Now this is something I am excited about. My mom sent me the link to this video over the weekend and she is right on. Solar Highways. If we were able to construct a save road, parking lot, highway materials w/ photovoltaics under super strong glass we could harness enough energy to cover ALL USA ENERGY NEEDS PLUS 15%!!!

Let that resonate for a moment.

No oil based electricity.

No coal powered electricity.

All solar. ALL SOLAR.

They even go on to explain how post consumer waste, otherwise headed for landfills, would be the source, mixed with other organic materials, to form the base and structure for the panels.

And finally, from a safety perspective, they plan to include embedded LED lights, powered by the solar, that would be used for a myriad of reason like lighting up crosswalks, giving messages like “SLOW DOWN, CONSTRUCTION AHEAD,” changes in speed limit, etc…

Watch the entire video here.

As I was noodling around in related news, I came across another neat happening in the past year. The State of Oregon is putting together some of the first highway solar projects along the highway like the arrays along the autobahn in Germany.

You can view that video here.

This is a great article from the NY Times Energy and Environment blog about Passive House trending, standards, technology and more. One of our Energy Technicians, Zandy Sievers, recently finished the Passive House training this summer with Katrin Klingenberg, the director of the Passive House Institute-U.S. based in Urbana, Ill.

The story concedes that while the upfront costs can be 15-50% higher, the lifetime energy consumption is roughly 80% less than a normal home.  Even this Vermont home will need no furnace, with heat generation coming from radiant floor heat and a small wood stove.  Their hot water will be heater with solar thermal tubes.

Read the entire story here and check out the video below.

The Montana Radio Company and Sustainable Building System’s have teamed up to bring Cool Green Home to Missoula, where over $135,000 in home renovations will be given to a few lucky Missoula homeowners.

The project was started with a simple idea, take an existing Missoula home and create a “showcase” for energy-efficient and sustainable products offered by local businesses.  It has gained so much attraction that 24 area businesses have partnered with us on this unprecedented project, and each will contribute in their area of expertise.

Our goal is to show our community that sustainable and green homes are not only good for our planet but good for our bank accounts, and with planning, big improvements can be made with modest steps.  We intend on setting an example as to what a sustainable green home could look like.  We don’t intend on building one from ground level but getting an existing home started on the path to green. We will start the home remodel by completing an energy audit of the home to identify the best places to improve the energy efficiency.  For the next year we will continue to monitor the Cool Green Home and track how much money the family saved in energy costs and how their lives improved.

We received over 180 applications from Missoula-area homeowners and paired them down to a set of 10.  From here the winners were chosen.  Congratulations to our winning homes:

• Elke Govertsen & Paul Donaldson
• Jana & Chuck Doyle
• Ross & Norma Nickerson
• James Dodge & Jenny Daniel
• Paula Raines & Michael Hoffer

Keep checking here and at www.CoolGreenHomeMissoula.com for updates and information on the progression at these five homes.  And if you entered and were not a winner, do not fret, there are great tips and DIY projects associated with this year’s projects and we’re already looking to 2011 for another round.

This is a great, and short, video from TED U, the interactive learning component of The Energy Detective (TED) device.

Here Catherine Mohr shares some quick and valuable information on evaluating simple life choices as they relate to energy and water consumption… paper towels v sponge v washcloth all the way to building a new home.

We just finished installing a 3450 watt solar PV system in the Rattlesnake where we employed 16 Enphase micro inverters. Micro inverters offer several advantages over more conventional string inverters.

Racking system in, Panel get ready!

Each solar module power production is optimized individually so little module mismatching occurs.  As well, if one module is shaded from a nearby tree, this one module will have reduced output, not the entire series string of modules as with the larger string inverters.  This advantage alone makes a huge difference but the pluses don’t end here.

Josh setting the first panel. Check out the lines on those racks and micro-inverters.

The Enphase engineers designed one of the coolest monitoring programs found in the PV world.  Each individual module reports its power output over the existing AC output wiring to your in home computer or with internet service, this data is directed to the company’s website where current and cumulative data is displayed and stored.

A good graphic says a thousand words so if you are interested check out this link to the Enphase monitoring examples.  http://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/BxqT67#.

Micro Inverters, Monitoring and Mountains.

PS – don’t those snowy spring peaks just look great in the distance?  It sure is nice to be working Solar in Montana.

Dan Brandborg
SBS Solar guru
dbrandbog@sbslink.com