This week the Housing Authority where I moved into a few months ago is holding info meetings to inform all the tenants we are going Solar. I live Close to Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 50 miles north of Santa Barbara, in Lompoc, Ca.
The HUD staff told us they were converting about 100 units locally. Using Stimulus money amounting to around 14 Million dollars HUD will be buying locally made panels, brackets, and using Local Labor.
This is my first time writing a diary here, and decided maybe this one would not inflame too many souls even though it is a hot topic.
I was motivated to write this after reading about solar panels going back up on the White House.
We, as a country really need to think more about Green Energy/Clean energy and so thought I would share our experience in making the decision to go solar.
The military has begun to deploy clean energy technology into combat zones. The reasons for the military's interest in clean energy are important because they undercut the disinformation campaign by the fossil fuels industry. For the military, clean renewable forms of energy are reliable, cheaper, and produce less supply chain vulnerability.
With insurgents increasingly attacking the American fuel supply convoys that lumber across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan, the military is pushing aggressively to develop, test and deploy renewable energy to decrease its need to transport fossil fuels.
Here ye! Here ye! Bring your torches and stacks of wood. The practitioners of the dark arts of science will be harassed by an angry mob, defamed, and driven to their knees to confess their lack of respect for our beloved corporate overlords.
In June, Darrell Issa announced that he planned to hire dozens of subpoena-wielding investigators to target the Obama administration if the Republicans regain control of the House. Yesterday, he announced that he also planned to apply the proverbial thumbscrews, strappado, and iron maiden to climate scientists.
I wanted to write this diary when Meteor Blades originally proposed "Tell us what you're doing", but it was just too difficult at that time, so I'm glad that he asked again.
(first published Friday, Sept. 17, 2010 at StarkReports.com)
The PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) program is simple and brilliant: Cities borrow money using their credit and then make that money available to homeowners who, in turn, use it to install solar systems and other green technologies. The money given to homeowners is paid back by special assessments on their property taxes.
By all accounts, the PACE program is remarkably successful: It's been adopted by 23 states and the District of Columbia. It creates jobs, lowers utility bills for homeowners, cuts pollution and easily transfers to new homeowners when homes change hands.
If you need a reason, to get out there, and get Democrats re-elected, here ya go ...
Solar Power: Brighter Long-Term Investment Outlook
Energy standards requiring U.S. utilities to use solar power could drive growth for companies ranging from inverter makers to installation financiers
David Bogoslaw, Bloomberg Businessweek, msnbc.com -- 8/25/2010
With U.S. installed capacity growing at a faster pace than that of the international market, the country may be on track to become a more dominant market by 2014, according to Larry Sherwood, an analyst at the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC).
Some 23Gw of solar capacity are under development in the U.S., enough to provide electricity for 4.4 million households, according to the Solar Energy Industries Assn. (SEIA). Solar demand in the U.S. is expected to grow 75 percent in 2011, compared with 2010.
Sounds Great! What's the catch?
To be able to use solar energy to drive chemical reactions is a hot topic these days, especially if the reaction can produce fuel from thin air or be used to remove greenhouse gasses safely from the atmosphere.
The research article described here can do both.
I have believed (and advocated) for some time now that unless we can actively remove large quantities of CO2 from our atmosphere and oceans safely and efficiently without causing worse problems, we are likely doomed as a species. I'd give us less than a thousand years without these measures. Perhaps a lot less.
When I read about this new research, I felt a little bit of weight being lifted from my shoulders. This may not be the magic bullet, but I have hope now.
Put solar on what?
How about everything.
Yes, Put Solar on the White House. That is a great symbolic gesture to get the ball rolling.
This achievement will be an important symbol to the world that the United States is committed to realizing the environmental and economic benefits of clean energy.
(Click the pic) ============>
Sign the petition to pressure President Obama to replace the solar panels removed by Reagan 3 decades ago.
Get involved with the campaign to make our solar voices louder & brighter!
Like their Facebook page.
But that should be but the tip of the melting iceberg.
Since diving into the deep end when it comes to energy issues, almost every day sees new fascinating concepts, approaches, and technologies. Fascinating ... exciting ... even hope inspiring at times. And, as well, as the passion builds, so many of these are truly Energy COOL.
The concept of Silver Bullet solutions concerns me and the tendency to jump on lab announcements as 'the solution to all our problems' is a real one in the techno-optimist portion of those concerned about climate change and our energy challenges. These concerns lead to hesitation as to whether to report on developments or not, even as there are so many existing ideas filtering out from the labs. That hesitation, however, has likely led to under discussion of the power of ARPA-E and the U.S. government's (the U.S. taxpayers') targeted investments to leap frog the nation toward transformational energy opportunities.
One of our investments was made in the solar photovoltaic company 1366 Technologies.
Every day, I strive to Make Energy CENTS from the Home to the Globe. Whether programming the thermostat to low temperatures 
To be clear and blunt: there is NO SILVER BULLET solution. In my own life, every year sees more 'investment' in energy efficiency, new ways to think about / execute conservation from what food we buy to our travel choices, and ways to help remediate the damage I inevitably cause to the planetary system's ability to support my children's children to the seventh generation and beyond.
Technology is a double-edged sword.
It can spark the furnace, that keeps you alive in the winter.
It can spark a wild fire, that consumes all its path.
But then again, Lightning can cause the same damage --
WITHOUT the assist of human innovation.
Technology is a double-edged sword.
It can lead to increased crop production, to feed the masses;
which in turn, can lead to increased masses,
that taxes that same crop production.
Technology is a double-edged sword.
Sometimes the simplest of inventions --
can change the world;
often in ways, never imagined by the inventors.
Such innovations have been call "Disruptive Technology" --
because their impact, is SO unexpected,
and yet SO useful -- that they spin off other innovations,
and industries, and businesses, and even
entirely new 'ways of life' ...
Cross-posted at Eclectablog.com.
Oh, lordy, lordy. This is some very good news. From the President's Weekly Address (video after the jump.)
[T]oday, I’m announcing that the Department of Energy is awarding nearly $2 billion in conditional commitments to two solar companies.
The first is Abengoa Solar, a company that has agreed to build one of the largest solar plants in the world right here in the United States. After years of watching companies build things and create jobs overseas, it’s good news that we’ve attracted a company to our shores to build a plant and create jobs right here in America. In the short term, construction will create approximately 1,600 jobs in Arizona. What’s more, over 70 percent of the components and products used in construction will be manufactured in the USA, boosting jobs and communities in states up and down the supply chain. Once completed, this plant will be the first large-scale solar plant in the U.S. to actually store the energy it generates for later use – even at night. And it will generate enough clean, renewable energy to power 70,000 homes.
Cross-posted at Eclectablog.com.
Oh, lordy, lordy. This is some very good news. From the President's Weekly Address (video after the jump.)
[T]oday, I’m announcing that the Department of Energy is awarding nearly $2 billion in conditional commitments to two solar companies.
The first is Abengoa Solar, a company that has agreed to build one of the largest solar plants in the world right here in the United States. After years of watching companies build things and create jobs overseas, it’s good news that we’ve attracted a company to our shores to build a plant and create jobs right here in America. In the short term, construction will create approximately 1,600 jobs in Arizona. What’s more, over 70 percent of the components and products used in construction will be manufactured in the USA, boosting jobs and communities in states up and down the supply chain. Once completed, this plant will be the first large-scale solar plant in the U.S. to actually store the energy it generates for later use – even at night. And it will generate enough clean, renewable energy to power 70,000 homes.
