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Sour solar deal in L.A.? One of the linchpins of the recently announced Solar L.A. initiative is city ballot Measure B, due to go before the voters in early March. Despite the widespread support for the general idea of the city and region becoming more aggressive in its development and adoption of photovoltaic component manufacturing and solar energy solutions, not everyone is thrilled with the details of the plan and the measure.
A story in Friday's (Dec. 19) Los Angeles Times reports that a consultant's report, which was commissioned before the city council voted unanimously to put the measure on the next ballot but never made public, cautions that the solar plan would cost more than twice the amount cited by the city's Department of Water and Power (DWP).
This news has fueled opponents' claims that "Measure B [is] a backdoor mechanism to make voters sign off on a huge package of DWP rate increases," according to the story. Supporters counter that such claims are overstated and other solar industry experts laud the plans.
I've been trying to set up interviews with both the L.A. mayor's office and the DWP to discuss the initiative, especially its implications for developing a local solar PV R&D and manufacturing infrastructure. Stay tuned for further news in the coming weeks.
Solar-powered charities: I received a sweet greeting note from Markus Hoehner and the EuPD Research team that includes a wonderful charitable gesture for this holiday season. By clicking on the link at http://www.eupd-research.com/christmas08/index_en.php, the firm will donate €5 in the respondent's name to the German Cancer Foundation for Children.
The effort repeats EuPD's donation campaign from last year, which was evidently "so successful that we would like to repeat it this year and support a very worthwhile children's charity," as Markus said in his message.
In another sign of seasonal uplift, Applied Materials said in a press release today that its "North American employees have raised more than $480,000 for local food banks in the past two months through a variety of fundraising activities, exceeding the company’s 2008 fundraising goal. The Applied Materials Foundation will match the employee giving amount, so that the total contribution to food banks throughout North America will be $1 million, which will provide more than 2 million meals for those in need."
"This year employees pulled out all the stops to increase overall giving in the face of these tough economic times," stated Mark Walker, the company's managing director of community affairs. "In addition to a significant online program, we had employees paying to throw cream pies at their managers, holding auctions in their homes, canned food sculpture contests, solar car races, bake sales, and dozens of other events designed to convince coworkers to donate a little bit more for a great cause."
The pie tossed in the boss's face followed by a not-so-quick getaway in a solar car sounds quite fun, but I wonder if Mike Splinter took a full-frontal Boston Cream for the cause.
A beneficiary of the program, Keith Flagler, interim CEO of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, said in the PR that "many companies are generous in their giving to our program, but Applied Materials has been a company we've been able to count on for decades.
"They are one of the most consistent and creative in their approach and their employees never cease to amaze us with new ideas for raising funds. The donations of both money and food they provide help all year long and are an important part of our annual fundraising efforts."
Nice to see those who pay such close attention to their bottom lines also pay something forward to those trying to survive in society's bottom rungs.
