On Wednesday, January 17, at 7 p.m., Solar Santa Monica will be officially kicking off with a "Solar Summit" at the Martin Luther King auditorium in the Main Library.

First on the agenda -- a formal recognition by the City and Council of Solar Champions -- people in the community who have taken the lead by installing solar on their homes and businesses.

Featured Summit speaker will be Randy Udall, shown above. Mr. Udall, Director of the Aspen, Colorado Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE), will bring a national perspective to our Solar Santa Monica program.

Attendees that evening will also have the chance to meet the Solar Santa Monica team and other members of the Santa Monica environmental community. Refreshments will be served.

Please mark your calendar now for the celebration. Since seating is limited, please RSVP with the number in your party to Virginia Nicols.

Our “interest list” now includes some 143 Santa Monica residents who have indicated they would like “more info” about the project. Their first step to getting onto the official “Participant List” is to fill out and return the one-page questionnaire. This is what will allow us to schedule the initial walk-through starting in January. If you haven’t filled out your questionnaire yet, send Virginia Nicols an e-mail to request one.

Solar Santa Monica wants everyone in the City to become more aware of their energy use, and, if possible, to take action to reduce or convert some of it to solar energy coming from their very own roof.

Over the next two years we expect to speak with, guide, educate and encourage thousands of people in this endeavor.

We also plan to select 50 sites – both residential and commercial – to serve as Demonstration Sites. These are sites where one of our packages makes sense -- where energy savings can be measured -- where the owners are willing to serve as Champions of their community. Solar Santa Monica will facilitate work at all these sites.

Your property may not qualify to be a Demonstration Site. Perhaps you’ve already renovated it with a full complement of energy efficiency upgrades. Maybe it is unsuitable for solar. Maybe you want to use your own contractor. But you will be welcomed as a Solar Santa Monica participant to whatever extent possible – including having the opportunity to take advantage of all Solar Santa Monica processes, discounts, and referrals.

Solar Santa Monica is designed to benefit the whole city in one way or another!

From left: Stuart Cooley, Greg Reitz, Susan Munves, Virginia Nicols, Russell Flanigan. Ted Flanigan took the picture so he's missing!