Randy Norris – One of Sunset Air’s Greatest Renewable Resources

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Randy Norris, shown here with his wife, Joyce, began working for Sunset Air in 1979.
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Randy Norris, shown here with his wife, Joyce, began working for Sunset Air in 1979.

Small businesses do more than keep our money local.  They train amazing, hardworking staff to become assets to the community for years to come.  This is perfectly exemplified in the longstanding success of Lacey’s Sunset Air.  For over 35 years they have maintained that “one of our core values is integrity.  We always try to do the right thing by our customers and also by our employees.  We make sure that we treat our employees like family because they are the ones who make this business work.”

Sunset Air’s Residential and Renewable Energy Division Manager, Randy Norris is truly a hometown hero.  An alumnus of North Thurston High School, Centralia Community College, and Saint Martin’s University, he owned a small business in downtown Olympia in the mid-1970’s and began working for Sunset Air as an apprentice in 1979.  His work with green energy products began early.  “My first exposure to a renewable energy installation took place in 1981 as I was introduced to a thermal solar water heating system we installed.  I had also been part of a geothermal heat pump installation during that early part of my career as well.”

After a brief time away from Sunset Air in the 1980s, Norris returned in late 1987 and hasn’t looked back.  In August 2000, he was asked to take over the newly opened South Bend branch of the company but returned to the Olympia area in 2011.  Since then he has been a wealth of experience and knowledge on green practices and equipment.

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Randy Norris is excited about local solar installation projects.

In 2010, he became the project manager for the photovoltaic solar installation at the Olympia Farmers Market.  Says Norris, “The Olympia Farmers Market solar project was quite unique in that it was one of only a handful of ‘Community Solar’ projects in the State of Washington entirely funded by a group of investors.  Once on line it also became the largest array installed in Thurston County at that time.”

“The Farmers Market array consists of 192 solar panels, six inverters and comes in just shy of 37 KW,” explains Norris.  “The only other installation larger than the Farmers Market was also installed by Sunset Air.  On line July 2013 on the roof of the Roosevelt Grade School [it contains] 262 solar modules, eight inverters and is a whopping 50 KW array.”

In 2011 Sunset Air installed Washington’s largest ground mounted residential array, with the only larger array being on a roof in King County.  The Stone Hedge project’s uniqueness comes from the combination of solar array with ground loop geothermal systems, meaning the environmental energy produced will pay off the tremendous project in only seven or eight years.

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Randy wrote a grant for an installation of an electric vehicle charging station at Sunset Air’s Lacey showroom.

The Platinum LEED certification of Saint Martin’s University’s Fr. Richard Cebula, O.S.B. Hall Engineering building illustrated to many local businesses and regional governments that energy savings can be accomplished through green methods.

With Sunset Air’s tremendous success in green technology and equipment, Randy finds himself at the forefront of many exciting upcoming projects.  Some notable solar array clients on Sunset Air’s  calendar include the South Bay Fire Department, the Cities of Tumwater and Leavenworth, and even the Norris residence “I love this part of my job as Sunset Air continues to support and allow me to have my hand in the design and installation of these projects.”

Even Thomas Jefferson was a believer in green energy: “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait ’til oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”

Life-long students of the subject like Randy Norris prove that it’s a worthy topic of learning and an accessible tool for everyone.  Let him answer any questions you have on the subject.

Sunset Air can be visited at 5210 Lacey Blvd SE.

 

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