The Oakland Zoo was just recently plugged into the sun, and the PG&E Solar Schools Program. They’re planning a big Earthday celebration on April 15th…please consider joining for the festivities, and we will be there to talk about how their new solar electric system fits in to Earthday, which is every day… We will also be making a few big announcements at the Zoo, so stay tuned!

For those of you that are expecting an installation of your own, or just curious, here’s how a 1kW gets plugged in to the the sun:

To plug a pole into the sun, first, the earth must be prepared…trenches are dug, moles are deployed, and the path for the electricity to flow from the 1kW system to the building is laid out. All of our systems are grid tied.

Next, a suitable pole is located and plugged into the sun…

Ok, that part about plugging the pole into the sun isn’t entirely necessary, but we thought it was a fun picture. The team was out for one day to prepare the earth, and set the pole. They came back a couple days later to install the rack, and connect the photovoltaic modules in series. With a good plan with the project team and customer and a dedicated installation team, it really is almost this easy.

This is what it looks like nearly complete. This 1kW solar monument stands to orient everyone with ONE…and urge everyone to learn about renewable energy, and think more broadly about sustainability issues. The photovoltaic modules represent the one, and a home owner may need three of these to power their home for the year (using PG&E’s net-metering and California Solar Initiative rebates), and a business may have 20 to 100+ to power their business…or at least offset a portion of their use. The point is for all of us to learn about solar power, and how to plug it in most effectively and prolifically in our relative spheres. We ask that our partners help anyone interested take the next solar step after seeing this work of science and art. For instance, SolarCity helps customers achieve sizeable discounts through their Community Solar Programs.

While the Zoo was the latest (and first Zoo) to plug into their piece of the sun through the PG&E Solar Schools Program, don’t worry. There’s still plenty of sun for all of us…surge the sun…

Our partner in the PG&E Solar Schools Program, The NEED Project, is hosting teacher training workshops in the coming months…at many wonderful locations in California… Check out the locations…Orland, Paradise, San Francisco, Arcata, Fort Bragg…to name a few…

Check dates and locations here:http://www.need.org/pgesolarschools/ssc.htm

Here’s a bit of history on one of our training sites, and a future home of PV on a stick, Orland, CA. Luanne Stewart, a teacher at Fairview Elementary School and resident of Orland, offered this glimpse into Orland’s historic past and future:

When the north valley first learned a railroad was going to be built in their neighborhood, the Chamberlain brothers decided to map out a townsite on some of their land. They had a business district laid out and T.H. Dodson opened up our first hotel and store. Soon a blacksmith also set up shop. It wasn’t long before there was a general store, hardware store, and homes. Everyone was sure hoping that the railroad would build its tracks right through town.

Well, so now they had a town. They had to decide on a name. There were three men who had the honor of choosing a name. They each had a name for Orland, and would not listen to other suggestions. Just short of fisticuffs, the three men decided to put the names into a hat and called a little girl in off the street to pull the name out of the hat. Orland won. Leland and Comstock (both famous historical figures) were the two names not chosen.

The very first post office was housed in a dresser drawer. However, in 1876 Orland did get a post office building. So what about the train???? The train decided it was going to lay its tracks a few miles southeast of Orland in a town that no longer exists. The good folks of Orland got together, bought some land, and offered it to the railroad company saying, “Pleeeeeaaaase, come to Orland,”

So they did. By 1882 trains were running in and out of Orland regularly. The town began to grow rapidly. By 1887 there were 700 people here. One old timer recalls how the skies would blacken with huge flocks of birds. He says it was like a cloud goin’ over. Orland, today, is a thriving metropolis of 6,000 people. It has doubled in population since 1970.

Beautiful Black Butte is 8 miles to the west and offers boating, fishing, camping and equestrian trails up the yingyang. We are a convenient three and a half hours from just about everywhere – the coast, the city, ski resorts, the casinos. We can be anywhere we want to be in half a day, and the beauty of it is, no one wants to come here. (We get mad if we have to park more than 4 cars from the front door of the store.) And for some reason, we allow parking right in the middle of 4th St, our 2 block business district. 1,200 new homes are being built here. They’ve been tearing out orchards and making new roads just to build them. We’ll be needing new schools soon. I think Orland just might be fixin’ to hit another growth spurt.

Fairview Elementary School in Orland will be growing their very own PV on a stick in the coming months as well…we look forward to adding more solar enthusiasts to the Orland growth spurt in the coming months…stay tuned…

When I was younger, nice restaurants were set up so that you could not see the kitchen. If you could see someone cooking food, you were in a diner. Diner food was cheaper and so you put up with the fact that you had to watch someone slaving over a hot stove. Then it all changed. At some point, it became a positive feature of the “nice” restaurants to show you the food preparation part of the restaurant. Kitchens were opened up and from most any seat it became very easy to see your food being prepared. Diners are still diners, but today most nice restaurants have open kitchens.

When I was younger, I always wondered what it was like to be in those rooms where grant decisions were made. Many applications come in and only a few are chosen. Who got to make that call and what factors did they use? What did the room look like? How did they decide on a deadline and how did they decide what the application should look like and how many questions would be asked?

In recent years, I have been invited to sit in on many of those “grant decision” meetings. They are not like the open kitchens, but I decided it might be interesting to take a picture of the group that decided what the Illinois Small PV Solar School grant program would look like, what the deadlines would be, how many schools would get grants and how much money would be given to each school. The picture above was taken in Illinois in a suburb of Chicago and the people in the picture are: Bob Romo, Lisa Starks, and Gabriella Martin of Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and Mary Anne Emmons, PE, and Sharon Hillman and Janet Bieniak and Denise Munoz of Commonwealth Edison. I was there too, but I took the picture.

In the meeting, the group talked about how many schools that they expected to apply for the next round of grants. The deadline is March 30, 2007. Applications are on line at the Illinois Community Foundation Web site: www.IllinoisCleanEnergy.org.

In the first round of grants in 2004-2005, 21 schools received grants for PV installations that ranged from 51 kW at Dixon, Illinois on the Ronald Reagan Middle School to a number of 1 kW installations all over Illinois. In 2006, 21 more schools were selected and they are now getting 1 kW systems. The smaller size enables us to put solar on more schools. In the next round with the March 30, 2007 deadline, there will be up to 30 schools selected. All of the new schools are getting live data collection systems and Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation has also agreed to go back and add live data collection systems to the 2004-2005 schools. So, there will be at least 72 “solar schools” by the end of this year all with live data collection in real time visible by anyone on the new Web site. It is a very positive program for schools and for science and math.

We talked about the new Web site that Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation is creating and data collection systems and ribbon cutting events. Commonwealth Edison is going to encourage schools to apply through links on its Web site. The meeting didn’t last that long, but important decisions were made. Today I prefer restaurants where I can see them making my food and I also enjoyed watching this group of very nice and very smart people agree on a program that will encourage schools to use solar energy to help improve their students science and math skills as well as educate their communities about renewable energy. It made me feel good to be “in the kitchen” and watch them create the next round of solar electricity grants for Illinois schools.

太平洋煤電公司與三藩市東華醫院組成合作伙伴關係，準備在來年發
展屋頂太陽能系統。該系統將因應新醫院大樓的建築而設計，自行發
電以協助供應新醫院大樓的電力所需。

SAN FRANCISCO – It’s the Year of the Boar, and to help celebrate the new year, PG&E and the Chinese Hospital of San Francisco announced a partnership to go green in the heart of Chinatown…with a solar celebration.  The first step was to announce the partnership, and debut an educational display that will allow every visitor at the hospital the opportunity to learn about solar energy.

The 100+ year old Chinese Hospital has a long and rich history, and is truly an icon in San Francisco- many of the dignitaries at the event were personally involved with the hospital…many were born there (including San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew), and have had children and grand-children born at the hospital. The Chinese Hospital serves as both a traditional hospital, and provides a variety of health education services for the community. At the event, PG&E and the hospital officially announced their intent to build the new Chinese Hospital (a major retrofit/upgrade to the building pictured above) with a new solar electric rooftop installation.

Designs are being finalized for the new Chinese Hospital, but the images above offer a glimpse of what’s coming… This is a 36 kW PV system (valued at over $200,000 after PG&E CSI rebates), and will produce over 60,000 kWh a year saving the hospital over $8,000 a year. SolarCity provided design services for the images above.

“We are honored to be the beneficiary of such a generous donation, “Said Joe Chan, Board President of Chinese Hospital, “PG&E has been providing energy audits for us to substantially increase cost savings. Going green benefits our environment while freeing up resources to improve the services we provide our patients.”

“PG&E is committed to increasing solar on San Francisco rooftops,” said Fong Wan, vice president of energy procurement at Pacific Gas and Electric Company, “Solar energy is only one of the many forms of power we can generate that decreases carbon dioxide emissions to improve our quality of life.” PG&E’s donation of this photovoltaic system is part of a $7.5 million commitment to increase solar installations throughout San Francisco.

In addition to installing solar panels, the new Chinese Hospital will also be fitted with energy efficient lighting fixtures and technical equipment that will substantially decrease their use of energy and lower their energy bills at the same time. The Chinese Hospital is the second non-profit candidate in San Francisco to benefit from the company’s solar program.

Now…for just a bit of trivia… The Chinese calendar has been in continuous use for centuries (possibly since the Qin Dynasty – 221 – 206 BC). The Gregorian Calendar, the calendar most of us use on a daily basis, was decreed in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII (a mere 425 years). The Chinese calendar measures time, from short durations of minutes and hours, to intervals of time measured in months, years and centuries, entirely based on the astronomical observations of the movement of the Sun, Moon and stars.

“Guo Nian” to all. Do you know your Chinese Sign?