Solar Living Institute grounds in Hopland, California.
In June, the Solar Living Institute (SLI) hosted a Green Career Conference at UCLA. As renewable energy struggles for equilibrium, businesses continue to emerge in solar, weatherization, biofuels, wind, green technology and sustainable construction for example. With a Board of Advisors that includes wellknown environmental activists like Ed Begley Jr .and Randy Hayes, President of the Rainforest Action Network, the purpose of the SLI is to promote sustainable living through inspirational environmental education.
SLI accomplished its purpose in a number of different ways at the UCLA conference via discussion panels as well as in breakout sessions covering different aspects of sustainable business. The first hour was devoted to an industry perspective covering solar energy via industry professionals. The panel covered residential solar installation with CEO Ben Siebert of Planet Solar. Commercial Solar Installation questions were handled by project manager Andrew Agopian. Renewable energy consultation was examined by Solvida's Stephen Smith. Sustainability consultation is a new career that is in demand now. As companies seek tax credits and incentives for energy efficiency and sustainability, they will seek individuals who can tell them how to do it. An older but steadily growing industry is solar thermal which was explained by Daniel Beattie of Enviro Plumbing. The consensus of the days' first panel indicated that even their market was seeing tight times and tenacity and determination were key at all times.
The next industry perspective focused on energy efficiency. In California, $10 billion dollars will be spent over the next few years to weatherize some two million pre-existing homes. This is another potential market for those exploring green careers. Representing green building was Fred Koch of Koch Development. Covering energy efficiency, REAS CEO Tammy Schwolsky. For those interested in helping green businesses get those earmarked funds, SolarTech's Director of Grants & Awards, David McFeeley discussed grant writing. In fact for those who like navigating through governmental funding there is demand for grant writers across the corporate and non-profit boards. Discussing biofuels was Kalib Kersh, Director of Technology and Development for Energy Evolutions of California.
During the afternoon several breakout sessions occurred simultaneously which was unfortunate as I was interested in all of them. I decided on AEE Solar Training Director Jeff Spies who described in a quite entertaining fashion how to launch and grow a solar business. Spies got his current job while attending SLI workshops and thus highly recommends them to anyone interested in renewable energies. An unexpected fire drill preceded the second group of breakout sessions and this being entrepreneurs, the speakers organized outside. Earthsite's CEO Joey Shepp described why Twitter is useful in the overall picture when it comes to social media and business.
Elsewhere, Robert Mejia, Employment Services Manager of South Bay Workforce Investment Board and California's Green Workforce Coalition discussed education and training opportunities. Glen Lindenstadt of Native Sun Solar Investment Bank discussed the future of solar sales and marketing,
while Isaac Lieberman, Political Chair of the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter and Elected Member of the LA County Democratic Central Committee (38th AD) and California Democratic Party (38th AD) explored green job opportunities.
The Solar Living Institute is a highly reputable and thoroughly educational experience for anyone interested in a green career and lucky for us Californians, they are local.The Solar Living Institute is located 94 miles north of San Francisco in Hopland, California.
For more information, go to www.solarliving.org.
Comments
Vicki:
I recently installed solar panels in my home. Any idea how or how often I am supposed to clean them. Do you know of any companies that do that?
MM
Vicki,
Glad the training was helpful and thanks for sitting in! If you are interested in reading some good stories about the history of residential solar pv, check out my blog at aeesolar.com/blog/
Regarding solar module cleaning: Many PV system owners never clean their modules, relying instead on frequent rain showers to perform the routine task of module washing. In dry dusty climates, you can see a 20-30% reduction due to soiling so regular cleaning is advisable. Many owners in the dry climates wash their arrays once every few weeks. Spraying them down on a cool morning with a hose from the ground works well. Actually washing them with window washing pole is better, but if you pay to have this done, you may not find it very cost practical.
Hello,
Thanks for the mention.
Biofuels are going through some interesting times, but as we transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy for more of our transportation and living needs, the only future I can imagine relies on liquid fuels from biomass of one kind or the other.
Check out my blog at EnergyEvolutions.net for current sustainable energy links and articles. Also, I twitter on sustainability and renewable energy topics at twitter.com/Energyevolution
Stay tuned,
Kalib Kersh
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