Happy May Day!

Tomorrow, May 1, is May Day, a holiday with Celtic roots that in most parts of the world today is a celebration of workers and the achievements of organized labor.  Today’s blog is dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of people who work to restore the environment, break away from fossil fuels and teach children and adults about the importance of protecting and respecting nature.  Environmental activists, teachers and parents, solar and wind turbine installers and factory workers, nature restoration workers, organic farmers, bicycle repairers, energy efficiency retrofitters, recycling technicians–look around and you may be amazed to discover how many people work so hard to conserve resources and restore our planet to health.

Let’s show a little love for the green sector laborers and innovators who steadfastly ignore all the bad news and keep doing good.  And let’s not forget that, no matter where we work, we have organized labor to thank for the eight-hour work day, workplace safety regulations and other basic employment rights we in the U.S. take for granted.

We’ll have a lot more safe, healthy, well-paying green jobs if we invest in renewable energy (2.5 million net new jobs to be exact if we pass strong energy and climate legislation, according to a report out this week by the Center for Climate Strategies). Or we can send those future installers and retrofitters to the Middle East.  I know which path I’d like my own child to follow.  How about yours?

Danny’s take on Solar on the White House

“I met President Obama a week ago today, in the Rose Garden, just after having launched http://www.SolarOnTheWhiteHouse.com. This has been referenced a bit in the press and even blogged about here on SF Gate, and has attracted thousands of people to sign the petition. So all in all, it is going well as the start to a campaign to put photovoltaics back on the most famous home in America.”

Read the rest of Danny’s piece in SF Gate’s City Brights section here.

Two days left to enter Earth Day Makeover Contest

Friday is the deadline for Sungevity’s Earth Day Makeover Contest. If you need some inspiration, watch Earth Day founder Denis Hayes on “Why Earth Day Matters”, not to be confused with Avatar director James Cameron on “Why Earth Day Matters.”

The winner will receive the practical and eco-chic Sungevity Messenger Bag pictured above–charge your cell phone or iPod will bicycling around town fulfilling your Earth Day resolutions.

–Erica Etelson

Keep your Earth Day resolutions

Many of us in the Sungevity community made Earth Day resolutions to reduce our carbon footprints.  But will our green resolutions go the way of our New Year’s resolutions, with a few false starts and then a slow fade to oblivion?  Probably.  Unless we harness the power of peer pressure to hold us accountable.  Behavioral research consistently shows that people overcome unhealthy habits when they are accountable to a social group whom they trust and respect–that’s why AA works and why people who learn that they’re using more electricity than their neighbors find ways to lower their bills.

To help keep us honest, the Ecology Center is offering a Climate Change Action Workshop Series beginning May 3 and running every Monday evening for four weeks.  You’ll learn what steps you can take as an individual consumer and as part of a community committed to curbing climate change.  If you can’t attend the workshops, the Ecology Center can help you facilitate your own group of ten or more individuals through your neighborhood, place of worship, workplace or school.  Or use the comment feature below to share your resolution–we’ll check back with you in a few months to see how it’s going.

–Erica Etelson

Solar on the White House-Update

Solar on the White House is on Facebook. Make sure you become a fan and pass this on to your friends and family. We’ve got to keep this momentum building so that our First Home becomes solar powered!

Solar on the White House

-Nat Smith

Time for a new energy mix

As we lamented a few days ago, the feds have been less than steadfast in their support for solar energy. We’ve launched Solar on the White House to call attention to a glaring disparity or two that the President could help rectify:

Between 2002 and 2008, the feds doled out $72 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel industries and $29 billion for renewables (half of which was for ethanol which is quite possibly even worse than oil).

The World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) finance fossil fuel projects at five times the rate of renewables.  Incredibly, World Bank and IFC investment in fossil fuels is on the rise, with a $3.75 billion new coal plant in South Africa just approved last month.

There are many measures the federal government could take to level the playing field for solar:

Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute calls for reducing income taxes and offsetting them with a carbon tax on fossil fuels.   For example, were we to pay the “real cost” of burning gasoline (including the impacts on human health, the climate and the environment), we’d be paying $15 a gallon instead of $3.  Even a modest increase in the gas tax of 40 cents a year for the next ten years would be, in Brown’s view, a good start and would bring us in line with Europe.  Taxes on cigarettes work wonders-the states with the highest taxes have the fewest smokers-why not put proven public health policy to work to save the planet?

Most proponents of solar energy agree that feed-in tariffs are an effective incentive, as demonstrated in Germany, Spain, Ontario and good ole’ Gainesville, Florida.  Rather than leaving it to local and state governments, the federal government could pass a law requiring all utilities to implement feed-in tariff programs or solar renewable energy credits (as New Jersey has done with enormous success).

The Recovery Act provides a 30% tax credit for solar panels and solar water heaters through 2016.  This tax credit, needless to say, should be extended ‘till kingdom come.

Twenty-nine states have Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) which require utilities to meet renewable energy targets over the next few decades.  A strong, uniform nationwide RPS would create and strengthen renewable energy markets and would help the United States curb its greenhouse gas emissions far more effectively than piecemeal state standards.

The government should pass the 10 Million Solar Roofs Act ASAP.

As the largest shareholder in the World Bank, the U.S. should use its leverage to direct the Bank to move aggressively toward renewables.

If you really want to geek out, the Solar Energy Industries Association has a bunch more bright ideas.

We launched Solar on the White House to call attention to the need to shake up our nation’s energy mix.  We’re aiming for solar to become the clear favorite of the family-we’ve behaved well, and we deserve it.   We ask you to support solar energy by signing and sharing the petition. And remember those cool Obama t-shirts during the 2008 presidential race?  Well, we’ve got some equally cool Globama t-shirts so tell your friends who live in California that they can get a free Globama t-shirt when they request an iquote on solaronthewhitehouse.com.

We’ll keep you updated on the Solar on the White House campaign as well as renewable energy legislative developments right here.

–Erica Etelson

The Sungevity Earth Day Makeover Contest

What would Earth Day be without a silly contest with a gimmicky prize?  Sungevity shamelessly joins the fray with an Earth Day Makeover Contest.  The winner will receive the fashionable and practical Sungevity Solar Messenger Bag which can charge your iPod, cell phone and other 12-volt gadgets.

Earth Day was first observed in 1970, when 20 million people participated in demonstrations around the country.  Eight months later, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was born–talk about a successful action!  In recent years, many observers have criticized the commercialization of Earth Day and the way in which corporations misuse it to greenwash themselves.  Is Earth Day having a mid-life crisis?  Does it need a re-boot?  We’re not saying it does, but we’re curious what you think.

Using the comment feature below, answer this question in 200 words or less:  If you were in charge of Earth Day 2011, what would it be like?  You can envision something completely new, tweak the current model or simply suggest one new kind of action that could be added on to the traditional Earth Day next year.  You’ll get points for proposals that are practical, creative, affordable, and inspiring.  With your permission, we’ll pass the winning idea along to Earth Day 2011 organizers.  Please submit your idea by April 30.

–Erica Etelson

Let’s put Solar on the White House

Today, Sungevity is proud to announce a campaign to put solar panels back on the White House. We want to help our nation’s First Home go Solar and are offering the Obama’s their very own Home Solar System for free.

Go to www.solaronthewhitehouse.com to sign the petition and forward it on to your friends and family.

Solar Policy and the White House

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After musing about the White House’s spotty history with solar systems, it became clear to me how uncannily the rooftop systems that adorned the White House paralleled White House solar policy.

When the 1970’s oil crisis spiked energy prices the policy makers in Washington were able to focus their energies and create a solar feed-in tariff. In that same spirit, riding the momentum, President Jimmy Carter led by shining example and had a solar system installed on his own residency, the White House.

However, during the Reagan administration solar (as well as other renewable energy sources) suffered. President Ronald Reagan allowed the previous administration’s financial incentives to disappear and big oil continued to dominate the energy market. In a not so subtle move, President Carter’s solar system was unceremoniously removed by President Reagan and his advisers.

In 2003, President Bush allowed the National Park Service to install a system on a grounds maintenance building. While the nod towards solar is appreciated, the lack of prominence of a system at the White House demonstrates our government’s need for a more enthusiastic and comprehensive approach to renewable energy in order to stop climate change in its tracks. It’s time for solar to take this country by storm!

-Nat Smith

Put your tax dollars to work

Now that you’ve paid your taxes, wouldn’t you like to have a say in how they’re spent?  Vote Solar wants your support for three federal bills that would incentivize solar installation and domestic manufacturing:

S.2899 would extend the Treasury Grant Program (set to expire this year) to 2012.  This program has already supported the installation of 303 solar energy systems involving over 10,000 workers.

S. 3137 would encourage tenants in apartment buildings to invest in shared solar projects with other tenants.  The bill would allow them to claim their fair share of the 30% federal tax credit currently available to single-family homeowners.

S.2755 would provide a tax credit to companies who manufacture solar panels in the U.S.  (Currently, the U.S. produces only 5% of the world’s solar cells).

Learn more about these bills and ask your senator to support them.

–Erica Etelson