It is a self-guided public tour showcasing homes and businesses in the Santa Maria and Lompoc areas that are taking advantage of solar energy to produce electricity, hot water, pool heating and space heating.

HelioPower showcases this 3 kw ground mount system in Lompoc for the South Coast Solar Tour

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM

For more information, click here.

 the solar power dedication at the famous Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, CA.  Celebrating its 60th anniversary by going green, Bob's Big Boy hosted a "Sixty and Solar" dedication ceremony this morning.  Bill Nye was joined by Burbank Mayor Gary Bric and other local dignitaries to inaugurate a 26 kW Canadian Solar photovoltaic panel system installed by HelioPower at the historic restaurant.

Many of the day's speakers, including Bill Nye recounted their favorite Bob's memory while applauding Bob for installing solar power.  In addition to Bill Nye and Mayor Bric, the day's speakers included Gregory W. Ashley, President, Canadian Solar USA; Robert Liggett, Jr., Chairman, Bob’s Big Boy International; Gary Olson, President/CEO, Burbank Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Lance Williams, Executive Director, U. S. Green Building Council-Los Angeles  and Wayne Colmer, Board President, Habitat for Humanity of SF/SCV, the official charity of the Bob’s “Sixty and Solar” celebration.

More pictures from the day's festivities:

This morning, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Energy Secretary Steven Chu hosted a group of clean energy developers and manufacturers at the White House to discuss how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) is creating jobs and helping expand the development of clean, renewable domestic energy. At the meeting, Secretaries Geithner and Chu announced $550 million in new awards through the Recovery Act's 1603 program, bringing the total to more than $1 billion awarded to date to companies committed to investing in domestic renewable energy production.

"This Recovery Act program is an example of a true federal partnership with the private sector," said Treasury Secretary Geithner. "Not only are our Recovery dollars meeting an immediate funding need among innovative companies, they are also jumpstarting private sector investment in communities across the country—with benefits for the renewable energy industry and our economy alike."

Said Secretary Chu: "These investments are crucial to ensuring America can compete and win in the race for the clean energy jobs of the future. With American workers and American innovation, we can and must lead the world when it comes to the new Industrial Revolution in clean energy."

Created under Section 1603 of the Recovery Act, the program provides cash assistance to energy producers in place of tax credits. The payments improve project viability, enabling companies to create and retain jobs, and establish sufficient financing bases for projects that may otherwise not be possible, dramatically expanding and accelerating the development of renewable energy projects throughout the country. Under this program, the federal government provides a cash payment in lieu of a tax credit totaling 30% of the qualifying cost of the project; for each federal dollar spent in payments, more than two dollars are spent in private sector investments.

In the listing provided by the Department, the Bob's Big Boy solar installation was listed, having received a grant funding check of $53,648 back on its solar power investment.  This check was in addition to the state California Solar Initiative incentive.

Click here for the full announcement.

Click here for information and photos regarding the Bob's Solar Power installation.

Additional speakers include Burbank Mayor Gary Bric; Gregory W. Ashley, President, Canadian Solar USA; Robert Liggett, Jr., Chairman, Bob’s Big Boy International; Gary Olson, President/CEO, Burbank Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Lance Williams, Executive Director, U. S. Green Building Council-Los Angeles and Wayne Colmer, Chairman Elect, Habitat for Humanity of SF/SCV, the official charity of the Bob’s “Sixty and Solar” celebration.

In the afternoon, Habitat for Humanity volunteers and the public will dance to the tunes of Fifties-era band, Captain Cardiac and the Coronaries.

At both events, Bob is hosting lunch and food for the public.

The restaurant is now generating a portion of its own electricity from a solar power system designed and installed by HelioPower and consisting of 132 Canadian Solar CS6P 200 Modules and two SMA inverters, a Sunny Boy 6000US and a Sunny Boy 3000US. Energy generation is monitored by an SMA Sunny WebBox and graphically displayed through the SMA Sunny Portal system.  Click here to see a video of the installation.

For the event invitation, click here.

Bob's Big Boy, Burbank is located at 4211 Riverside Drive in Burbank, California.

Mr. Nye currently hosts, "Stuff Happens" on Planet Green.

Additional information about Mr. Nye can be found here:
http://www.billnye.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Nye
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/stuff-happens/

Since they have other business obligations next Thursday when we celebrate Bob's Sixty and Solar party, Chef Jamie decided to cover the Bob's story this Sunday in her radio program. "Food and Wine with Chef Jamie Gwen" is broadcast to 1.3 million people from the border at San Diego to the Santa Barbara mountains.

Her show airs Sundays from 8am to 10am on KFWB News Talk Radio 980.

The KFWB website is at www.KFWB.com and Chef Jamie's website (which is beautiful for food fans) is at www.ChefJamie.com.

Please tune in and support Chef Jamie and Bob's Big Boy!

Residential solar installation by HelioPower

Which means that for anyone thinking about putting solar panels on their roof, there probably hasn't been a better time.

This is the opening paragraph of the Wall Street Journal article yesterday, "Let the Sun Shine. With the price of solar panels falling, now may be a good time for consumers to take a look," by writer, Cassandra Sweet.

More excepts:
All along the supply chain, prices have been falling, and could fall further still. Silicon, a main ingredient in most panels, has been selling for as little as half what it went for a year ago, while some panels and installed systems can be had for 25% less, retailers and installers say. Throw in a 30% rebate offered by the U.S. government, plus rebates in California, New Jersey, New York and other states, and, depending on where you live, you could be looking at $15,750 for a system that would have cost nearly twice as much a year ago when the federal rebate was much smaller.

The bottom line: several factors are coming together to make it a compellingly smart financial decision to invest in solar now! For the full article, click here.