GOOD ENERGY FOR STINSON BEACH
A conversation with Author & Renewable Energy Expert Peter Asmus

The Stinson Beach Solar Committee (SBSC) has a vision...to create a sustainable, energy-independent community, to educate the community regarding that process and to incorporate the use of solar power whenever and wherever it is possible. Toward those intentions members of the SBSC have met and discussed - and are currently researching - the concept of becoming energy-independent! Imagine producing clean, silent, renewable electricity right here in Stinson Beach - that's
exactly what a community-based solar power plant has the potential to do!

Peter Asmus is a member of the SBSC. He is also a friend, author, colleague and respected renewable energy activist. I spoke with him recently about the realities - technical, political and legislative - of such a community solar project. Peter's decades as a renewable energy researcher uiniquely qualify him to shed light on this and other critical 21st century energy issues.
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IN June, 2006, StinsonSolarTimes Editor Sandy LeonVest had a long conversation with Peter Asmus about the possibilities and challenges of transforming Stinson Beach and its sister city Bolinas into truly energy-independent and sustainable communities. Due to the critical nature of that conversation, SST chose to publish it in three parts as opposed to editing out vital information in order to accommodate our tiny newsletter! The entire conversation is published on Sandy's blog at http://www.relocalize.net/blog/3484, her website at www.leonvest.com and www.indybay.org.

June, 2006 - A Conversation with Peter Asmus - Part One:

SLV: Peter, will you talk about what thee Stinson Beach Solar Committee (SBSC) is currently up to - especially with respect to a commumnity-based solar production facility?

PA: SBSC is following up on the great response we received from the Stinson Solar Sunday event held here last February. On June 8th, we had Dana Armanino from Marin County speak at the Stinson Library about the various services and rebates the county offers to local residents and businesses. For example, most people here in the county might not realize that they can get a free site assessment from the county to determine whether they have a good solar site on their property. One of our challenges is that renters like me for example currently have few options to go solar or switch to any other form of renewable energy.

This idea of cooperating at a community level spurred on my investigation of the concept of “community solar.