The highest rating ever given to a house west of the Rockies has been awarded to a beautifully designed home in Eugene, Oregon.

Beauty and brains have always been an amazing combination and this home is no exception. The home garnered a Platinum LEED rating. Building smart has never looked so good.

How amazing is this? It is something that you have to see to believe.

Aurora Flight Sciences is working on the "Vulture" program with project partners BAE Systems, CS Draper Laboratory and the Sierra Nevada Corporation. The Project is being funded by a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract(DARPA).

The goal of the "Vulture" program is to develop an unmanned aircraft that can stay aloft for five years. Made possible by the power of the sun.

Bravo for the Seattle Sketcher capturing the record breaking temperture last week as it was displayed on the "Iconic PEMCO Clock" . The gift of the current time and temperture readings is appreciated by all of us who live in the Seattle area.

The PEMCO Clock is truly a touchstone for so many of us in the Emerald City. A dear friend of ours spent thirty years working at Harborview hospital saving lives in the ICU. She said she could always gauge whether she was running early or late for work by checking the time on the PEMCO clock.

PEMCO has partnered with Solar Pie to install the first Solar Pie roof on the top of this very building. PEMCO is giving the entire region a gift by not only installing the first Solar Pie solar roof but by allowing the real time production metrics to be broadcast from this wonderful "Iconic PEMCO Clock".

We look forward to our official launch Wednesday, September 2nd. On September 2nd, the clock will begin broadcasting the real time solar production from the Solar Pie solar roof on top of the PEMCO building.

Our hope is that everyone who looks to this "Iconic PEMCO Clock" for time and temperture will enjoy seeing the Solar Pie roof production metrics.

One of the very first people to email us was Doris Abravanel Program Manager of Planet Power at Snohomish County PUD. She wanted to insure that Snohomish County PUD customers had all the information they needed about green power creation. I'll share with you her email so you can get the imformation straight from the source.

Way to go Snohomish County and the Snohomish County PUD.

Hi,

I read the article featuring your solar installation and blog
and would like to introduce myself. I'm program manager of
Planet Power at Snohomish County PUD. Planet Power is our voluntary
green power program which funds additional green power development.
We are currently focusing on solar PV. The Planet Power program is for
our customers only but wanted you to be aware as we keep trying to get
the word out so more PUD customers will enroll in the program. I want
solar enthusiasts such as yourselves knowing about our program as you
can help spread the word. To date, we have 2 completed solar demonstrations
projects and four more installations going. We plan to do a competitive
solicitation to select more hosts for demonstration projects this fall.

Read more about our program at
www.snopud.com/planetpower
http://www.snopud.com/planetpower

We also have incentives for customer's to do their own solar through another program we started this Spring called Solar Express.

Read more at
www.snopud.com/solarexpress
http://www.snopud.com/solarexpress

If you have any questions, let me know.

Regards,
Doris
Snohomish County PUD

Doris Abravanel
Energy Efficiency Senior Program Manager
T: (425) 783-1731 | F: (425) 267-6098
www.snopud.com</blockquote>

Thanks for the proactive response Doris, way to go.

We believe though the road to our safe, clean, renewable energy future will have twists and turns we are headed in the right direction. A brighter future includes safe, clean renewable energy generation and a smart way to move that energy around most efficiently.

The quest for a smart grid has its challenges. Jim Pierobon from Reuters wrote a wonderful piece chronicling the twists and turns in the road to evolve smart grid technology. Here is his summation of the eight lessons learned about the Smart Grid trials to date.

Lesson #1: Be skeptical of the fanfare. Smart grids sound downright sexy, if you will, but there are multiple dimensions to the challenge. The hurdle to achieve what the trade and even the mainstream media have been buzzing about is quite tall. We're talking about very complex systems here.

Lesson #2: Expect resistance from regulators and consumers alike. Outside of homeowners, business owners and government financial officers with very high solar IQs, consumers will be a tough sell, especially if they are not subject to variable pricing. And short of where time-of-use pricing is in place for certain users in California and New York, for example, there is no incentive today to assess the bottom line impact.

Lesson #3: Utilities want ratepayers picking up a big part of the tab. The headlong rush toward smart grids in certain cities without rate structures reflecting the costs involved may slow to a crawl. Funds from Federal Stimulus projects appear ready to flow to jump-start efforts for utilities with applications on file. But how far will this money really take us? And for how long?

Lesson #4: We need systems to handle a ton of new data and we've got a long way to go to develop most of them. To be sure, there are a LOT of smart IT, telecommunications and electrical engineers sharply focused on a variety of promising applications. Just be sure to temper your expectations.

Lesson #5: Free stuff from vendors will only take you so far. Mature and early stage companies scrambling for a sustainable share of the smart grid economy are willing to donate software, equipment and a panoply of "solutions." But demonstration projects don't make a business.

Lesson #6: The more you know about all the pieces - and the terminology - that comprise a smart grid, the better able you will be to see how they work and fit together. Let's start with advanced metering infrastructure (aka "AMI" and touted by some as "killer app") and networking / two-way communications; followed by demand response systems, grid optimization and distribution automation. There is whole new world of software, solutions and applications out there and then there are the home area networks and energy management systems emerging on the scene.

Lesson #7: It's never too soon to engage your local and regional officials, your local utility, together with county economic development officials interested in creating "green" jobs, about the steps necessary to make your grid smarter. We at Standard Solar are in the middle of an effort by Montgomery County, Maryland (just north of Washington, DC) to do exactly this, which leads to another lesson...

Lesson #8: Whatever the smart grid becomes, most, if not all, utilities want to play a major role in its development. If anything they want to protect and defend their way of doing business. But some might see more in the crystal ball. Within a matter of days last month, two utilities in Maryland serving economically ambitious jurisdictions - Potomac Electric Power Co. serving Washington, DC and the close-in Maryland counties, and Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. - announced smart grid initiatives. It was evident they want not only "stimulus" cash but also future rate increases from the Maryland Public Service Commission to help pay for them.

We at Solar Pie believe the most important lesson in our safe, clean, renewable energy future is that we show up, have trials, have demonstration projects, fund research because all of these elements make for a rich mix to fuel an evolution and a brighter future.

Action follows values. Do we value a safe, clean, renewable energy future?
Are we willing to fund the innovation and technology research in order to take the lead? We applaud these two business leaders for advocating for an increase in research dollars to accelerate the pace of innovation. Our future depends upon it.

From CNET Green Tech
General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt and venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, published an editorial in The Washington Post Monday to warn that the U.S. is lagging China is developing clean-energy technologies.

The U.S. continues to produce innovative companies in the Internet but they argue that policies in energy, a highly regulated field, stifle innovation and U.S. competitiveness: "Our government's energy and climate policies are our principal obstacle to success," they said.

Every day we make choices that affect our future. How are our core values reflected in what we choose? One of our core values is the wise use of the resources we have been given. We see the safe, clean, renewable energy of the sun enough to power our world wasted every day.

What will we choose? What would you choose if the decision were yours?

Will it be sustainable or will it remain focused on short term profits? Will it be efficient and flexible enough to allow small-scale clean and renewable sources into the game, or wasteful and protective of business, as usual? Will our energy policy help keep America safe, or will it increase threats to our national security? Will it foster democracy or centralize authority? Will it push us to support foreign dictators, eroding our moral authority in the world and making us vulnerable to the enemies of our “friends?”

The truth is that energy policy is not primarily about energy. Energy — how we get it and how we use it — is, above all, about our values. The new energy system we’re building (through cases like the one before the ACC) will tell us, and the world, who we are as a people. In this energy and environmental crisis, we've been given an opportunity to reaffirm our best American values. We mustn't let it slip away.

Quote From Mother Jones
Read more here:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/07/americas-energy-american-values