The Electric Guard Dog: The Dividends of Solar-Powered Security

The Electric Guard Dog, Columbia, S.C., is a pioneer in renewable energy for the security industry. The company’s founder, Bill Mullis, developed and patented the flagship product that utilizes solar power more than 20 years ago.  True, he had a passion for renewable energy and recycled materials, but more notably, he had a driving security need:  the product had to survive the frequent thunderstorms and power outages of his home and original customer-base in the South. 

Over the years, The Electric Guard Dog continued to evolve Mullis’ vision: researching, growing and developing cutting-edge green energy technologies for the benefit of customersand the security industry as a whole. 

Meanwhile, as the necessity, usability and popularity of green products has expanded, the dividends of Bill’s landmark thinking have turned out to be multi-fold.

1) Unflaggingly vigilant, 365 days-a-year, 24 hours-a-day.

Due to its solar power source, the Electric Guard Dog system is impervious to power outages. This has a bigger payout than one might anticipate. Thieves maintain a “Surf’s Up” mentality when a power outage occurs.   Knowing most security systems have limited back-up battery power, they can — and do — raid multiple commercial sites during a single outage.  Many of us saw such raids on television in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.  While companies that use mains power, the general-purpose alternating current (AC) electric power supply, and other systems remain susceptible, the Electric Guard Dog is always on, working with the same, unflagging vigilance every day.

2 )Can’t be distracted, disarmed or cut.

In the movies, and actually in real life, many thieves cut mains power before raiding a site. Thanks to Electric Guard Dog’s solar-powered system, if thieves do cut the mains, they fail to disable security.  Additionally, the panels themselves are located within and protected by our security system, inaccessible to thieves or vandals.  The solar source works as a deterrent too:  professional thieves familiar with our system know their standard techniques of cutting the wires or scaling fences will not work, so they go somewhere else. 

3) Alluring cost savings.

Solar-power has always insured that the Electric Guard Dog is affordable, too. The renewable energy is free, so customers’ power bills suffer no ill-effects.  There are additional savings to be had on the horizon, too.  We’re working on integrating our system with solar-based cameras, motion detectors and the like.  Traditionally, cameras have been run off mains security, escalating security costs.  And previously, that’s been a necessary accommodation, because solar power lacked refinement — spikes interfered with the quality of a picture and performance.   Only in the last two years has the technology become available to get the necessary quality of energy that a camera requires, provided we use other devices to help clean up the signal. 

4 )Even the most remote and inaccessible commercial ventures can now be protected.

Our clients no longer need to have electricity or even phone lines to utilize our security system.  Thanks to solar power and the advent of wireless, The Electric Guard Dog system can protect even the most remote commercial yards in the country.  We’re even offering a solar-sourced, motion-detecting robotic camera, so a company can be notified, and obtain a visual picture, of any security threat anywhere on the premises, even if they’re hundreds or thousands of miles away from the site.

5) We help companies achieve a major milestone in their ‘green’ strategies.

Many of our customers these days already have a company-wide “to-do” list of green initiatives, so getting their entire security system on solar power tends to be pretty exciting.  They’re secure at a level they’ve never been before, and simultaneously they can point to their solar-powered security as an impressive milestone on their list, especially considering how notoriously difficult and time-consuming installing solar power is renowned to be.  But they’re always amazed and pleased to discover that since we handle all of the installation and maintenance at no additional cost, this major milestone requires far less in-house effort than they anticipate.  And the result tends to please both boards of directors and customers alike. 

6) We utilize recycled and re-usable materials wherever possible.

For more than 20 years, The Electric Guard Dog has adhered to the environmental approach our founder envisioned.  In addition to green energy, we employ re-usable materials wherever possible, including fiberglass poles, insulators, etc.  The cost of these items can occasionally be incrementally higher, but as more and more companies adopt green strategies, the price will continue to fall. 

It’s fair to say The Electric Guard Dog literally “sparks” greater interest in green technologies.  We continue to lead the way in green energy within the security industry, and our customers frequently come to us too, asking what else they can do, as they know we’ve been in this space for a long time.