Today, the L.A. Times traced the fascinating career of engineer Gary Gerber, the owner and founder of Sun Light and Power, a Berkeley-based company that sells photovoltaic panels and solar water heaters. According to the article, the company did more than $11 million in sales in 2006—a far cry from the company’s humble beginnings in the 1970s, when Gerber sold cheese out of his car to get by.

But Gerber kept at it, all through the 80s and 90s, when the demand for solar energy was, shall we say, lukewarm. A few investors here and there allowed him to experiment with solar power, and by the time the year 2000 rolled around and the solar zeitgeist began to take hold in California, Gerber was one of the most experienced engineers in the business.

One more reason to like Gerber: He sounds like the Clark Kent of the solar energy movement:

Curly-haired and soft-spoken, Gerber today looks the part of a steady engineer in his pressed khakis and checkered button-down shirt, four pens aligned in his front pocket. But he remains at heart a zealot, committed to renewable energy down to the solar watch on his wrist.

Alternative energy zealotry and a solar watch? Now that’s cool.

Posted by Kiera Butler on Jan 3, 2007 at 12:51 PM
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