Tom haa'some specific suggestions fora program Western Sun can implement. . . • • "Public awareness has to consist of more than seminars with builders, expensive conferences, and the creation of a good library. It means contesting the DOE rule that pro- , hibits television advertising of solar. Where the public interest and national security are at stake, where other technolo- , gjes have immense r~sources for advertising, it is a legitimate function of government to subsidize ads proclaiming the • merits of solar energy for the here and now; It is a signal o'f skewed priorities that the federal government would adver- • tise the obligation Qf young men to register for the draft, perhaps in a war for oll supplies, but would not advertise the potential of energy conservation and solar for creating a new basis of national security. , In addition to television advertising, we solar advocates ought to consider employing the techniques of mass mail so effectively used by business and political candidates today. By these methof s, we could deliver individualized messages to consumers e~tolling the economic advantages of solar in ways that·co~ld never be done by a standardized government pamphlet. In addition to a direct s,ales pitch, we could be informing the consumer of the tax credits, loans and other a_vailable incentives which are ·currently among government's better-kept secrets. • Without being·exhaustive, here are some other priorities , ~e need to cons.ider if we are to reach and mobilize the public m solar's behalf: • • Western SUN needs a presence in Washington to lobby for our budget, to explain our mission, to identify and tap every possible source of additional funding, to make alliances with consumer, environmental, labor and business organization~ already headquartered there. • • We need immediate focus o·n such issues as effective im- • plementation of the Residential Conservation Standards . (RCS), perhaps the single greatest contact the American con-.• sumer is going to have with the solar market this year. We November 1980 RAIN Page 7 perhaps also need urgent pressure to include solar and wind architecture in the Uniform Building Code. • We need effective Solar Advisory Groups (SAGs) in each .,state, brought together for a regionalwor.king conference on an annual basis. • We need the equivalent of the Local Government Commission in every state, with at least one regional conference of local elected officials in the·'COQ:ting year. • We need similar regional decision~makers workshops of public utility commissions, state architects, boards of education, etc. from the 13 states. A much.:needed workshop, for example, would be to explore utility conservation programs .and, in particular, the California PUC's new solar loans programs.. , 1• We need a regional meeting to explore the investment of . state pension funds into energy-efficient, solar-equipped housing in the West. . • We need to lobby to change Western SUN's federal mandate so that photovoltaic cells will be considered a technology ready for commercialization; . • We need "jobs from the sun" and "save energy, save • money" coalitions for.med regionally to attract consumers, labor and mi~orities to our program. • These-efforts should be aimed at formation of a broad solar constituency composed of business, labor, consumer, minority and environmental interests, rallied around a consensus program:,a) a greater (than 20 percent) commitment to solar by the federal government in.this generation, b) incentives and subsidies to the ~olar industry at least equal to those for synfuels, oil, gas, coal and nuclear; c) government invest-· ment in alternative energy technology similar,to the Manhattan Project or NASA;, d) phased-in national requirements for energy conservation in industry, agriculture,·transportation, / offices and residential buildings; e) maximizing of the n~w technological productivity and job-creation possibilities in a . ·renewable resource economy. hairy ey~ball at do-it-yourself installations which, they think, may pose additional haz.:. ·ards that would raise insurance premiums. emment offices at both state and federal levels, and even non.,-profit groups involved in solar. Most of the lists are well organized and easy to use, the manufacturers'lists being the unfortunate exception. A state-by- "Insuring the Solar Home," 1980, $.95 from: • Citizens' Energy Project 1110-6th Street N. W., #300 Washington, DC 20001 202/387-8998 Homeowners and solar do-it-yourselfers: here's something fo get your "hands on" to. - Ken Bossong has w·ntten a brief report on solar and our favorite iµ.dustry-thatls right, • insurance. The study contends that there is a cautious optimism towards decentralized solar hot water and space he~ting technolo-_ gies emerging among members of the insurance indus; ry. Insurance companies are wary I though, of a number of potential hazards associated with solar hardware, including those of fire, contamination of p·otable. water supplies, damage caused by winds, lightning, hail, and freezing weather (volcanic ash too, Ken?), structural collapse of a building, and personal injuries. Further, many insurance companies cast a Likewise, solar hardware sold or installed by small firms may be considered less reliable and thus cause increases in liability insurance for emerging solar businesses, whereas there is increasing support for solar hardware produced by larger companies and_products • which meet federal or state solar equipment standards. ' The report concludes with a short resource • list of publications and organizations. -MR The Solar Jobs Book by Katharine Eric- 1 son, 1980, 211 pp., $7.95 from: • Brick House Publishing Company 3 Main Street ·' • · . Andover, MA0l~l0 , • The Solar Jobs Book is not another analysis of how many jobs can he created by a transition to solar as opposed to nucle·ar technologies. Ms. Ericson assumes you've read one or two of those (in case you haven't she lists ten in her footnotes!). She picks up where they leave off d_irecting you to what jobs exist; in which areas (government, private corporations, small businesses etc.) and how to train for and pursue them. She includes extensive lists of solar equipment manufacturers, gov-- state breakdown would be more practical I than the alphabetical listing by business title she provides. One 0th.er small criticism is that her training survey, like most educational d~rectories, pays little attention to the solar training being provided at Area Vocational Technical Institutes (AVTI) . Some of ' the best programs in the country are at "votechs" and I've yet to see a list of them. If · you're looking to get started in solar and other renewable energy fields contact your own AVTI, your local colleges, and state universities. Almost every campus now offers some technical solar, wind, or bio-mass training. Ericson's book will be useful to career seekers and career counselors, as well as energy informationproviders who get frequent requests (as we do) for lists of schools, offices and solar businesses. -CC
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