Sandhills Energy: "capitalistic hippyism"

Sandhills Energy on front lines of 'green jobs' industry

Jun 16, 2011 - Ken Bonville isn't necessarily the kind of guy who jumps to mind when you conjure up the image of a carbon-footprint-offsetting, alternative energy pioneer.

Bonville is a West Point graduate who spent six years in the Army, most of it as an officer in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. For more than 20 years, he's been building high-end custom homes across the Sandhills, installing pergolas and extravagant in-ground pools.

But since the recession, Bonville has been on the front line of the "green jobs" industry, practicing a kind of "capitalistic hippyism," as he calls it.

Bonville has started a subsidiary of his construction firm called Sandhills Energy that installs rooftop solar panels. The West End-based company has put solar panels on homes and farms, but Bonville's focus is setting up solar systems on small businesses and government buildings.

His business pitch doesn't revolve around egalitarian arguments about solar energy being an investment in a cleaner environment. That's just a side benefit. {continued