Here is a list of our workshops for the remainder of 2006. Be sure to take advantage of these great learning opportunities. Also be sure to see additional information on workshops later in this newsletter.

OCTOBER
19 -- How to Manage Water Sustainably
20 -- Developing Sustainable Rural Water Systems
20 -- Breakthrough Solar Sales and Marketing (SJ) - - SOLD OUT!
21-22 -- Electric Vehicle: Hands-on Clinic
21-22 -- Design and Install an Off-Grid RE System
26-27 -- Grid-Tied PV System for Do-It- Yourselfers*
28-29 -- Design and Install a Grid-Tied PV System*

If you’ve been thinking about finding your niche in the emerging green economy, you won’t want to miss our Green Career Conference. This special event will feature leading green entrepreneurs and career experts who will present the full range of opportunities in the green economy and potential employers from a variety of green companies.

Learn why you don't necessarily need a green background to find a successful career with a company whose work is in line with your values. You'll come away with ideas, strategies, resources and contacts to help you find your dream green job!

Green Career Conference Program
Saturday, November 18, 2006
First Universalist Unitarian Center, San Francisco

8:30-9:00 - Registration and Coffee

9:00-9:30 - Welcome
Speaker: John Schaeffer, Founder of Real Goods and the Solar Living Institute

9:30-10:30 - Green Careers Overview
Intro and Moderator: Marie Kerpan, Founder of Green Careers
This panel, hosted by an expert on green careers, will feature the subject matter experts who will present the following four green career sessions. The purpose is to introduce the speakers, and to give participants a snapshot preview of the following four sessions.

10:30-11:45 - Solar & Renewable Energy
Julie Blunden: VP External Affairs, SunPower Corp.
Joe Marino: President, DC Power
Jeff Oldham: President, Regenerative SOLutions
John Schaeffer: Founder and President of Real Goods

11:45-12:30 - Networking Lunch
Participants are provided with an organic lunch, and given the opportunity to network with other career seekers and presenters.

12:30-1:45 - Biofuels & Alternative Transportation
Kimber Holmes: Executive Director of Biodiesel Council of California and Co-Founder of the BioFuel Station
Steve Heckeroth: Chair of the ASES Renewable Fuels and Transportation Division
David Blume: Author, Alcohol Can Be a Gas!

1:45-3:00 - Natural & Green Building
David Arkin: Principal, Arkin Tilt Architects
Massey Burke: Natural Builder and Designer
Dana Porteus*: Founder, SkySide Studios

3:15-4:30 - Sustainable Agriculture
Eliza Frey*: Winemaker, Frey Vineyards
John Roulac*: Founder and President, Nutiva
Albert Straus*: Founder, Straus Creamery

4:30-5:15 - Where Do You Go From Here? Strategies and Tactics for Finding Your Green Career
Speaker: Marie Kerpan, Founder of Green Careers
In this concluding session, you will receive tips on how to choose a direction, learn strategies and tactics for a successful search including info on interviewing, networking and targeting, the functional resume, and the importance of structure and follow- up.

5:15-7:00 - Networking Session
Presenters, panelists, and potential employers will be available during the networking session to answer questions and interact with attendees. A no-host bar will be available and hors d'oeuvres will be served.

*Invited but not confirmed

12:30 to 7:00 - Career Center - (in adjoining room)
In this resource-packed area, you will find job listings and tables with information about a variety of green companies. Drop in throughout the day to pick up material, or visit with one of the many potential employers and HR representatives who will be available throughout the day.

Volunteers are needed this weekend -- Sat., Oct. 21 and Sun., Oct. 22 -- to assist with the building of our intern village. Sign up to volunteer today!

As a volunteer this weekend, you will be helping to build an earthbag/superadobe dome for the intern shower house in the style of Nader Khalili, the founder of the Cal-Earth Institute and a superadobe pioneer. The weekend will include building the walls of the dome, tamping bags, and learning about rammed earth soil mixes and dome design.

This is a great opportunity to get some excellent free learning from natural builder and instructor Massey Burke and her assistant Jude Wu, both former interns here at the Solar Living Institute.

Join the Solar Living Institute for an evening of
Organic Red Wine and Chocolate

Mendocino comes to Manhattan!

The Solar Living Institute warmly invites all of our kind-hearted East Coast supporters to an evening of organic wine and world-class chocolate from Chocolat Michel Cluziel, to benefit our Solar Living Institute in Hopland, California.

Hear the latest positive news in solar power, green building, alternative fuels and more from the West Coast; learn about our new educational programs for 2007; network with your fellow Solar Living Institute supporters; and sample the world's finest chocolates and organic wines.

When:
Tuesday, October 24th, 6-9 PM
Where:
Chocolat Michel Cluizel
First Floor, ABC Carpet & Home
888 Broadway (19th Street)
New York, NY 10003

RSVP: 707-744-2017 (please no guests without RSVP)
Or by email: doron.amiran@solarliving.org

If you are unable to attend, please consider making a donation at www.solarliving.org.

Google Inc. is converting its renowned headquarters to run partly on solar power, hoping to set an example for corporate America. The Internet search leader announced what is believed to be the largest solar project undertaken by a U.S. company during a solar energy conference in Silicon Valley on Monday. Google believes the sun eventually can deliver as much as 30% of the power at its 1-million-square- foot campus in Mountain View -- a suburb about 35 miles south of San Francisco.

The ambitious project will require installing more than 9,212 solar panels provided by Sharp Electronics on a high-tech mecca nicknamed the "Googleplex." (See a Google Video Preview of the project.) After leasing the offices for several years, Google bought the campus for $319 million earlier this year. Once they're in place next spring, the solar panels are expected to produce about 1.6 megawatts of electricity, or enough power to supply about 1,000 homes.

The job is being handled by Pasadena-based EI Solutions, part of a high-tech incubator run by entrepreneur Bill Gross, whose idea to link ads to search engine requests during the 1990s inspired the business model that generates most of Google's profits.

Energy costs are a major concern at Google, which already consumes a tremendous amount of power to run the computer farms that keep its search engine humming. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin also are big supporters of alternative energy. The billionaires began driving hybrid cars shortly after they hit the mass market. Page also is among the investors in Tesla Motors Inc., a Silicon Valley startup developing a sports car that runs on electricity.

"We hope corporate America is paying attention. We want to see a lot of copycats" of this project, Radcliffe said.

For more information:

• Google to Convert HQ to Solar Power, Yahoo! Finance, Oct. 17, 2006
• Google to Install 1.6 MW Solar PV Arrays at Its HQ, RenewableEnergyAccess.com, Oct. 17, 2006
• Google Announces 1.6 Megawatt Solar "Campus," EI Solutions, Oct. 17, 2006

Scientists said yesterday that they had found the first direct evidence linking the collapse of an ice shelf in Antarctica to global warming widely blamed on human activities. Shifts in winds whipping around the southern Ocean, tied to human emissions of greenhouse gases, had warmed the Antarctic peninsula jutting up toward South America and contributed to the break-up of the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002, they said.

"This is the first time that anyone has been able to demonstrate a physical process directly linking the break-up of the Larsen Ice Shelf to human activity," said Gareth Marshall, lead author of the study at the British Antarctic Survey. The chunk that collapsed into the Weddell Sea in 2002 was 1,255 square miles, bigger than Luxembourg or the U.S. state of Rhode Island.

Most climate experts say greenhouse gases, mainly from fossil fuels burnt in power plants, factories and cars, are warming the globe and could bring more erosion, floods or rising seas. They are wary of linking individual events -- such as a heat wave or a storm - - to warming. But the British and Belgian scientists, writing in the Journal of Climate, said there was evidence that global warming and a thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica, caused by human chemicals, had strengthened winds blowing clockwise around Antarctica.

The Antarctic peninsula's chain of mountains, about 6,500 feet high, used to shield the Larsen ice shelf on its eastern side from the warmer winds. "If the westerlies strengthen the number of times that the warm air gets over the mountain barrier increases quite dramatically," John King, a co-author of the study at the British Antarctic Survey, told Reuters.

For more information:

You don't have to travel to Hopland to take a Solar Living Institute workshop! In an effort to bring you the cutting edge knowledge you need to live more sustainably and cut down on fossil fuel usage, the Solar Living Institute is bringing its most popular workshops to the Bay Area.

This November and December, learn how to make biodiesel, how to renovate your home in a non- toxic, environmentally friendly manner, how to garden in urban spaces, and much, much more! Visit our online calendar for a full listing of San Francisco workshops coming up this fall. Register soon, as these workshops fill up quickly.

Plus, stay tuned for our 2007 workshop calendar, as we'll be offering many more workshops in the Bay Area!

On Sept. 29, we reported to you that the U.S. population was nearing 300,000,000. Well, yesterday at 7:46 AM Eastern Time, the U.S. population officially surpassed that number! The U.S. is only the third country in the world to reach 300 million people.

According to the most recent national population estimates, the United States registers one birth every seven seconds and one death every 13 seconds, while net international migration is expected to add one person every 31 seconds. The result is an increase in the total population of one person every 11 seconds.

This 300-million-milestone comes just 39 years after the 200 million mark was reached on Nov. 20, 1967. The U.S. population hit 100 million 139 years after the country was officially established. It then took 52 years to reach the 200-million milestone in 1967, and only 39 years to hit 300 million today.

Also, the 100 millionth American arrived in 1915 into a country with 2.5 million cars; the 200 millionth was born 52 years later, in 1967, when there were 98.9 million cars; now, 39 years later, the 300 millionth person will have the opportunity to breathe in tailpipe emissions from 237.2 million cars.

Many worry that the increase in population will increase existing environmental problems. "The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world experiencing significant population growth," says Vicky Markham of the Center for Environment and Population. "That, combined with America's high rates of resource consumption, results in the largest ... environmental impact [of any nation] in the world."

Conventional wisdom has the U.S. population expected to hit 400 million by mid-century. Of course, that scenario doesn't account for fossil fuel depletion and the effect that will have on the amount of available and needed energy to support a large population. The world population has reached 6.5 billion. That's 4 billion more people than in 1950!

Ecologists point out that at current consumption rates, the long-term "carrying capacity" of the U.S. wouldn't sustain even half of the nation's current population.

For more information:

• U.S. Population Hits 300 Million, China View, Oct. 17, 2006
• U.S. Population Tops 300 Million, NPR, Oct. 17, 2006
• U.S. Population Reaches 300 Million, BBC News, Oct. 17, 2006
• Population in U.S. Tops 300 Million, Led by Immigration Surge, Bloomberg News Service, Oct. 17, 2006
• Nations Population to Hit 300 Million, The Washington Post, Oct. 17, 2006
• U.S. POPClock Projection, U.S. Census Bureau

Demand for electricity in the U.S. is increasing three times faster than power plants and lines are being built, says a new report from the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC). U.S. energy demand is predicted to increase about 19% or 20% in the next decade; in the next two or three years, power generation and transmission capacities are likely to drop below ensured reliability levels on peak days in Texas, New England, the mid-Atlantic area, and the Midwest, NERC predicts. Conservation programs will need to at least double their reach and effectiveness to help close the gap between supply and demand, says NERC president and CEO Rick Sergel. The report suggests that utility companies use financial incentives to encourage customer energy efficiency during peak hours. "We can't continue this 'just-in-time' planning much longer," says Sergel, noting that grid officials forecast electricity use based on "normal weather" patterns -- not increasingly warm winters and hot summers.

The report predicts that demand will increase by about 19% over the next 10 years in the United States, and slightly less in Canada, and that the construction of power plants and transmission lines to carry that load will fall far short of what is needed. In this country, utilities have contracts with new power plants for only about a third of the capacity that will be needed; in Canada, the number is about two-thirds. The number of miles of transmission lines, which can help redistribute supplies, will increase by only about 7%, the report said.

For more information:

• A Power-Grid Report Suggests Some Dark Days Ahead, New York Times, Oct. 16, 2006
• NERC News Release, Oct. 16, 2006
• 2006 Long-Term Reliability Assessment: The Reliability of the Bulk Power Systems in North America, NERC, Oct. 16, 2006 (Note: This is a 134-page PDF (1.07MB). Be patient for the FTP download. It's worth the wait!)

Prepare for Peak Oil--Workshop Special

Modern industrial societies are built on cheap fossil fuels, but cheap oil and gas will likely soon be things of the past. What will be the impacts — personally and societally? And what strategies will work best for families, bioregions, and nations, as we enter the post-carbon era?

Join world-renowned Richard Heinberg, author of The Oil Depletion Protocol and The Party’s Over, for Powerdown: The End of Cheap Oil, a full- day workshop on November 2, as he provides participants with practical strategies to prepare for peak oil.

Stick around on November 3 and 4 and join Jason Bradford and Brian Weller in our Organizing Sustainable Communities workshop. Join these economic localization experts as they provide further insight on how to localize food, energy and basic goods production. This interactive workshop, which receives rave reviews from our students, will surely inspire you to get involved in preparing your own family and community to deal with the impact of peak oil.

Register for both classes and save $75!

Biodiesel America: How to Achieve Energy Security, Free America from Middle-East Oil Dependence and Make Money Growing Fuel by Josh Tickell

Before September 11, 2001, few Americans had heard the term “energy security.” Now, with soaring fuel prices, rising tension in the Middle East, and natural disasters threatening U.S. petroleum production, the need for an immediate solution to our oil-dependence has become a national priority. Yet a magic formula for freeing America has eluded technocrats, lawmakers, and the American public alike. In his powerful new book, Biodiesel America, energy expert Josh Tickell shatters the myths that surround America’s oil dependence and illuminates the solutions.

From Saudi Arabia’s most guarded secret to Henry Ford’s thwarted plans to fuel the nation with biofuel, from exposing the link between school buses and asthma to showing the potential for every school district in the nation to run on clean-burning biodiesel, from top secret cars that get over 300 miles per gallon to new fuel crops that could soon yield billions of gallons of clean fuel, Biodiesel America provides a fresh perspective on our oil- laden history, our present position of energy compromise, and the true potential for a fossil-fuel- free future.

In no-nonsense language, Tickell explains:

• why America is more dependent on oil than any other nation
• why Saudi Arabia’s oil empire will soon crumble, sending energy prices skyrocketing
• why normal, everyday vehicles that get 80 miles per gallon are already sold in Europe, but not in the U.S.
• how Rudolf Diesel invented an engine to run on vegetable oil over 100 years ago
• how you can take simple steps to make money and decrease your dependence on oil

Biodiesel America shows that an abundance of available, economically viable, and profitable energy solutions exists. At the forefront of these new energy technologies is biodiesel, a fuel that could bring over one million jobs back to rural America, invigorate our economy, and create a stable domestic fuel supply.

Timely and critically important, The Oil Depletion Protocol is a must- read for policy makers and for all who seek to avert a Peak Oil collapse.

Be sure to visit the new Oil Depletion Protocol website. Here you can read and adopt the protocol, educate yourself, help publicize the protocol, and share your energy reduction experiences. There are also good news feeds to be found here.

Since oil is the primary fuel of global industrial civilization, its imminent depletion is a problem that will have profound impact on every aspect of modern life. Without international agreement on how to manage the decline of this vital resource, the world faces unprecedented risk of conflict and collapse.

The Oil Depletion Protocol describes a unique accord whereby nations would voluntarily reduce their oil production and oil imports according to a consistent, sensible formula. This would enable the task of energy transition to be planned and supported over the long term, providing a context of stable energy prices and peaceful cooperation.

Sign up by October 1 and save $25

Imagine a country where all college students get credit for helping to solve our societal problems through their academic assignments.

To engage students in creating the solutions for our sustainability challenges as their course assignments or thesis, the web-based system, Play a Greater Part, matches up those who need help with sustainability projects (e.g. non-profits, faculty members, businesses and government planners) with students and graduates eager to participate in sustainability-related projects. Students can connect with faculty who offer credit, and thus enhance the service learning potential in sustainability learning and action. Those with projects can post a call for volunteers, and once volunteers are accepted and the project begins, the person posting the project receives a free website for posting of the project’s progress. This website is designed by the Society for College and University Planning in collaboration with the US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development.

Energy conservation initiatives are currently underway at Penn State, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Bowdoin, Tufts, Bridgewater State College, Boston College, Brown, and Harvard.

Penn State has joined the Energy Star Change a Light, Change the World initiative, in which students, faculty and staff are encouraged to pledge to replace at least one incandescent bulb with a more efficient one. Penn State is also piloting an energy conservation marketing program called "Take Charge" in a first-year residence hall.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is organizing programs and competitions in dorms, panels and forums on energy-related topics and a campus-wide Earth Day event as part of "We Conserve," an effort to reduce the University's energy consumption 20% by 2010.

Bowdoin is holding an energy conservation competition among dorms. Tufts is offering residence hall students the opportunity to power their dorms with renewable energy by paying a $10 per semester fee. Bridgewater State is engaged in a range of initiatives designed to reduce electricity and water consumption by 30% as part of a performance contract with Ameresco. One project aimed at conserving electricity in Boston College parking garages and another designed to measure usage in residence halls are the latest components in an on- going energy conservation effort. Brown is educating students about energy conservation through its Empower campaign and is also investigating the purchase of wind power through a Contract for Differences, a futures contract arrangement that allows the University to buy energy at a fixed rate in the future, thus avoiding the volatility of the conventional energy market.

Finally, Harvard is conducting an energy conservation competition among different buildings, including major energy users like labs and science centers.

There are some really excellent books coming out this year, and you can get them right here at our web store. For a short period of time, we are offering a special pre-order discount of 10% on the following titles: Eating Fossil Fuels by Dale Allen Pfeiffer (due to be released Oct. 31) and The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook by Albert K. Bates (due to be released Nov. 17). You won't want to miss them, and at 10% off the regular retail price, this is the best price you will get for these important books. Don't miss these great prices!

Additional new and recent titles added to our web store that you will want to be sure and read include the following: Planet U by Michael M'Gonigle and Justine Starke, Planetwalker by John Francis, The Oil Depletion Protocol by Richard Heinberg, Biodiesel America by Josh Tickell, Towers of Deception by Barrie Zwicker (this promises to be an extraordinary expose on media coverage of 9/11 by the narrator of The End of Suburbia DVD many of you have seen), Armed Madhouse by Greg Palast (five autographed copies are still available), Energy Switch by Craig Morris, Solar Water Heating by Bob Ramlow with Benjamin Nusz, Your Green Home by Alex Wilson, Cutting Your Car Use by Randall Ghent with Anna Semlyen, Biodiesel Basics and Beyond by William H. Kemp, Ecocities by Richard Register, and the film Ecological Design now in DVD format.

Be sure to check out our other titles in the following categories:

• Ecological Design and Planning
• Energy and Appropriate Technology
• Environment and Economy
• Natural and Green Building
• Oil and Natural Gas Depletion
• Progressive Leadership
• Sustainable Living
• Food and Permaculture

We encourage you to shop with us. Our online bookstore is growing rapidly. We are adding titles weekly to bring you some of the best reads on sustainable living available. Shop with the Solar Living Institute, and help support our valuable work!

Stanford University alumnus Jay A. Precourt has committed $30 million to establish the Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency at the university. The gift will provide program funds, endow new energy- related faculty positions and help support Stanford's new Environment and Energy Building currently under construction. The Precourt Institute's mission is to improve the efficiency of energy use. It will emphasize research, decision-making and policy in the discovery and adoption of energy-efficient technologies, systems and practices. Initial work will focus on improving energy efficiency in buildings, the transportation sector, fuels and power distribution.

We're hiring here at the Solar Living Institute. We have a position open for Administrative Assistant.

Administrative Assistant: Our excellent Administrative Assistant has also decided to go back to school, and we are looking to replace her also as soon as possible. This position reports to our Operations Manager. Review the job description for the Administrative Assistant position and send your cover letter and resume to our Executive Director, Bob Gragson, at bob.gragson@solarliving.org.

For other energy and environmental positions throughout the world, you might also check out these websites:

• Green Dream Jobs
• Environmental Jobs & Careers
• Environmental Career Opportunities (EcoJobs)
• EcoEmploy.com
• Idealist.org
• EcoTrust Jobs
• Orion Grassroots Network
• EnvironmentalCareer.com
• Green Energy Jobs
• The Nature Conservancy