Solar Sonoma County Sympossium

Solar Permitting Symposium
Presented by Solar Sonoma County and Pacific Gas & Electric Company
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
9:00 am - 12:00 noon – Complimentary lunch provided!
Fountain Grove Inn, Camelot conference room
101 Fountain Grove Parkway, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Join Pacific Gas & Electric, Solar Sonoma County, and regional solar and building industry leaders for a symposium on how to achieve consistency and standardization in municipal codes and permitting for customer-side solar systems. Hear from Solar Sonoma County stakeholders and others who are directly engaged in solution-oriented efforts to harmonize codes and standards toward the following goals:

· Streamlining the overall permitting and inspection process to reduce permitting costs and times through greater efficiencies.
· Increasing and aligning solar installation knowledge and best practices among planners, building officials, solar installers, designers, and contractors.
· Improving the quality and safety of solar installations throughout Sonoma County.

During this three-hour forum, speakers will provide an update on recent progress, as well as engage with audience members to better understand existing challenges.

Forum speakers include:
· Andrew Yip, California Solar Initiative Supervisor, PG&E
· Marty Roberts, Solar Sonoma County
· Steve Pantazes, Town of Windsor Chief Building Official
President of the Redwood Empire Association of Code Officials
Solar Sonoma County Advisory Board Member
· Corey Asbill, US Dept. of Energy Research Engineer – Renewable Energy Systems (NMSU/IEE/SWTDI), NABCEP* Certified Solar PV Installer
· Sue Kately, California Solar Energy Industry Association Executive Director
· Eric Alderman, CEO of SolarNexus and member of the SolarTech Permitting Committee
· Bill Brooks, Solar America Board of Codes and Standards (Solar ABCs)

The Solar America Board for Codes and Standards is a collaborative effort among experts to formally gather and prioritize input from the broad spectrum of solar photovoltaic stakeholders including policy makers, manufacturers, installers, and consumers resulting in coordinated recommendations to codes and standards making bodies for existing and new solar technologies. The U.S. Department of Energy funds Solar ABCs as part of its commitment to facilitate widespread adoption of safe, reliable, and cost-effective solar technologies.
* North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners

This no-cost forum is open to all interested parties but is intended for solar industry members, building officials, planners, contractors, architects and solar program administrators.

RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED as space is limited. Please reserve your space with an email to marty@solarsonomacounty.org by Monday morning, November 9, 2009. PLEASE include your name, title, affiliation and phone number.

Marty Roberts, Project Director for Solar America Cities grant program
Solar Sonoma County
www.solarsonomacounty.org
707.829.9191 - Home Office
707.284.9799 - Agency Office

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Lori Houston, Associate Director
SOLAR SONOMA COUNTY
Promoting solar countywide
www.solarsonomacounty.org
707.284.9799 | 707.569.6029 cell

"Solar energy is not an 'alternative energy.' It is the original and continuing primary energy source. All life and all civilizations have always been powered by solar energy." - Donald W. Aitken,PhD

Dr. Donald Aitken, a LEED™ Accredited Professional, is currently Principal of his own consulting company, Donald Aitken Associates, Affiliate Faculty Member at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and Senior Consulting Scientist for the Energy Department of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Previously he has been a staff research physicist and astrophysicist at Stanford University, where he founded and directed three laboratory research programs, and founder and Chairman of the Department of Environmental Studies at San Jose State University, where he was named "Professor of the Year". Dr. Aitken has also served as the Executive Director of the Western Regional Solar Energy Center for the U.S. Department of Energy, and Senior Staff Scientist for Renewable Energy Policy and Economics with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He has over 100 publications in these various fields.

Dr. Aitken has twice served as national Chairman of the American Solar Energy Society, has twice directed the national solar energy conferences, and was the Technical Chair of the National Passive Solar Conference in June, 2002. He is the former Vice President, and Secretary, of the International Solar Energy Society, and was on the International Organizing Committee for the Solar World Congress in Adelaide, Australia, in November of 2001.

http://www.donaldaitkenassociates.com/bio_da.html