Polls consistently show that s olar photovoltaics (PV) are the most popular energy source among consumers. Still, these semiconductors that generate electricity directly from sunlight produce less than one half of one percent of the world’s total electricity.

The prime obstacle to widespread deployment of solar PV is cost. One way to lower costs is to design community-based programs that achieve economy of scale and reach markets that have yet to tap solar energy in a big way.

Marin County , as well as other communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, are currently investigating “Community Choice Aggregation” (CCA), a a new way for cities and counties to purchase electricity. Local governments can now represent constituents-at-large in the fight against climate change. The CCA process provides an easy way to change the content of the power supply – by a vote of each local government -- without taking on the burden of managing the power lines, collecting bills, and the divisive politics involved with the typically highly contested (and expensive) municipalization process.

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For each of the past three years, I've always been pulling for Brett Favre to come back. Being a long-term Packers fan growing up at the tail end of the Lombardi years, Favre brought me back to the game that I too played in the snow in Wisconsin.

Even though I've been living in California since 1980, I remain a steadfast Packer fan, and Favre is clearly one of the reasons.

But as I contemplated how all of the surprising success of 2008 must have felt to Favre, and how now it seemed the rest of the world wanted him to come back, I -- for the first time -- began feeling like maybe it was the perfect moment to hang it all up.

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Why should business pay attention to California’s AB 32, the climate change law mandating an economy-wide 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020?

How California goes, so goes the nation, particularly when it comes to the business of energy. State regulators are writing the rules for the nation’s first comprehensive program to limit carbon emissions. So far, the non-utility industries impacted include cars and trucks, refrigerators, landfills, docked ships, semiconductors, cement plants, fertilizers and auto tune-up and oil change shops.

And that’s just the beginning. The state Air Resources Board –in charge of drafting carbon reduction rules for the nation’s largest energy market – claims these early measures only get the state 1/10 of the way to the goal of cutting over 170 metric tons of carbon. To put that in perspective, that is the equivalent carbon spewing from 43 standard coal-fired power plants.

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What is “community solar?” The term means different things to different people.

One goal of a project funded by the Marin Community Foundation to be completed in June 2008 and is to provide networking services among the various West Marin communities adding solar PV systems to key high-profile community assets: community centers; schools; fire stations and water district operations. In each of the five communities targeted – Muir Beach, Stinson Beach, Bolinas, Point Reyes Station and the San Geronimo Valley – major solar PV projects moved from the planning into the development phase. In one case – Muir Beach – the solar PV system was already in place, though this was hardly common knowledge. In another case – San Geronimo Valley – this investigation salvaged a $150,000 at $2.80/watt subsidy for a 58 kW ground mounted system to serve the Lagunitas School District and the San Geronimo Valley Community Center buildings. A long delay in development of a solar PV project in Stinson Beach – (Pathfinder Communications had raised an initial $3,250 from solar vendors in February 2005) – was also spurred on by this MCF/NorCal Solar project.

When used in the context of this forthcoming report, however, “community solar” actually refers to a specific and currently unavailable solar application: the ability of multiple users – often lacking the proper on-site solar resource or fiscal capacity or building ownership rights – to purchase a portion of their electricity from a solar facility located off-site.

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Driving up the steep gravel road leading up to the Stubbs Vineyard on the northern fringes of Marin County near Marshall, I squinted to see a tiny wind turbine spinning furiously way up at the top of hill, virtually invisible from the nearest road.

Along with 1 kilowatt Southwest Windpower wind turbine the Stubbs’ rely upon less than 1 kW of solar photovoltaics and a bio-diesel back up generator for all of their electricity needs. Because the Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) grid is a mile away from either side of their property, the Stubbs live “off-the-grid” and are likely the greenest vineyard in all of California.

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