Register now for the workshop of your choice before it sells out. Response to our workshop program this year has been overwhelming. Almost all workshops offered to date have sold out. So register early.

With over 200 workshop days offered in 2007, our program has grown substantially. We are offering a variety of workshops in Southern California in both Los Angeles and San Diego, and we have started to expand to the East Coast where new incentives are making solar an attractive investment. We are also now offering workshops in Tlaxcala, Mexico (see below), and continue to offer workshops in San Francisco, San Jose, Hopland here at the Solar Living Center, and other locations.

Select a topic below for a listing of workshops in an area of interest to you:

• Basic Building Skills
• Biofuels & Alternative Transportation
• Green & Natural Building
• Green Careers & Business
• Local Sustainability
• Permaculture & Organic Food
• Solar & Renewable Energy
• Sustainability for Educators
• Water Security
• Women's Learning Series

We are already in full swing in preparation for SolFest XII to be held Aug. 18-19, 2007. Amy Goodman, Alice Walker, Bruce Cockburn, Dar Williams, and others will appear this year on the SolFest main stage.

For those of you who want to exhibit at the event this year, we anticipate brisk booth sales and encourage you to line up your booth early.

For more information on being an exhibitor at this year's event, continue to check the Exhibitor page on our website. To reserve your booth, call Travis O'Guin at 1-888-821-2132 ext. 113. This year's exhibitor site map and exhibitor brochure are downloadable from our website.

Tickets for this year's SolFest are now available on our website. Get your tickets early for SolFest XII which promises to be the best SolFest yet!

Now you can give money to the Institute without paying out any money!

We would like to introduce you to a new online search tool that raises money for the Solar Living Institute at no cost to you. It's called GoodSearch, and it is an online search engine that will donate one cent to the charity of your choice (such as the Solar Living Institute) for every search you perform.

GoodSearch is partnered with Yahoo, so your searches are as good as any other. Using GoodSearch is simple - just go to this page and you will automatically be contributing to the Solar Living Institute. Make it your homepage, one of your home tabs, add it to your Favorites, or download it for your toolbar, and it will be even easier to support our programs.

If everyone who reads our newsletter used GoodSearch for their online search needs, it could generate over $100,000 for our programs here at the Solar Living Institute. Thanks for your support!

In our bookstore we have an area that lists the latest titles that we have added.

We provide FREE shipping on book and DVD orders totaling $100 or more.

Be sure to check out our books in the following categories:

• Biofuels
• Climate Change
• Ecological Design and Planning
• Ecovillages
• Environment and Economy
• Food and Permaculture
• Fossil Fuel Depletion
• Natural and Green Building
• Progressive Leadership
• Renewable Energy
• Sustainable Living
• Waste Composting
• Water, Water Collection, Greywater Systems, and Ponds

Shop with the Solar Living Institute, and help support our valuable work!

We have an opening for our Site Manager position here at the Solar Living Institute. If you are interested in the position, please read the job description and apply for the position. It will remain open until filled so submitting your application -- a cover letter and resume -- sooner rather than later is encouraged.

We know many of you are interested in green careers from the feedback we receive from you. Put our 2007 Green Career Conference in San Francisco on Nov. 17 on your calendar now.

For energy and environmental positions throughout the world, the following are some good websites for your review:

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

General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt spoke about his company's green successes at a second-anniversary celebration for the "ecomagination" unit last week, noting that it had sales of $12 billion last year, has back orders for $50 billion more, and will "blow away" the original goal of $20 billion by 2010. Immelt also revealed 11 new greener products and services.

Of the 11 new products, services and technologies, one was a carbon emissions offset partnership with energy company AES Corp. to produce offsets for 10 million metric tons of greenhouse gases a year by 2010. "GE will be marketing to airlines, to rental car companies, and people have the option to offset," AES CEO Paul Hanrahan told Reuters.

With Union Pacific, GE unveiled its first green hybrid locomotive that recycles energy and stores in in on- board batteries. In the automotive sector, GE has also invested in the battery company A123, which is working on the next generation of battery technology for hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. which says it is the largest private consumer of electricity in the world, said more than 500 stores will use GE light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to slash energy consumption in its refrigerated display cases. And oil company BP Plc said it is forming a global alliance with GE to develop 10 to 15 hydrogen power projects that will cut greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation.

"People will look back 20 years from now and see what GE, BP and Wal-Mart did at this point in time and will say 'That's when it happened,'" said Wal-Mart VP Charles Zimmerman.

For more information:

• "GE CEO sees 'green' unit growing faster," Reuters, May 25, 2007
• "GE doubles 'green' sales in two years," MSNBC.com, Financial Times, May 23, 2007
• "GE kicks off ambitious green initiative," Grist, May 10, 2005

Six months ago, voters in Berkeley, California, overwhelmingly approved a measure to reduce the city's emissions 80% by 2050. Now proposals have been laid out to accomplish that goal, including requiring builders to use green materials, making landlords provide free bus passes to tenants, informing residents of the size of their carbon footprint, and helping "sun-ergize" every roof in the city. The personal behavior of Berkeley residents will also be held to a high standard, with incentives provided for walking to work, buying local food, saving energy, and more. Residents may have underestimated the impact on themselves: people who will gladly welcome a car-share vehicle on every block may balk at being required to upgrade appliances and install more-efficient insulation at their own expense.

For more information:

• "It Won't Be Easy Being Green," San Francisco Chronicle, May 24, 2007
• "Berkeley to start climate campaign," Alameda Times-Star, May 17, 2007

On Earth Day, April 22, 2007, at the American Museum of Natural History, New Yorkers cheered on Mayor Michael Bloomberg as he presented PlaNYC 2030, the Big Apple's first ever long-term sustainability plan.

Former Solar Living Institute interns Brianna Wolf and Jude Wu participated in the creation of this plan. Be sure to read the article on this plan and our former Institute interns' involvement in this important plan.

For more information:

• Read the article by Jude Wu on former Institute interns
• Visit the plaNYC 2030 website and read the plan

Partners, who support us through annual dues and our growing continuous-giving program, are essential to funding the Solar Living Institute. The financial support of folks like you, which can range from as little as $35 a year to $2,500 or $10,000 a year, helps us continue to grow and thrive.

The Solar Living Institute is growing rapidly. Your contributions are critical to help us to continue to grow since our work is far from over! If you have never been an Institute partner, or if your partnership has lapsed, won't you please join us in inspiring and educating people about sustainable living? Even the smallest contribution can help.

Find out more about our partnerships, and some of the many thank-you gifts you can receive for your support.

The Solar Living Institute is proud to be partnering with Proyecto San Isidro, a natural building and sustainable living school in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. Join us this year as we explore sustainability in a fascinating international context.

During the first week of these unique workshops, foreigners (typically from the U.S., Canada and Europe) convene for an immersion in regional Mexican culture. The area surrounding Tlaxco, with its millennia-long history of natural building and cultures rooted in the land, will be your classroom. Through field trips, classroom exercises and hands- on "practices," participants will learn and experience various techniques and get an overview of regional, Mexican, and indigenous cultures rarely experienced by visitors. During the second week, participants from México join the group and the bulk of the coursework focuses on hands-on practices.

• Land Restoration & Ecological Living (July 24 - Aug. 4, 2007)
• Natural Building & Traditional Architecture (Nov. 20 - Dec. 1, 2007)

For more information about this unique opportunity, visit our website at www.solarliving.org or call the Solar Living Institute!

After 18 months of project delays, job cuts and angst about the future for many businesses in the New Jersey solar industry, the state's solar program has started moving again as more funds were released for projects waiting in a queue at the Board of Public Utilities (BPU). However, there is still some question about where the program will go next and how upcoming changes to the market structure will impact the industry.

Because of the high number of applications submitted to the Clean Energy Program (CEP) for up-front solar rebates starting in 2005, the BPU quickly exceeded its budget, thus holding up the approval of many projects. A queue was then created to manage the flow of applications.

With the release of $47 million for residential and commercial projects, the queue has moved -- mostly for installations under 10-kilowatts (kW). However, all the money budgeted through 2008 has been spent, leaving many applicants wondering when they will get an up-front rebate.

According to a non-scientific survey conducted by the Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Industries Association (MSEIA), the slowdown at the BPU caused some turmoil for the state's solar industry-resulting in a sharp drop in business, significant job cuts and loss of investors. The survey results show that "62% of responding companies laid people off [and] 81% of responding companies have reduced, and in many cases, eliminated marketing and sales efforts [and] 77% report a loss of investors over the last year."

The up-front rebates, which are especially attractive to residential and small-scale commercial developers, have been lowered five times over the last two years in order to accommodate as many applicants as possible. Currently, rebates are $3.80 per watt for systems under 10 kW and range from $2.75 to $2.00 per watt for systems over 10 kW.

Currently, there are a number of financing mechanisms under examination by the BPU. New Jersey's leading electricity provider, PSE&G, recently proposed a financing model in which the utility would loan a potential solar system owner the money to cover around 40-50% of an installed system. A bank or investor would fund the rest of the project. PSE&G would be repaid with SRECs generated by the system owner over a 15-year period.

Yuba Gals Independent Media is a very small production company located in western Nevada County, California. Their digital video services include live-mix multi-camera videotaping, live video projection, and post-production services.

Robyn Mallgren and Janaia Donaldson, the Yuba Gals, dropped by our office last week and let us know about their TV series on peak oil and positive responses to energy decline -- weekly half- hour conversations about:

• localizing our communities
• local food production
• renewable energy
• transportation alternatives
• personal and social responses
• and other topics

The annual gathering that is the Harmony Festival convenes once again in the heart of Northern California to bring together the best of leading-edge music, art, and culture.

This year, for the first time in it's 29-year history, the Harmony Festival celebrates for three full days and nights, with expanded shows and venues, more on- site camping, and the best musical lineup ever. The "Harmony After Dark" nighttime shows feature three separate venues of music in one epic party zone, all for one price. This year's theme is "Promoting Global Cooling."

The Solar Living Institute will be sponsoring this year's EcoVillage, and we will be there all weekend presenting workshops on natural building, solar power and more in the Green Living Workshop zone. Stop by and say "hi"!

When: June 8 - 10, 2007
Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa, CA

Music:
BRIAN WILSON - ERYKAH BADU - THE ROOTS
MOE- UMPHREY'S MCGEE - RICKIE LEE JONES

Speakers:
AMY GOODMAN - ARIANNA HUFFFINGTON
Edwin Black - Van Jones - Rabbi Michael Lerner - Rob Brezney

400+ EXHIBITORS and 20 Attractions

View complete schedule and ticket information at: http://www.harmonyfestival.com.

The Solar Living Institute is proud to announce our Urban Sustainability Educational Partnership with our friends at the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society! The San Francisco Botanical Garden is offering friends of the Solar Living Institute a free year long membership to the Gardens and an $80 discount when you enroll in the upcoming Urban Permaculture Design Certification Course. Get ready to transform your life with this summer course, co-taught by several of our favorite Solar Living Institute instructors and the Associate Director of Education for the Botanical Gardens.

Sign up now and you'll receive two years of membership to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens for just $60. In addition you'll receive an $80 discount on the eight weekend Urban Permaculture Course ($870). You get the two year membership and the whole course for a total of $930. You save a whopping $140, and a free ticket to SolFest is included!

A big thanks to the San Francisco Botanical Garden for their ongoing commitment to sustainable living! Call Kirsten at 415-661-1316 ext. 354 to register and mention that you are a friend of the Solar Living Institute.