http://sustainablecreekside.org Creekside Residents for Solar Power Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:05:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en On January 22, 2010 the Ad Hoc committee for Solar Guidelines met and agreed on a set of solar guidelines (click here to view the guidelines). The general process for approval of the guidelines is as follows: Guidelines will be reviewed by the HOA legal council (complete). Guidelines will be presented to ... http://sustainablecreekside.org/2010/02/update-on-status-of-the-creekside-solar-guidelines/ In early January we sent out a mailer to all Creekside residents to let them know about the this web site and encourage participation and feedback. The mailer resulted in a bunch of votes on the solar poll (on the left side-bar) and many new e-mail subscriptions to the site ... http://sustainablecreekside.org/2010/01/creekside-mailer-results-in-a-variety-of-great-community-feedback/ I recently ran across this youtube video of John Forbes of Superior Colorado explaining the story of how his Rock Creek HOA took a year to approve his solar installation because they didn't have architectural guidelines for solar installations. Colorado is one of the states that has a solar law ... http://sustainablecreekside.org/2010/01/suing-your-hoa-so-you-can-install-solar-panels/ A recent article in the Eugene Register Guard described the growth of the solar power industry in the Willamette Valley. There are currently seven facilities, from Portland to Eugene, producing everything from silicon ingots and wafers to solar cells to inverters. These facilities employ about 700 people, with plans to expand to over ... http://sustainablecreekside.org/2010/01/how-green-is-my-valley/ As Burt reports in his reporting from the 12/9/2009 HOA meeting, the HOA board chartered a Ad Hoc Solar guidelines committee, lead by Don Wildfang, the new Chairman of the Creekside, Architectural Review Committee (ARC), to recommend a set of solar guidelines to the HOA board. As of today (Jan ... http://sustainablecreekside.org/2009/12/disappointing-lack-of-progress-on-creekside-solar-guidelines/ A report from renewable energy advocates says Oregon is among the best states for regulations that encourage distributed renewable energy, like residential solar panels. Read the whole article at: http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/11/report_gives_oregon_high_marks.html http://sustainablecreekside.org/2009/12/oregon-gets-high-marks-for-integrating-renewable-energy/ A recent article in the in the LA Times reports that even though California and the federal government encourage solar power, homeowners often have to fight homeowners associations for their right to install the systems. "... solar advocates are pushing for a federal version of the California law. Energy legislation that ... http://sustainablecreekside.org/2009/12/homeowners-often-have-to-fight-hoas-to-install-solar/ Dow Chemical Company, Oct. 5, 2009 Solar shingle are just that: shingles similar to roofing shingles on most homes. Except these shingles are photovoltaic and produce electricity, like solar panels. While solar shingles (versus panels) have been around for awhile, there does not appear to be many if any big-name manufacturers producing ... http://sustainablecreekside.org/2009/11/new-name-in-the-solar-game/ The purpose of this post is to 'Let the Sun Shine' on the process of getting solar projects (photovoltaic (PV) and hot water) approved at Creekside. First some facts: In mid-October the HOA Board acknowledged Oregon law prevents an HOA from banning solar energy projects. We agreed with the Board that reasonable ... http://sustainablecreekside.org/2009/11/let-the-sun-shine/ In early 2009 my wife and I decided that we wanted to start moving towards the use of renewable energy. These days there are more and more motivations to take renewable seriously. At the time our biggest motivation was to support the use of clean, renewable energy. So, after attending the ... http://sustainablecreekside.org/2009/10/3rd-post/