Here Comes The Sun
Posted By: Liz Goodrich
Date Posted: 8/31/2004
Deschutes Public Library is pleased to sponsor Solar and the Politics of Energy at the Sunriver Area Public Library on Saturday, September 11 at 11:00 a.m. The introductory workshop will be led by Paul Sobel and will be followed by a tour of his Sunriver solar home at 1:30. The program is free and open to the public but is limited to 25 participants. Pre registration is required. Reservations for the class can be made by calling 312-1032
Sobel, a pioneer in solar energy in the Midwest, helped designed the first commercial domestic water system in Wisconsin. He served on the Governor’s committee on tax concessions for the use of solar energy in 1975 and has taught courses in alternate energy at the University of Wisconsin Parkside, Central Oregon Community College and Pima Community College, in Tucson, AZ.
Sobel is a passionate advocate for the development and use of alternative sources of energy. “We have five percent of the world’s population and are using 35% of the available energy supply,” states Sobel. “Using solar and other alternative, renewable energy would contribute to our energy self sufficiency.” He sights wind, solar, passive solar, photovoltaic cells and geothermal energy as all potential alternative sources of energy that could be employed in the near future. “Solar energy systems are not complicated.” Sobel points out that the Oregon state tax credit for solar homes is helpful, but he believes more should be done by the federal government to encourage alternative energy use and development. “If the federal government had given one half the subsidy they gave to the oil, gas, and nuclear industries over the years we could have been energy self sufficient by this time.”
For more information about this or other library programs, please call 312-1032.
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