Renewable Energy Education
for a Sustainable Future

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  Home | Workshops | Membership | Contact   SEI Newsletter, Issue 65 - September 2008  
Learn Renewables in Award Winning Solar Community in Nicaragua!
SEI's partner in Nicaragua, Grupo Fenix, recently won the UN based SEED Award for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development. The SEED Award is an annual international competition, designed to support locally-led, innovative, entrepreneurial partnerships in developing countries, which have the potential to make real improvements in poverty eradication and environmental sustainability.

Grupo Fenix has helped the community of Sabana Grande in rural Nicaragua become a model solar community. The SEED Award is to help Grupo Fenix and the Solar Women's Cooperative launch a cooperative business that will produce and market solar products made from recycled solar cells and solar cookers adapted for local needs.

Live with families in the community of Sabana Grande and learn about renewable energy and the incredible work of Grupo Fenix in SEI's workshop:
Coming Up in October - A few spaces left
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Although SEI's workshops are filling up incredibly fast, we still have a few spaces left in a few workshops. So if you're interested in learning how to make biodiesel, installing a micro-hydro system, or building a sustainable home check out the following:

Denver International Airport Inaugurates 2 MW Solar Array
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Denver International Airport (DIA) flipped the switch on a large solar photovoltaics (PV) installation. The array, rated at two megawatts (MW) and occupying the area of seven football fields, is one of the largest at any airport in the world.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper attended the inauguration ceremony on August 19 at DIA. “This installation is both a symbol and a practical example of the City’s commitment to renewable energy,” Hickenlooper said. The mayor talked about the solar array forming a key part of Greenprint Denver, which is the sustainability plan for the City and County of Denver.

The array at the 5th busiest airport in the US will generate over three million kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean electricity annually, reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere by more than 6.3 million pounds each year.
SEI Alumni News - A Report from the Developing World
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SEI alum Allen Rainey founded SonLight Power to bring solar electricity to rural communities in Central America. Since 2001 the company has been sending volunteers to Honduras to install solar electric systems at schools in the country in order to bring light and electricity to otherwise dark schools that had no access to power. The installation this summer at the Escuela Dionisio de Herrera school located in Caserio El Caracol, Honduras was the 50th installation of sustainable solar power by SLP. Read the entire story on SonLight Power at www.RenewableEnergyWorld.com
Renewable Publications
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Two new publications on sustainability have been written by SEI alum and instructors.

SEI alum and PV instructor Rebeka Hren and her husband Stephen wrote the recently published book "The Carbon-Free Home". Meant as a guide for renovating existing homes, The Carbon-Free Home gives you the hands-on knowledge necessary to kick the fossil-fuel habit, with projects small and large. For every aspect of your life currently powered by fossil fuels, The Carbon-Free Home offers alternatives you can accomplish yourself to get started using renewable and sustainable sources of power.

SEI Biodiesel instructor Lyle Estill's Small is Possible introduces us to "hometown security," with this chronicle of a community-powered response to resource depletion in a fickle global economy. This is the story of how one small town in North Carolina found actual solutions to actual problems. Unwilling to rely on government and wary of large corporations, these residents discovered it is possible for a community to feed itself, fuel itself, heal itself and govern itself.
New Study Details Economic Benefits of 8-Year Solar Tax Credits
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A new economic study issued by Navigant Consulting, Inc., shows that more than 1.2 million employment opportunities, including 440,000 permanent jobs, and $232 billion in new investment would be generated in the U.S. by the solar energy sector alone through 2016 if Congress extends the solar investment tax credit (ITC) for 8 years.

The study covers PV, Solar Water Heating, and Concentrating Solar Power. The analysis contrasts the solar industry’s growth prospects with and without an 8-year extension of the solar ITC. It also details the geographic distribution of these new jobs and estimates installations (over 28 GW cumulative installations by 2016).

Click here to read the press release from the Solar Energy Industries Assocation.

Click here to download the entire report by Navigant Consulting
Your Generosity Ensures our Success!
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SEI would like to welcome new members! As a membership-based non-profit, SEI's members are the heart of our organization and allow us to continue our educational programs. SEI Staff are passionate about the work we do and membership dues help sustain our renewable energy endeavors.

Please join us! Membership benefits include (depending on membership level) discounts on workshops, a one year subscription to either Home Power magazine or E magazine, an organic cotton/hemp SEI t-shirt, a SEI bumpersticker, and more!

Click here for details on how to become an SEI member.

To all SEI members . . . SEI sends thanks!
Help create a sustainable future. Please forward this newsletter to your friends.

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