In December of 2008, Gleim had a solar electricity generating system installed on the rooftop of its main building at 4201 N.W. 95th Blvd. in Gainesville, FL. Things have been sunny ever since.

The system, which was the largest in Gainesville when it was first activated, remains one of the largest of its kind. In addition, it is one of the few systems that is actually producing more electricity than the business is using, making Gleim a "net negative" user of energy.

The Gleim system was the first feed-in tariff commercial system in the United States. Feed-in tariff systems were first promoted in Germany, which is now the world's largest solar market. Launched for the first time in the U.S. in March of 2009 by Gainesville Regional Utilities, a city-owned utility, the feed-in tariff program encourages local businesses to invest in renewable energy. Under the program, GRU, which serves some 90,000 customers, contracted to buy power back for 20 years at a predetermined price. Rates were determined by the size of the system installed.

Dr. Irvin Gleim, President of Gleim Publications, states, "We see ourselves as stewards of the environment. Philosophically, making this investment was the right thing to do and fits with our existing operation. The GRU program made the decision to install the solar electricity generating system good business sense."

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