SOLAR 2006 - July 7-13 at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Downtown Denver, Colorado - is the annual conference of the American Solar Energy Society (www.ases.org). This year's theme is "Renewable Energy: Key to Climate Recovery," and features the world's best & brightest in climate change & renewable energy research . The Exhibit Hall (now in its FIFTH overflow area) is free & open to the public on Sunday July 9, along with a wide variety of presentations, workshops, videos, forums, and other special events. Visit www.solar2006.org for more information.
Hello! If you are looking for stories to run during the long July 4 holiday, please consider the following stories developing around SOLAR 2006 (the Annual Conference of the American Solar Energy Society) - "Renewable Energy: Key to Climate Recovery" - July 7-13 at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Downtown Denver, Colorado -> www.solar2006.org:
- Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" movie (www.climatecrisis.net) has been packing them in all over Denver, and raising awareness of the problem of climate change nationwide. SOLAR 2006 will be an equally high-quality description of one of the key solutions to climate change.
The Alliance for Sustainable Colorado (www.alliancecenter.org) held a press conference on June 9 before the movie's Denver premiere, featuring Colorado State House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and State Senator Ken Gordon -> http://69.15.80.35/gore/al_gore_mayan.wmv.
- As part of each year's conference, ASES donates a Solar PV system to an inner-city school. This year the system will go to Del Pueblo Elementary (in the 6th & Santa Fe area), where a core group of teachers, students, and volunteers have done an incredible amount of work to increase the school's energy efficiency, and thus allow more of their budget to go to items other than merely paying the electric bill ... !
http://www.solar2006.org/program/workshops/w03.htm
ASES and SOLAR 2006 will be holding its official pre-conference media event on Friday morning, July 7 ... but we would love to profile this inspirational effort before then as well.
- The U.S. Department of Energy has held two "Solar Decathlons" (in 2002 and 2005) to see which university-based team can design the best "Zero-Energy Home" (http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon). The winning team for each of these Decathlons has been from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and they & several other schools' Solar Decathlon participants will speak at SOLAR 2006.
Additionally, the CU team that built 2002-Solar-Decathlon-winning house (http://solar.colorado.edu) sold it to Ron Larson (Chair of the American Solar Energy Society). Ron moved the house to the top of Lookout Mountain in Golden, retrofitted it for his family's needs, and now lives in it with his wife ... quite comfortably, and without ever having to pay a utility bill again!
- Thanks to Colorado's "Amendment 37" (approved by voters in 2004) and other initiatives, more homeowners around the state are taking charge of their own energy needs by increasing their home's energy efficiency, installing solar panels, signing on to Xcel's WindSource or other Renewable Energy Credit (REC) programs, etc. Despite large entrenched utilities and other fossil-fuel interests challenging the implementation of Amendment 37 every step of the way, more forward-thinking individuals, communities, businesses, and government agencies throughout Colorado and the West are turning to renewable energy solutions.-> http://www.dora.state.co.us/puc/rulemaking/Amendment37/Amendment37Comments.htm
- America's need to reduce its dependence on foreign oil has lead to greater interest in biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel, and thus brought new hope to agricultural communities in Colorado and throughout the U.S. Midwest.
- The SOLAR 2006 conference will also play host to a "SERI Reunion" Dinner on Monday July 10. The current internationally-recognized National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) began its life as the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) in 1977, with America's best & brightest coming together to work on a solar-powered future. Despite a quarter-century of inconsistent political standing, even more inconsistent funding, and numerous other challenges, this group has persevered - together and individually - to bring all forms of renewable energy to where they are today, poised to become a major contributor to our future.
- The "EcoArts" festival - also focused on climate change - will be taking place throughout the Denver/Boulder area in conjunction with SOLAR 2006 in an effort to bring this topic to the art & cultural communities -> www.ecoartsonline.org.
- And even the business community is starting to realize that there's money in all this! This will be on display at the SOLAR 2006 Exhibit Hall, now moving into its FIFTH overflow area! The Exhibit Hall will be free & open to the public for the SOLAR 2006 "Public Day," Sunday July 9. The Public Day will also feature a full slate of presentations, workshops, videos, forums, and other events running throughout the day, almost all of which are free & open to the public -> http://www.solar2006.org/public.
Please visit the conference website - www.solar2006.org - for the most complete and up-to-date information on SOLAR 2006. Please also let me know if you have any questions, need anything else, or if you'd like to follow up on one or more of these stories. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. We look forward to hearing back from you soon, and especially to seeing you at SOLAR 2006!PvH
