We're excited to announce that our 16th season of cutting-edge workshops is now posted online for 2008! Our sustainable living courses cover a wide range of topics from solar installation and business, to biodynamic farming, to building with straw bales. Many people ask if our workshops are right for them; we offer something for everyone, including career seekers, homeowners, contractors, community leaders, and entrepreneurs.

With over 300 workshops offered in 2008, our program has grown substantially to meet the demand in the green economy. Visit our website for a full listing of workshops, where you can search for workshops by date, location, or topic by selecting from the dropdown menu. Or 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
Water Security
Women's Learning Series

Check out our complete 2008 workshop schedule here. Hurry and sign up today to ensure your seat in our popular workshops. Classes will sell out early.
If you're on our mailing list, you will receive our 2008 workshop catalog in mid-January. To request a copy of our printed workshop catalog if you're not on our mailing list, email us at sli@solarliving.org.

The solar industry is poised for a rapid decline in costs that will make it a mainstream power option in the next few years, according to a new assessment by the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Prometheus Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Global production of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells has risen sixfold since 2000 and grew 41 percent in 2006 alone. Although grid-connected solar capacity still provides less than 1 percent of the world's electricity, it increased nearly 50 percent in 2006, to 5,000 megawatts, propelled by booming markets in Germany and Japan.

This growth, while dramatic, has been constrained by a shortage of manufacturing capacity for purified polysilicon, the same material that goes into semiconductor chips. But the situation will be reversed in the next two years as more than a dozen companies in Europe, China, Japan, and the United States bring on unprecedented levels of production capacity, stated the assessment.

Read more on Renewable Energy Access, or on Grist.

A tradition began on December 21, 1994 when 23 intrepid souls braved the freezing weather at the construction site that was to become the Solar Living Center. We built a fire and huddled around to see if we did our geometry correctly. We designed the Solar Living Center to be a temple to the sun. If we did it right, we would see the winter solstice sun set directly over our local mountain of power, Duncan Peak.

As the sun began to descend over Duncan Peak at 4:30 pm it did an amazing thing. Half of the sun stayed above the mountain and half remained below the mountain until it slid down symmetrically for an hour and proceeded to set right in the notch of Duncan Peak. Goosebumps tickled us all at this phenomenon. The drum beat picked up on the Djembes, Congas, and various pots and pans in attendance. We were warmed twice as we beat the drums and felt our fire. Thus began Winter Solstice celebration #1 at the Solar Living Center.

This December 21st 2007 marked our 27th consecutive Solstice celebration; friends and family gathered at the central oasis of the Solar Living Center to honor the sun and the cardinal directions, the earth and the sky, and show our gratitude for another cycle completed. As the days begin their six-month journey toward getting longer, we welcome the sun back to the sky.

For the Earth!
John Schaeffer
Founder
The Solar Living Institute

SLI Partners on Solar Workforce Survey: You can join us!

Everyone wants to know where the solar industry is going. In order to gather real data about future trends in the industry, the Solar Living Institute is partnering with the California Community Colleges for the purpose of studying the workforce needs of the solar industry.

We believe that surveying solar businesses is the best way to determine what the projected demand is for various occupations in the solar industry. Information about the skills needed in these occupations, and the recruitment and hiring challenges employers are facing, will also be part of the survey.

The survey results will be shared in a future Solar Living Institute e-news. Results will also be incorporated into a larger report, written by the community colleges, which will analyze solar industry growth trends and identify how we can best respond to the workforce training needs of the industry.

If you're a solar business in California, please take a few minutes to complete the survey by clicking here. Thank you for your participation!

The wind industry is undergoing temporary growing pains similar to the silicon shortage experienced by the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry: there are simply not enough materials or manufacturing capacity to keep up with the increasing demand for wind turbines. The need for steel, copper, concrete and other materials has driven up project costs, restricted turbine supplies and created a difficult market for smaller wind developers.

But despite a two-and-a-half year stretch of materials shortages and rising costs, the global wind industry is experiencing steady growth worldwide and increased acceptance by utilities, governments and citizens.

"Between 2004 and 2005, the global wind turbine market experienced a rapid period of escalation...Within the span of just that year the global demand for wind turbine components and supply jumped to a new plateau and a new rate of growth," says Joshua Magee, senior analyst for Emerging Energy Research's (EER) North American Wind Advisory Group.

Read more on Renewable Energy Access.

Do you spend your free time reading publications such as Home Power and Solar Today? Do you find that you just can't stop researching and thinking about subjects such as solar energy, green building, and biofuels? If so, you just might be a green geek! And if -- in addition to being a green geek -- you love speaking and sharing your knowledge and skills with others, then we'd love to hear from you!

The Solar Living Institute is always on the lookout for inspiring workshop instructors and innovative workshop ideas. If you have a workshop idea that you'd like to share, or if you're interested in leading one of our existing courses throughout the country, please send us an email, attn: Managing Director, Lindsay Dailey.

We're especially interested in ideas related to sustainable business opportunities, green careers, solar, green building, and biofuels.

Our good friends at Grist have compiled a list of the top green stories of 2007. From the sudden die-off of bees, to the humbling of climate-change skeptics, there were green headlines aplenty in 2007.

In many ways, 2007 was the year that green went mainstream. There is much to be hopeful about as major corporations and communities alike have started to move in new and more sustainable directions.

To read more about the top stories from the past 12 months, just click here.

Did you know you can make a donation to the SLI every time you buy products online? The Solar Living Institute just received its first check from GoodSearch, and we would like to thank all of you who are donating to the SLI, one click at a time.

For those of you who are not already using the exciting new Internet search engine called GoodSearch, you should know that every time you search the Internet, the Solar Living institute or other non-profit, school or charity of your choice earns a penny. The SLI has already earned hundreds of dollars through this innovative cost-free method of fundraising. If you are not already using GoodSearch, just go to www.GoodSearch.com to find out how.

Now you can also use GoodShop.com, a new online shopping mall which donates a percentage of each purchase to your favorite cause. Although here at the SLI we don't recommend shopping as therapy or entertainment, we all need things from time to time, and often online shopping is more ecological than a trip to the store. So the next time you need something online, look for it first through the GoodShop.com mall.

More than 100 great stores, including SolFest sponsor Gaiam, offer travel, clothing, electronics and more through GoodShop, so that every time you place an order, you'll be supporting us. Target, Macy's, Travelocity, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Staples and over one hundred other retailers will donate a percentage of each purchase you make to the Solar Living Institute!

Just go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter the Solar Living Institute as the charity you want to support.

The Solar Living Institute is proud to be a part of an innovative new program in the city of Richmond California. The program is spearheaded by the non-profit group Solar Richmond and the Solar Living Institute.

The project trains young members of the Richmond community, historically one of the poorest and most polluted cities in California, in the skills they need to be part of the emerging solar economy. This project will continue in 2008, and represents a national model for creating "green collar" jobs in the areas that most need them. This collaboration was recently awarded a $25,000 grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District's Climate Protection grant program, to expand it for 2008. We look forward to bringing you more good news on this exciting new program next year.

Many of you have made generous contributions to the SLI this year. For all of you who have made donations, we thank you!
As all of you know, despite our phenomenal growth in the past year, there is still much work to be done. Our plans include bringing more of our education on the road, and offering workshops and educational programs in new locations. We also want to keep upgrading our 12-acre demonstration site with a state-of-the-art solar classroom and many new displays and signage. You can be a part of all this by becoming a partner or donor to the Solar Living Institute. Partners, who support us through annual dues and our growing continuous-giving program, are essential to funding the Solar Living Institute. The annual financial support of folks like you, which can range from as little as $35 a year to $2,500 or $10,000, helps us continue to grow and thrive.

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.

As we approach the last few days of the year, we urge you to remember that we are a tax-deductible non-profit, so please consider us during the giving season.
Thank You!

It is not too late to take advantage of our Holiday Sale on all sustainable living books from our online store. Our latest editions include the following: A Handmade Life, Build Your Own Solar Heating System, Building a Straw Bale House, Down to Earth Cookbook, Genetic Roulette, Green Roof Plants, Growing Green, How to Grow More Vegetables (7th Ed.), Natural Beekeeping, Natural Timber Frame Homes, New Sustainable Homes, Solar Living Sourcebook, Solar Revolution, Terra Madre, The Green House, The Homeowner's Guide to Energy Independence, The House That Jill Built, and To Be of Use: The Seven Seeds of Meaningful Work.

We provide FREE shipping on book and DVD orders totaling $100 or more. Plus, take advantage of our special holiday sale, with 20% off all book titles until January 1!

To receive your 20% discount, simply type HOLIDAY into the coupon box on your order form. 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 one job opening at the Solar Living Institute.

Please follow the links below for more information on the positions and how to apply:

• Landscape Supervisor

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