leasing

Forget the zombie apocalypse for a moment. What if a real disaster struck your neighborhood? Where would you, or relief workers, take shelter?

As thousands of Japanese are still coping with the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku quake and tsunami, Osaka-based Daiwa Lease recently showed off this shipping container, a home for disaster zones. … Read more

Apple may be synonymous with Cupertino, Calif., but it's making more moves in its neighbor to the north.

As noted by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Apple has leased 156,000 square feet of office space in Sunnyvale, Calif.'s Town Center Office building. The space can fit some 400 employees, the City of Sunnyvale said in a press release announcing the deal (PDF).

This is Apple's latest expansion in the neighboring city, which is where Yahoo, AMD, Juniper Networks, and a handful of other technology companies are headquartered. Last month Apple signed a deal to lease space … Read more

SolarStrong, a project to install rooftop solar panels at 120,000 military homes, will see the light of day after nearly being derailed by political infighting in Washington.

Solar installer SolarCity today said it has secured the financing needed to install about 300 megawatts' worth of solar panels at homes on military bases. The company and the project lender, Bank of America's Merrill Lynch, expect this to be the largest distributed solar-energy project to date, requiring $1 billion in financing over the next five years.

The project calls for installing solar panels at the homes of military personnel at … Read more

Home security company Vivint is entering the solar panel installation business with financing model that avoids the upfront cost.

The company, which used to be called APX Alarms, said today it is offering financing for solar through a plan in which the panels are installed for free and consumers purchase the electricity they produce at a 20 percent discount from the retail electricity rate.

Vivint Solar has secured $75 million in financing from US Bancorp that it will use for about 2,400 installations, as a complement to its home security and home automation services. Vivint has started in New … Read more

OneRoof Solar is offering a new twist on the solar lease: when you replace your roof, you can get integrated solar panels with no incremental cost.

The company today announced it raised a $50 million series A round led by the solar arm of Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group. The company also said it has secured the funding to finance solar installations at residential customers.

Solar leases, which are available in about 20 states now, have quickly become a popular way to have solar photovoltaic panels installed. Instead of purchasing the panels, homeowners pay a monthly fee and the solar installer … Read more

SolarCity said today that the Department of Energy has not been able to finalize a loan guarantee for a project to install rooftop solar panels on military bases, blaming the political furor caused by bankrupt solar company Solyndra.

Earlier this month, the Department of Energy announced a $344 million conditional loan guarantee agreement with SolarCity to install solar photovoltaic panels at Department of Defense bases in 33 states. The distributed solar project, called SolarStrong, would have doubled the number of residential solar installations in the U.S. and would have been the largest rooftop solar project.

The DOE told SolarCity … Read more

Sungevity has secured $50 million worth of solar leases and expects to have the financing to continue expanding into other states.

The company today announced a deal with Citigroup where the bank will provide financing for a "couple thousand" residential solar panel installations, according to Sungevity Chief Financial Officer Mac Irvin.

With a solar lease, a homeowner avoids the large upfront cost of buying solar panels and instead pays a monthly fee to Sungevity, which owns and maintains the panels. The leases are structured so the home owner's electricity bills will go down because of the electricity … Read more

Apple is said to have inked a deal on new office space near its existing Cupertino, Calif., headquarters that will house up to 1,300 additional employees.

The deal, which was reported by the Oakland Tribune yesterday, will give Apple 373,000 square feet in the Results Way Corporate Center, located a few minutes away from Apple's main offices.

The extra space is a band-aid while Apple works on approval from the City of Cupertino to begin work on a new campus located across town on 150 acres, some of which was purchased from Hewlett-Packard. When completed, that building … Read more

Home improvement chain Lowe's is investing in solar installer Sungevity, which will offer customized solar installation quotes in Lowe's stores.

Sungevity said today that this summer Lowe's will have in-store displays at some locations where customers can get a quote for installing solar panels based on satellite images. Sungevity uses the aerial photography to generate the bid without the need for a visit. It will also be able to provide Lowe's customers with a rendering of what panels would look like and projected monthly electric bills.

The company is one of a growing number of solar … Read more