solar power
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Selim Sandoval
Art: Nat Damm Selim Sandoval Founder, Growingreen Energy and EarthPlay Learning Adventures Ventura, Calif. Selim Sandoval, born in Guatemala and raised in South Central L.A., is hard at work creating green jobs in Southern California. His company Growingreen Energy installs renewable energy systems and trains workers to enter the field, while another venture, EarthPlay Learning Adventures, creates customized […]
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Amonix has real solar news instead of Earth Day idiocy
I’m waving the green flag of surrender, crushed by the organic cotton-gloved fist of the enviro-public relations-industrial complex. I will write an Earth Day column, my resistance broken by the ceaseless pitches from corporate PR people to include “in your Earth Day coverage” everything from how to “go green between the sheets [and] make your […]
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Globama
I got one word for you: Globama. You can’t not click the link. Try and resist–it’s impossible. There’s actually a pretty funny history there. My friend and mentor Steven Strong did the current install on the pool house. Word is, he waited until George was out of town, then gave the paperwork to Laura for […]
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WATCH: China building ambitious “Solar Valley City” to advance solar industry
China is building an ambitious “Solar Valley City” as a new national center for manufacturing, research and development, education, and tourism around solar energy technologies. as part of the Chinese government and industry’s efforts to promote clean energy technology and grow the nation’s global market share (see video below beginning at 10 seconds). Solar Valley […]
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Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) makes partners of solar PV and energy efficiency
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) does not make energy efficiency the enemy of solar PV. Instead, it helps optimize the use of solar PV for participating property owners. PACE programs are a new tool for promoting residential (and commercial) energy efficiency improvements and on-site renewable energy. The municipality issues bonds to provide financing for voluntary […]
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Ask Umbra on food dehydrators, cage-free and free-range poultry, and e-readers
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I am enthusiastic about growing my own food in my small garden and I am looking for ways to preserve my produce for use out of season. I cook and freeze some things and have done some canning, but this year I thought I would make things […]
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Creative financing fuels California solar boom
Dropping my son off at school on Wednesday, I ran into Danny Kennedy, a fellow parent and veteran Australian Greenpeace activist turned solar entrepreneur. How’s business? I asked. Pretty bloody good, as it turns out. Kennedy’s startup, Sungevity, took in more orders for rooftop solar systems in March than in all of 2009. That solar […]
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SF keeping PACE
The built environment is responsible for something like 72% of electricity use and ~36% of greenhouse gas emission in the US. How to get at that chunk of embedded carbon? On Monday, the City of San Francisco launched Green Finance SF, the country’s largest Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program. The bonding capacity is […]
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Solar PV in Los Angeles: The emperor has no clothes, says UCLA
The Los Angeles Business Council released a hard-hitting report on the future of solar photovoltaics in southern California at its annual sustainability summit on Tuesday. The blockbuster report could have profound repercussions on renewable energy policy not only in Los Angeles, but also in California. In unusually clear and concise language, the report, written by […]
