April 2008

Now is the Time for all Good Solar Citizens...

This, the April 2008 issue of Solar Citizen, is different from issues you've seen before. That's because we're starting with a new, critical fundraising appeal to help us rapidly accelerate solar power growth in America.

Solar Nation needs your support. We're the only nationwide grass roots advocacy group capable of showing legislators how much citizen support solar power enjoys. Lawmakers at federal and state levels hear plenty from industry groups and lobbies, but you—Solar Citizens—represent votes, and when you raise your voice they listen.

These are critical times, when our voices need to be at their loudest to combat the influence of well-funded special interests. We saw how much damage these lobbies can do during last year's marathon attempts to pass clean energy tax credit legislation in Congress. Left unchallenged, these special interests that are determined to maintain the status quo will destroy solar power's growth in America. That's why Solar Nation needs your support now, so we can:

• Continue to press federal and state officials to pass pro-solar legislation
• Keep solar citizens and action partners fully informed of progress toward a solar-powered future
• Continue adding to the dozens of organizations who participate in our actions along with our Solar Citizens
• Reach out to state governors, who can apply special pressure on other legislators when solar issues are at stake
• Use regional media to highlight critical differences between candidates on clean energy issues in advance of November senatorial elections

Your tax-deductible donation can help us help America to become a solar nation. When you click on the DONATE button, you'll be directed to our secure giving site hosted by Co-op America, and your donation will keep us working for America's solar future.

Thanks, Solar Citizen!

Solar Nation's Action Partner Network

Solar citizens represent a big part of our strength at Solar Nation, but not all of it. Through our network of Action Partners we reach out to like-minded people across the country who want to participate in advocacy actions. The concerted effort of our Action Partner Network makes Solar Nation among the most powerful of clean energy advocates.

Our partners include nationwide activist organizations as well as state-based environmental groups, state chapters of solar and sustainable energy associations, academia-based movements and many others.

If you're part of an organization that cares about a clean energy future for America, you can give your members the chance to take part in Solar Nation actions. When we alert solar citizens to imminent state or federal issues in which their voices can make a difference, we can extend that alert to you. You can then pass that alert on to your members, so they can transmit their opinions to the appropriate parties in government.

This works both ways, of course. We can publicize issues of mutual interest to your group and Solar Nation to solar citizens directly affected by the issue. Recently, for example, we helped Texas groups by successfully bringing pressure to bear on Public Utility Commissioners in Texas; this prevented them from passing regulations that would have prevented solar customers from being fairly credited for electricity that they supply to the grid.

To join the Solar Nation Action Partner Network, or for more information, please contact us at chris@solar-nation.org..

Solar Tax Credits Redux

So much for that idea

After three unsuccessful tries by the House of Representatives in the last year, the U.S. Senate made its own attempt this month to pass legislation to extend tax credits for renewable energy installations and energy efficiency. The bill introduced by U.S. Sens. Cantwell and Ensign became an amendment to the Senate's comprehensive housing bill (HR 3221), and passed the Senate by 88 votes to 8* on April 10. Included in the bill were $6.6 billion in tax credits for renewables, and a lifting of the $2000 cap on residential solar installations.

What was not included in it, unfortunately, was a method of funding the tax credits, and we now hear that the House has no intention of passing a bill without such "pay-fors".

With earlier attempts the initial impetus came from the House, and the stumbling block for the Senate was always the source of funding for the tax credits--reducing some of the government subsidies enjoyed by the oil and gas industry. In this case it was a Senate-originated bill with no identified source of funding, and a week after it passed the upper chamber, that lack of revenue base sealed its doom.

Read more of this article here.

More Redux: Solar Citizen Spotlight

Back in August of last year, we told you about a solar citizen on Cape Cod who has worked hard to convince towns in that well-known vacation area to install PV systems on town buildings with help from grants from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

Peter White's efforts have started to pay off, as the town of Yarmouth threw the switch recently on the brand-new 10.5-kW solar array on its town hall.

Our congratulations to Peter, and to Liz Argo of Solarwrights, Inc. , who managed the installation. You can read the follow-up story, courtesy of CapeCodToday.com , by clicking here.

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Proverbs 29:18

In the Massachusetts vacation spot known as Cape Cod there's a grass roots group by the name of Clean Power Now, which sprang up five years ago to support a developer's plans to build the country's first offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound. The group came into existence to counter the increasingly hysterical propaganda of groups opposed to the proposed wind farm, which Clean Power Now founders suspected was rooted in the desire of well-heeled washashores to protect their ocean views. Seeing the value of a utility-scale clean energy facility so close to a population center, those founders quickly developed a slogan for their organization, which can still be seen today on tee shirts and bumper stickers in the Bay State:

It's Not the View, It's the Vision.

Vision. It's a word and a concept well worth considering in this time of stumbling starts for the renewable energy revolution. Since a reasonable dictionary definition of the word is 'the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination and wisdom', why is it that true vision seems to elude those in our society charged with that task-our leaders in government? Why does an average citizen with a little understanding of energy and environmental issues seem to have a firmer grasp of the imperatives of clean energy development than half of the U.S. Senate?

Read more of this article here.

Nation's Largest PV Installation Launched by S. California Edison

Southern California Edison (SCE) has launched an $875M project to install 250 megawatts of advanced PV hardware atop 65 million square feet of commercial buildings in Southern California. The project, which will represent the nation's largest PV installation, will generate enough power to serve approximately 162,000 homes.

"This project will turn two square miles of unused commercial rooftops into advanced solar generating stations," said John E. Bryson, Edison International Chairman and CEO. "We hope to have the first solar rooftops in service by August. The sunlight power will be available to meet our largest challenge - peak load demands on the hottest days."

The project was prompted by recent advances in solar technology that reduce the cost of installed photovoltaic generation. When combined with SCE's investment, the resulting costs per unit are projected to be half that of common PV installations in California.

Read more of this article here.

Solar America Cities: 2nd Annual Award List Names 12 New Recipients

The U.S. Department of Energy has released the names of the twelve cities that will receive 2008 Solar America City awards.

The Solar America Cities program is part of the Bush Administration's Solar America Initiative, an effort managed by the Department of Energy to make PV-based solar power cost-competitive with electricity generated from more conventional grid-connected sources by 2015. Including this year's awardees, twenty-five U.S. cities are involved in the program, committing themselves to accelerating the adoption of solar energy technologies at the local level.

The 2008 Solar America Cities are:

• Denver, CO
• Houston, TX
• Knoxville, TN
• Milwaukee, WI
• Minneapolis - St. Paul, MN
• Orlando, FL
• Philadelphia, PA
• Sacramento, CA
• San Antonio, TX
• San Jose, CA
• Santa Rosa, CA
• Seattle, WA

Read more of this article here.