Solar Power 2007 – keeping the soul in solar
It’s been a quiet couple of weeks on the blogging front. Our schools are returning to the classrooms, installations are moving through the permitting process, a new round of teachers are being trained, and a couple of our grant programs recently closed. We hope you all are doing well in your respective energy corners planting and growing your respective seeds.
Several folks from our immediate and extended team were at Solar Power 2007 this week. It was exhilirating. I attended my first solar power conference in 1996…when the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Utility Photovoltaic Group (UPVG, which is now Solar Electric Power Association) called their annual meeting Soltech. So many acronyms, and so little time…and how time has passed. We have grown from hundreds of interested parties to over 10,000…the US still has some catching up to do with our fellow European and Japanese counterparts, but I remain optimistic… The industry, and so many of us in it, have come so far. There were no birkenstocks or tie dye (not that there’s anything wrong with birkenstocks or tie dye), but the soul of the solar industry lives on and is grounded at the intersection of environmental and business opportunities. We participated with colleagues from NEED, Honeywell, Heliotronics, Pleasanton Unified School District, the Rahus Institute, SolarCity, and the Missouri Schools Going Solar Program in a Solar Schools Workshop on the 24th of September. A comment from Clayton Handleman, our colleague at Heliotronics, was actually the inspiration for the title of this post. As solar moves more into every day life, he shared that he is pleased to still see the passion/soul of solar living on…and growing…and so are we.
As for highlights – well, for me, it was Ted Turner. I aspire to be as cantankerous and fired-up at ~70 as Mr. Turner…and it was great to see so many big and new players playing in the solar field with us.
Ted shared that he feels personally responsible as a father and grandfather to leave a world that is livable…and that global warming, if left unchecked, will kill humanity. He said that we need to move at warp speed to stop our fossil fuel use… His sense of humor, albeit perhaps politically incorrect in some circles, was irreverent and invigorating. After making several serious comments, he throws a comment in such as, “It’s serious as hell for the polar bear right now…”
He made a few light remarks that are a comment on our culture…more people watch the cartoon network than CNN… But…one point was really clear…he said that the superpowers of tomorrow will have a focus on education, and not the military…and our collective work is more important than ever.
There are a couple of great podcasts here:
- http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news?section=podcast
- http://energypriorities.com/entries/2007/09/solarpower2007_gateway.php
In the next couple of days/weeks, we have several great stories to share…and a couple of new partnerships announced. We also now have rewards for those brave souls out there that are willing to share their stories…so send ‘em in!