Enviropundit wonders whether President Bush has “bought a clue”. She notes that he recently spoke about a solar roof that “protects you from the elements and at the same time, powers your house. Bush even noted that any excess renewable energy could be fed back into the electricity grid.” And, she pointed to two types of such photovoltaic systems currently available:
Federally-coordinated efforts between leaders in the building industry and manufacturers of photovolatics to consider potential installations on buildings with large roofs or facades also received her commendation. Such information is particular appropriate for builders and PV installers in California given a new initiative by the public utility commission.
Even more so for builders that bid on civic contracts. December 14, 2004 Governor Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order S-20-04.
The Green Building Initiative, a public / private partnership to
- Reduce electricity purchased from the grid by existing government and private commercial buildings by 10 percent per square foot by 2010 and 20 percent by 2015.
- Seek to use environmentally sustainable management practice. (The second goal involves retrofitting, building and operating the most energy and resource efficient and healthful public buildings in the country.)
- Encourage cities, counties, schools, and commercial building owners to do the same.
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[...] Much of the latter part of the post and the subsequent comment by Fraser involve marketing, and it remains to be seen, in terms of thermal and photovoltaic systems, what will develop in the next five to ten years. Nevertheless, even though solar power has yet to “come into its own“, solar energy, and various ways of capturing it, continues to be an important factor in diversified sources of renewable energy, particularly so in architecture. [...]