Over 30 Years of
Solar Experience
Taos, New Mexico is an unusual area for solar energy because of the very high solar resource and Taos architecture is varied and often experimental. Larry Mapes, the founder of Valverde Energy, has worked in the solar heating and solar electric field for 30 years in the Taos and Santa Fe region. During the last 30 years, most of the country experienced a solar DE-Renaissance, Northern New Mexico continued to be at the forefront of leading edge, cutting edge, and sometimes the bleeding edge of solar technologies as it does today. This learning environment has given Mr. Mapes a wealth of...
Read MoreWhy Solar?
Buying a solar energy system is a powerful and direct way to invest in your future, because you are buying the equipment to harvest free energy. In many cases, depending on the energy source being displaced, the break even (when the money spent equals the money saved from energy use) can be from 5-15 years. Typically solar systems are designed to last 20-25 years plus. Valverde Energy maintains solar systems the founder installed 30 years ago in Santa Fe, Taos and Los Alamos homes that are still producing energy. Many people in northern New Mexico install solar energy systems to reduce...
Read MoreNew Mexico Solar Eclipse!
The moon passed between sun and earth last Sunday, casting a perfectly aligned shadow across a band of New Mexico stretching diagonally from Farmington to Roswell. According to the NASA website, a 90% alignment of the annular eclipse would be viewable in Taos. One hundred percent sounded much better to us, so we made a day trip of it, heading to Cochiti Lake, which turned out to the perfect spot for viewing the Ring of Fire. Severe eye damage, including blindness, can result from looking straight into the sun–whether eclipsed of not–for long periods of time. Our first thought was to look...
Read MoreAfter the Spring Snow Storm
Solar Keeps Going!
What appeared to be an endless stretch of gorgeous days hovering in the low seventies may have given Taoseños a false sense of security that Spring had sprung in northern New Mexico. What a surprise it was to look out our windows yesterday to see enormous wet snowflakes tumbling from the sky! What wasn’t surprising? Our solar customers throughout northern New Mexico including: Taos, Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Chimayo stayed warm and juiced up with sun-powered energy which, as you can see in the photograph of the roof of our Taos headquarters above, was bright as ever this morning. Please...
Read MoreValverde Energy Featured in the Taos News!
Larry Mapes, founder and CEO of Valverde Energy, helps set nationwide solar energy standards. Read more about solar thermal in Taos, Los Alamos and Santa Fe.
Read MoreValverde’s Solar Eclipse Story
Being amazed by the sun is a daily occurrence here, but we were awe-struck by this!