Nuherbs, a supplier of sustainably-sourced Chinese herbs, installed solar panels on its San Leandro, California facility, to lighten the company’s environmental footprint. The company is also significantly saving on energy costs.
 
“As Earth Day approaches many people stop to think about their environmental progress,” said Wilson Lau, president of Nuherbs. “We are hoping to set an example that encourages more of our peers to take significant steps, by reducing consumption, and replacing it with a cleaner alternative.”
 
The system, which uses Sunpower solar panels and Solar Edge inverters, generates more than 80,000 kWh annually. This fully replaced what Nuherbs previously purchased from Pacific Gas & Electric, making the company’s energy usage for their facility carbon neutral. Energy cost savings were just over $21,000 in 2023.
 
Prior to the solar panel installation, Nuherbs retrofitted all lighting to LED, reducing consumption by 30,000 kWh. This ‘reduce before you produce’ approach helped to shape the size of the solar PV system that was ultimately installed later.
 
“This type of Solar PV system has a life span of more than 25 years, and the average time to pay back the investment is five to six years, but it’s well worth it,” Lau said. “The next step in our plan is to add batteries, once they become more affordable, so we will generate and use our own power. With climate change-related disruptions to power grids becoming more common, this will allow us to continue operation even during power outages.”