcoals and gas grills aren’t the greenest way to go about cooking. Thankfully solar powered barbeques eliminate the need for fossil fuels. They also make for an eye-catching ad line and a neat sales pitch for the eco-consciousness, locavore renter. In fact you can outfit the outdoor kitchen with a couple of solar cookers as well.

• As no BBQ is complete without an ice-cold beer, especially on a hot summer day, the community kitchen area surely needs a solar fridge or freezer, to keep in line with your community’s solar-powered green practices.
• If the previous suggestion seem like too much of a hassle, start with the easiest solar solution and up your green game by switch to zero-emission lighting? This can seamlessly be achieved with outdoor solar lighting. Whatever your outdoor lighting needs are, solar-powered lights have you covered. Whether you’re in need of simple walking path lights, flood lights, motion sensor security lights or holiday/party lights for your outdoor amenity area, you can easily find them in solar-powered versions. Installation usually takes no special skills. In fact, some are as simple peel and stick. While most solar-powered outdoor lights have a higher purchase price than traditional battery or grid-powered ones, they save you big bucks down the line by functioning on free sunlight.
• Another simple solar upgrade can be made in the pest-control If your units feature balconies or patios or you have extensive outdoor amenities a neat green feature you can implement is outdoor solar bug zappers. In fact, you can hit two birds with one stone (or, well, mosquitos) and install garden lights that double as bug zappers. This way not only do you get free outdoor lighting, but you can cut down on harsh pest-control chemicals. Snake and mole repellers also come in solar-powered version.

Which of these solar solutions do you already have? Which would you be interested in introducing to your apartment communities? Drop us a comment below.