Sustainable Design Update

Twenty-five Solar America Cities across the U.S. are partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to accelerate the adoption of solar energy technologies at the local level. I’m proud to say that my home town, Ann Arbor Michigan was one of the first Cities to be named a Solar American City.

Solar America Cities is an activity of the Solar America Initiative. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy within DOE is leading the Solar America Initiative (SAI). The goal of SAI is to make solar electricity from photovoltaic (PV) technologies cost-competitive with the conventional electricity delivered by the utility grid by 2015.

Because cities are the nation’s electricity load centers, they are important partners in increasing the adoption of solar energy technologies. Solar America Cities receive financial and technical assistance from DOE to reduce market barriers to solar energy technologies. City partners are committed to developing a sustainable solar infrastructure that removes barriers to solar installations and encourages the adoption of solar energy by their residents and businesses. The efforts of these Solar America Cities also increase the number of solar installations within U.S. municipalities. These cities are taking a comprehensive, city-wide approach that lays the foundation for a viable solar market and provides a model for other cities to follow.

DOE announced the first Solar America Cities awards June 2007, the 2008 awardees were announced March 28, 2008.

Awardees:

• Ann Arbor, MI
• Austin, TX
• Berkeley, CA
• Boston, MA
• Denver, CO
• Houston, TX
• Knoxville, TN
• Madison, WI
• Milwaukee, WI
• Minneapolis - St. Paul, MN
• New Orleans, LA
• New York City, NY
• Orlando, FL
• Philadelphia, PA
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Portland, OR
• Sacramento, CA
• Salt Lake City, UT
• San Antonio, TX
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• San Jose, CA
• Santa Rosa, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Tucson, AZ

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 8:41 pm and is filed under Renewable Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.