California Governor Gray Davis signed legislation in September committing the state to supply

20% of its retail power sales with renewable energy by 2017. Lauded by environmentalists, the bill, SB 1078, is criticized by most renewable energy companies, who complain of ambiguities and complexities. Ten percent of the state’s energy already comes from renewable resources.

Higher than anticipated industry costs for photovoltaic panels together with funding and budgeting shortfalls have forced the

Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) to delay new PV installations under its “PV Pioneer” program. SMUD’s recent allocation of $4.4 million (and potentially $1.9 million more) to the program will allow the continuation of all existing contracts. Begun in 1993, the PV Pioneer program has been responsible for over 750 PV system installations atop residences and other buildings in the Sacramento area. SMUD’s Distributed PV System generates 8 million watts of power. SMUD remains committed to the goal of providing 20% of its customer’s electricity needs with renewable energy by 2011.

recently stepped down as director of the

Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), a post he has held since 1977. Block has accepted the Co-Principal Investigator position in FSEC’s multimillion-dollar program, funded by NASA, to investigate hydrogen production, storage, safety, and utilization. For more on FSEC, visit

www.fsec.ucf.edu.

Heat waves and high humidity across the eastern states pushed American

electricity demand to an all-time high during the week ending August 3. The record 90,640 gigawatthours (GWh) beat the previous high of 88,120 GWh, set during the week ending August 11, 2001.

The Atlanta International Museum of Art and Design (AIM) is now showing “Ecology, Economy, Equity: The Architecture of

William McDonough + Partners.” The exhibit, open through February 28, features architectural models, text panels, preparatory drawings, site plans, and interactive computer stations describing WM+P projects such as the Herman Miller “GreenHouse” factory and office building and Oberlin College’s Lewis Center for Environmental Studies. AIM is found online at

www.atlantainternationalmuseum.org.

Safe Hydrogen, LLC, of Boston, Massachusetts, has announced the end product of a three-year, $3 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a safer and more efficient method of

storing and delivering hydrogen fuel. The result is a chemical hydride slurry that can store the fuel and, when you “just add water,” generate 99.999% pure hydrogen on demand. The slurry is roughly the consistency of thick paint and can be pumped easily, is non-explosive and nonflammable, can be recycled and replenished, and offers extremely dense hydrogen storage—ten times as dense as compressed hydrogen and twice as dense as liquefied hydrogen. Safe Hydrogen hopes this technology will solve hydrogen’s infamous storage problem, increasing the feasibility of hydrogen-powered fuel cells. More information is available online at

www.safehydrogen.com.

In mid-September, membership of the

U.S. Green Building Council passed the 2,000 mark, up from 950 a year earlier—more than 100% growth!

The U.S. Green Building Council will host its first

Young People’s Forum at its upcoming Green Building International Conference and Expo in Austin, Texas. Young professionals in the green building movement will have a chance to network and learn from one another during the two-hour seminar on November 13. For more details, e-mail younggreenbuilders@hotmail.com.

, part of the largest lighting company in the world, recently became the first American lighting manufacturer to be certified for compliance with ISO 14001. To comply with the standard, a company must evaluate the environmental impact of its products and regularly report its findings to the public.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has completed a survey in which

straw-bale houses were found to use an average of 21% less space-heating energy than conventional houses. Because comparable conventional homes were not available, the study compared eleven straw-bale homes of various sizes and bale wall types to conventional houses modeled by HOT2000 software. Nine of the 11 straw-bale houses performed better than the conventional models, with savings ranging from 4.7 to 38.7%. The research report is available online at evolvebuilders.ca.