Regardless of the outcome of Nov. 2 midterm elections, Rhone Resch, president and CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), is positive about the solar industry's future. "Our industry doubled this last year in size and now has almost 100,000 people employed in the U.S.," he said. "We're a real economic force and that resonates with both Democrats and Republicans."

A GOP Congress has historically supported solar, from the first tax credits passed in the 2005 energy bill by a Republican House and Senate, to extensions passed in 2007 and signed by George W. Bush. The greatest challenge for moving forward energy or tax policy will be getting Republicans and Democrats to work together to advance policy, Resch said. He said the challenge will be "breaking through the log jam that's existed for the last several years."

The UNEP Sasakawa Prize, worth $200,000, is presented each year to sustainable and replicable grassroots projects around the planet. The 2009-10 theme for the Sasakawa Prize was "Green Solutions to Combat Climate Change." The winners, selected by a panel of four people including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and UN Messenger of Peace Wangari Maathai, received $100,000 each in order to expand and develop their grassroots projects.

For more information about the prize please visit UNEP's website. 

The Fourth Pig, a Canadian non-profit group founded by two SEI alumni, contracted SEI to teach our first class in Ontario, Canada.  The class featured our first ever PV101 class created with new Canadian content.  Additions to our well tested PV101 curriculum included the Ontario Electric Safety Code, current information of the Ontario Feed-In-Tariff program, and Canadian sites to do all sizing exercises and design.   The class was a huge success and included on-site tours and local guest speakers.

The Fourth Pig is an organization whose mission is to foster ecologically balanced methods of construction and energy production in order to promote more sustainable and healthy communities. 

Schoolchildren in Haiti  photo courtesy of SELF

In the opening minutes of this year's Clinton Global Initiative, former President Clinton announced a $1 million commitment from NRG Energy to partner with the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) on a pioneering project in the Central Plateau region of Haiti -- The Sun Lights the Way: Brightening Boucan Carré.

Building on SELF's work in Boucan Carré with Partners In Health, the NRG commitment will help SELF provide clean, safe, renewable power for fish farming, drip irrigation systems, street lights and schools. This fits with the overall plan for Haiti of "building back better" and will create a model that can be replicated in other areas.