A slice of the sun: Namaste Solar Electric takes employee ownership to the limit.

• Author: Mitchell, Karen
• Position: Namaste Solar Electric Inc. - Company overview

It's the kind of place where everybody knows your name. And they know what's on your paycheck.

Namaste Solar Electric Inc., a Boulder-based company that designs and installs residential and commercial solar Photovoltaic Electric systems throughout the Front Range, is heating up the concept of operating a 100-percent employee-owned business.

Each of Namaste's 27 co-owners receives the same compensation, has equal voice in decision-making, and is afforded the same opportunities to participate in company ownership, says Namaste president Blake Jones, who reluctantly adopted his title to give customers and the media a sense of company leadership.

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One of three Namaste co-founders, along with solar system designer Wes Kennedy and project manager Ray Tuomey, Jones says the company currently claims more than a 25 percent market share in the Boulder/Denver metro area, half for residential clients.

"Last year, our second in business, we grew 400 percent over 2005, and we're on pace for more than a doubling this year," he says. "Most systems are purchased with help from Xcel Energy cash rebates and federal income tax credits."

Namaste recently completed high-profile installations at the Colorado governor's residence, Denver's new EPA headquarters, Boulder Community Hospital sites and the Boulder County Courthouse.

Jones was working in Kathmandu, Nepal, for a renewable energy firm when Amendment 37 passed in Nov. 2004, mandating that a percentage of electricity in Colorado had to come from renewable sources, in particular, from solar.

"There was a solar industry here already, but it was small, concentrating on off-the-grid cabins and homes," Jones says. "The new law created an overnight market for urban solar systems in cities, and now there are 80 solar companies in the state, with more than 40 in the Boulder/Denver area."

Jones, who previously had lived in Colorado, daydreamed about returning, and just after the bill passed, he did, joining with Kennedy and Tuomey in pursuit of the Namaste concept and choosing a name from a Sanskrit greeting to reflect interconnectivity and respect.

The trio rented a downtown Boulder office in early 2005, eventually purchasing their downtown building. Paying their own salaries, they set out to promote their message to a public that was more aware of solar hot-water heaters than with the technology of solar electricity.

The co-founders wanted to retain full control of their vision, without...