Louisville, CO, July 6 2010 – Colorado State University’s recently completed solar energy system provides clean energy for the campus and shade for students, faculty and visitors parking at the Lake Street Parking Garage. The 132.5 Kilowatt solar electric system is the fourth project between Colorado State University and local solar energy provider, Bella Energy.

“Colorado State University has been committed to energy conservation on campus for many, many years,” said Carol Dollard, energy engineer for Colorado State University. “This solar project is one of the many tools in our toolbox and it’s an important piece of the joint efforts with the City and Colorado State to make the downtown area – including the main CSU campus – a net zero-energy district.”

“Bella Energy is extremely proud of our work with Colorado State University,” said Jim Welch, CEO of Bella Energy. “The company was founded in Fort Collins so it is always nice to do work in our hometown. Projects like these are a critical element of our ongoing growth as a company. This year Bella Energy slated to install over two Megawatts of solar energy systems, which is twice the business we did last year.”

It’s that special day of the year when local businesses give away free breakfast and people bike to work. Wednesday, June 23rd was bike to work day!

This year Bella Energy employees rode a collective 219 miles to and from work!

Andrew McKenna is on his third trip to the South Pacific with a team looking for evidence of what happened to famed aviator Amelia Earhart, who disappeared on a round-the-world flight in 1937. The team from The International Group For Historic Aircraft Recovery theorizes that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, landed safely on the island of Nikumaroro but lacked the provisions they needed to survive for long. McKenna’s a solar energy executive from Boulder. Ryan Warner spoke to him by satellite phone from Nikumaroro.

Tour the Balsam Project. A new carbon neutral home on a hill in the heart of downtown Boulder, where functionality, meets style, meets sustainability. The Balsam project is partially powered by a Bella Energy solar pv system.

Register through the BGBG August 31, 2010 5:30 PM – 08:30 PM

The application due date for the Solar Homes Tour is June 4th, 2010! If you’re a solar homeowner and would like to submit your home to be on this year’s solar home tour please visit: http://www.conservationcenter.org/energy/tour.html

This year, the CRC has teamed up with CRES to promote a Front Range weekend of Solar & Green Homes Tours!

Save these dates!

Friday, June 4, Home Applications Due
Tuesday, September 21, CRES’ Solar Seminar at NREL, Golden
Wednesday, September 22, CRC & BGBG’s Building On Site Seminar, Boulder
Saturday, September 25, CRES’ Denver Area Solar & Green Homes Tour
Sunday, September 26, CRC’s Boulder County Solar & Green Homes Tour
Tuesday, September 28, CRES’ Solar Seminar at CRES’ building, Denver
Wednesday, September 29, CRC’s Solar Seminar at CRC’s building, Boulder
For sponsorship information, please email sandelman@conservationcenter.org.

Read about Boulder County Solar Week 2009 and the history of this event.

Solving the Amelia Earhart Mystery from TIGHAR on Vimeo.

A message from our Vice President, Andrew McKenna:

I will be participating in an aviation archaeology expedition to Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific as a team member for the The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, AKA TIGHAR (pronounced tiger).

For the last 20+ years, TIGHAR has been investigating the idea that Amelia Earhart didn’t crash her airplane into the sea when she and her navigator Fred Noonan failed to find Howland Island during the second to last leg of her 1937 “around the world via the equator” flight. Through a process of scientific discovery, we’ve built a hypothesis that Amelia and Fred, using what navigational tools they had available, successfully flew their aircraft to another then uninhabited island called Nikumaroro, some 400 NM southeast of Howland. This hypothesis is supported by the a pattern of post loss radio receptions that appear to have originated at Nikumaroro, signs of recent habitation seen by the US Navy search flight (no they didn’t check it out, they just flew on) a partial skeleton of a castaway along with the remains of a campfire, a woman’s shoe, a sextant box, and a few other trinkets found in 1940 by early colonists, anecdotal stories of aircraft wreckage from the early days of the colony, and artifacts collected by TIGHAR over several trips to Niku that include aircraft aluminum and plexiglass that is consistent with Amelia’s Lockheed 10-E, as well as items from what we think is the final castaway camp that would indicate the presence of a westerner, possibly female, who apparently lived there for some period of time. What we don’t have is a smoking gun, and that’s why were going back.

Bella Energy Commercial Solar Customer, Andrew Cookler has installed three solar energy systems on his properties helping his tenants save money and increase is company’s profitability.

To learn how solar can help your business save money and Capture the Sun, contact our solar experts today…

During the past six months, the congregation raised $100,000 though donations and fundraisers to buy 233 solar panels that will be installed on the church’s roof next week.

More than 40 panels will be engraved with the names of people who donated $1,000 or more to the project.

“We want to be light bearers that share the light with God,” said Jack Groverland, the church’s senior minister. “When we think of light, we think of solar, so this is a very beautiful project to align ourselves with.”

Jack and Janet Root donated $5,000 to purchase five panels, which will be engraved with their names and the names of Jack’s deceased parents and of a family friend who died from cancer.

“It’s about her light living on,” said Janet. “Being a solar panel, I feel like collecting the sun rays is a way for her to stay connected with all of us still living.”

Unity will offset close to 95 percent of its energy use with the solar panels and sell the excess energy to Xcel, the utility provider.

The installation of the panels culminates other energy efficiency and sustainability improvements, such as insulation and recycling that the church has already made to reduce its carbon emissions.

Unity doesn’t think of its theology as a religion but instead as a spiritual conviction, said Groverland. Preserving and protecting the environment reflects the members’ belief that they have a kinship with the environment because everything on earth is a part of God, he said.

Lafayette-based Bella Energy is supplying and installing the solar panels. Despite the church’s tax-exempt status, it was able to receive $60,000 in federal tax breaks by working with Bella Energy to create an entity called Community Solar Partners that would legally own the array.

The church won’t use all of the 60,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year that the array will generate. Xcel has paid $90,000 up front for the excess energy, which will be fed into the grid. It will pay the church $3,000 each year for the next 20 years, according to Paul Williams of Bella Energy.

More than 200 people gave money for the panels and others donated time to raise money during fundraisers.

“People are generous,” said Groverland. “We don’t have any endowments, we operate a hand-to-mouth operation from month to month.”

Congratulations to the Oceanic Preservation Society and Louie Psihoyos for winning the Oscar for Best Documentary last night!

Psihoyos was honored for his work on The Cove.

The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) presents its first documentary film, The Cove, an examination of our oceans and our hearts. An annual dolphin massacre in a secret cove in Taiji, Japan suggests a microcosm of a larger picture, man’s disregard for life. The theme broadens – coal-burning facilities multiply across the planet, leading to high mercury levels in seafood, man’s primary source of protein.

Bella Energy installed a 22.8kW solar energy system that was used to power the building where the film was edited.

Learn more about the film at http://www.opsociety.org/the-cove.htm