On Monday and Tuesday of last week the Reverend Ron and I were in El Cajon, California working on our first volunteer solar install with our new friends from GRID Alternatives. It was even more fun and more enriching than I imagined it would be. And I learned more than I thought I could in just 48 hours. That’s thanks to the truly expert advice I got from our GRID team leaders.
I’m looking forward to writing all about it and some of what I learned. But until I get the time later this week to give you all the Greenius details and flavor of the gig, here’s the report from Miguel Reza of GRID Alt from their web site. That’s Miguel there on the roof wearing the red shirt and the orange hard hat – a daring fashion choice, but he makes it work.
By Miguel Reza – 04/16/2009 – 3:15pm
It was a first for many staff and volunteers in San Diego. But, it sure won’t be the last. On April 13 and 14, GRID Alternatives took a crack at their first full install in the City of El Cajon about 20 minutes east of downtown San Diego.
As the climate change crisis goes from bad to worse (while the deniers get nuttier and more cult-like with each passing day) and Australia gives Californians an advanced sneak preview at what is without a doubt headed our way sooner than you expect, your Creative Greenius has only gotten more Fired Up, Ready to Go!
That’s right my friends, while others are cutting back, downsizing, slowing down and pulling back, your Creative Greenius is not only Ready to Go, I’m already going, baby, and I’m moving at Obama speed.
So buckle up and hang on while I take you for a little trip with the Greenius to the places I’ve been and the places I’m going…
I have to admit that for the first few hours of day one in PV101: Introduction to Photovoltaics I was dazed and confused by all the foreign concepts I was trying to grasp at once. I wasn’t feeling very Creative or very Greenius. I was feeling mostly dumb ass.
Understanding Ohm’s Law of resistance, the basics of current, amps and volts, not to mention the concepts of alternating current, Kirchhoff’s Circuit laws and the many fun equations that spell it all out – if you happen to read and understand those hieroglyphics – had me feeling pretty damn ignorant and out of my element.
The extent of my electrical background heretofore consisted of installing lighting fixtures and new wall switches – so long as they were replacements for existing items that got wired the same way.
Now my head was swimming with concepts of Joules, Coulombs and electrons all dancing about in the mysterious ways they create electricity.
And I was quite certain that of the 25 or so other guys in the room, every single one of them knew a hell of a lot more about the electrical basics than I did.
Continue reading ➞ The Solangelist Learns To Install Solar & Loves It
Legendary singer-songwriter and electric car advocate, Neil Young is out with his latest song and it could easily become the first anthem for the rapidly blowing-up EV movement in America. The rockin’ number is a tribute to Neil’s innovative and totally Greenius re-powering of his 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible with plug-in electric power.
Here’s the story from our friends at Neil Young News:
Tonight, in the latest adventures in LincVolt, Neil Young and the LV Team went out for another test drive.
On this journey, viewers experienced an extraordinary first — Neil debuted a song while driving. Singing to a soundtrack on his Mac laptop, Neil performed the new song “Johnny Magic” while playing air guitar.
The song is dedicated to Neil’s mechanic Johnathan Goodwin.
Right after the jump, TWO great video versions of this new instant classic:
Continue reading ➞ Neil Young – Rockin’ The EV World in “JOHNNY MAGIC” Straight from his LincVolt
In a deal brokered by the city’s newly commissioned Citizens Environmental Task Force, Exxon/Mobil, owners of the Exxon/Mobil Refinery in the City of Torrance agreed today to fund a bond that will make low cost financing of solar energy systems for home and apartment owners. The loans for solar power, authorized under California’s AB 811, are added as assessments to a homeowner’s property tax bills and are passed on to the new owner if a home is sold.“We are so cash rich at the moment that we’re spending money all over the place while everyone else is forced to cut back. We know carbon taxes are coming and we won’t always be floating in a sea of profits we made at your expense. So it seemed only logical that we give a little back to a community we’ve released an awful lot of carbon in. Hell, that entire property our refinery’s on will probably be a superfund site after they force us to stop producing our fossil fuels.“
Continue reading ➞ Exxon/Mobil To Fund Solar Financing Bond For Torrance Homeowners
I spent another two and a half hours last night (time, like my 401k I’ll never get back) in the always delightful West Wing Commission Room attending the monthly Torrance Environmental Quality and Energy Saving Commission meeting.
My friends, let me tell you right now that we’ve got trouble.
Oh we got trouble,
Right here in Torrance!
With a capital “T”
That rhymes with “C”
And that stands for Clueless…
Come on, sing along with me after the jump –
Continue reading ➞ Torrance Enviro Commish – From Curious to CringeWorthy
The more time I spend with Lillian Light the more I admire, respect and flat out like her.
Our relationship started about a month ago when we spent an evening together carpooling to a UCLA workshop on communication climate change that we both participated in.
I wrote about our experience at the time in Greenius On The Green Scene The South Bay Report.
I dug Lillian right away. She speaks her mind, she knows what she’s talking about and she does more than just talk, she walks the environmental walk. Lillian is the real deal and a rare commodity in this world – authentic and genuine without the slightest hint of pretense or self-importance.
Lillian is also the President of the Environmental Priorities Network (EPN) and I wanted to learn more about them and more about Lillian herself. When I asked her if she’d agree to be interviewed for Creative Greenius she graciously agreed.
Creative Greenius 