This is a very important election year for many reasons. If you are trying to make heads or tails out of the candidates positions on energy…  Solar Nation has done a very good job of putting it all together in one easy to search website. The have posted the official literature from the candidates websites as well as independent third party sources.

No matter what side of the political fence you are on we are all citizens of America and part of the human family of the World.

America can be a solar power that sets the example for the world.

Let’s all focus on what we can do together rather than the negative political hype and spin of what divides us. We all want a better world for ourselves and our children. How we define that includes vision, compromise, understanding and leadership.

Here are the links:

Presidential Candidates: Campaign Literature and Statements

Presidential Candidates: Third-Party Commentaries

">/0.jpg" alt="YouTube Preview Image" />

">/0.jpg" alt="YouTube Preview Image" />

These two videos show how our energy ebbs and flows in and throughout nature in a very moving, calming, awe-inspiring way. Well worth a moment of your day. We are all one… made from the Earth and the Earth is made of Star dust.

They show scenes from the actual exhibit hall that tours the world, but it mostly shows small bits from photographer Gregory Colbert’s extended films. There are more animals, and when you see someone swimming underwater with whales, that is Colbert himself, without breathing apparatus. (he has a ponytail, so that is not a woman) He did short stints underwater, a ballet of sorts with whales, and had a camera running. His photography and videos are all real, this is his incredible genius

Enjoy….

Ashes and Snow, Part 1

">/0.jpg" alt="YouTube Preview Image" />

Ashes and Snow, part 2

">/0.jpg" alt="YouTube Preview Image" />

Inventor John Kanzius has invented an incredible machine which would generate temperatures up to 1500 degrees using just salt water!!!!!!!!!!!

This REPORT:

Freeing the Grid, report no. 02-07, November 2007

is an excellent resource for understanding the net-metering changes happening accross the country.

Here is an excerpt:

###
“Since the 2006 edition of Freeing the Grid, there have been great strides in bringing more clean energy to the grid. Many states have taken the lead with reforming their clean energy policies and goals. But we are still far from conquering the “Energy Trilemma”—a world of energy strained by the three forces: financial stress, environmental constraints and security risks.

As a former rate-regulator, I know it is a tough situation when a utility comes to say, “We need to increase rates to cover new investments in transmission and distribution.” So, when we have a chance to recruit and encourage folks who will install their own small, clean generation that serves its own load, the message is: “Many hands make lighter work; welcome to the task that we all face!”

In this 2007 edition, the Network for New Energy Choices teamed up with the Solar Alliance, the Vote Solar Initiative, and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council to bring the most up-to-date analysis of statewide interconnection standards and net-metering rules. These groups, in the forefront of the field, bring with them more than twenty-five years in institutional experience to draw on best policies and practices.

What are some of the key lessons of this edition?

••• States are taking up the challenge of meeting our national needs; Colorado and Pennsylvania have joined New Jersey in the top ranks of net-metering rules.

••• Interconnection standards and good net-metering policies are vital parts of a larger effort to supplement our current centralized, fossil-fired, electric grid with clean, secure, and cost-effective energy resources. States that have poor net-metering rules and interconnection standards are essentially telling the clean energy industry—with its great potential for job creation—that they are, “Closed for Business”.

••• States can take on the best practices, detailed within, to ensure success in fulfilling clean energy goals.

••• Last, but certainly not least, to encourage, not discourage, small, clean, distributed investments that can help on all three fronts of our energy trilemma—finance, environment, and security.

As we think back on the past year, it is important to remember that each state still needs the tools offered here. So my message, to the legislatures and commissions, is: “Let’s put these tools and lessons to work now.”

By Michael Dworkin
Professor of law and director of the Institute for Energy and the
Environment at Vermont Law School, has also been a litigator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a management partner in an engineering firm, and a utility regulator. Professor Dworkin was chair of the Vermont Public Service Board from 1999 to 2005, and he chaired the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ (NARUC)
Committee on Energy Resources & the Environment. Michael is now a non-utility trustee of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and was elected to the board of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
###