I'm actually interested in repeating this approach with future rentals, as I love to be environmentally friendly and imagine solar panels becoming more trendy in the future. 

I can stomach being stuck in a deal for many years with no cash flow and pathetic returns, but I can't stomach losing all my money due to optimistic underwriting.My current thought is to only enter deals that have longer term loans in place and would be able to hold for a long time if necessary without bank calls, do business with syndicators that rode out 2008 with stellar track records, only do deals that have some sort of value add component, and that have a "story" of how/why the deal is notably better than what an average market deal would be.

And also unlikely that it spilled enough oil into the soil to really be an environmental problem for that small property.  

You do need some legal advise and you might go to someone who is well versed in environmental issues or look for someone who has dealt with dams/water issues, that is the closest I would imagine getting to owning a lake bed.

LAst time I checked, it had a lot of the components you are describing :)

The actual measure is EFFORT, of which a huge component is MARKETING BUDGET.  

Other components of the total deal cost would be the purchase price, estimated rehab, and any closing costs associated with the hard money loan (points, pre-paid interest, insurance, inspection[s], survey, appraisal, etc.).

Environmentally, there's a lot of resource waste that, for those who are environmentally conscious, is not ideal.

We are looking for nuanced responses to our questions: 1-What are the essential components to scaling your existing business into a successful large corporation? 

you hit the nail on the head, wholesaling is lead generation for investors of various types.When it comes to automation there is not a one size fits all but one key component is having a team in place and great systems but around modern technologies (I.e mail chimp, podio, globiflow, text and phone services, virtual assistants to do screening and schedule appointments etc)