Solar One Event

I recently received the following press release from Solar One, a non-profit organization that specializes in solar energy awareness and advocacy. Since I am passionate about solar energy, I am happy to call attention to this event.

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Contact: Chris Neidl
Solar One
(212) 505-6050

News Release – June 20, 2008

SOLAR ONE TO HOST THREE PANELS ON ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT DURING CITYSOL

Solar One Green Energy, Arts and Education Center is proud to announce three illuminating panel discussions to be presented during its Citysol summer festival from June 26-29. These talks are organized in conjunction with Solar One’s “I ♥ PV” advocacy campaign, an initiative that intends to transform policy regarding solar photovoltaic development in New York City and State. This initiative utilizes coordinated outreach events and direct actions such as street team and letter writing campaigns, as well as presentations by trained volunteers and high school interns, to target legislative change.

On June 27, 2008 at 6:00 PM, Solar One will host “From Temporary to Permanent: Sustainable Design for Solar One”, a panel discussion that will address issues of sustainable design and its relevance to New York City’s future. Over the past three years, Solar One has been the site of a series of experiments in sustainable design. Next year a permanent green energy, arts and education center, Solar 2, will break ground on this same site. Designed by Kiss + Cathcart, Solar 2 will be New York City’s first carbon neutral building. This panel discussion will mark a moment of transition from Situ Studio’s series of environmentally themed temporary pavilions to this ambitious and visionary initiative. These projects will provide a starting point for a broader discussion of the challenges and potentials of sustainable design initiatives throughout the five boroughs.

Julie V. Iovine, Executive Editor of The Architect’s Newspaper, will moderate this discussion with designers from Situ Studio and Kiss + Cathcart, along with Charles McKinney, Chief of Design for New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and Christopher Collins, Executive Director of Solar One.

On June 29, 2008 at 2:00 PM, Solar One Green Energy, Arts and Education Center will host “Solar Power Potential and Politics in New York City and State: Science, Policy and Activism”, a panel on the future of solar power in New York on the closing day of Citysol 2008. This timely discussion will address technical, economic and political issues inherent to the adoption of solar energy as a widespread energy source for residents and commercial enterprises throughout the city and state, including legislation passed earlier this week in Albany regarding increased property tax abatement and net-metering incentives for solar installation. Will the new legislation help Empire State and its most famous city assume a role of international leadership in the race to bring solar to the mainstream? What is the potential for such a transition? In this conversation with a number of the region’s foremost solar experts, guests will treated to an accessible, highly informative account of New York’s solar present and future.

This panel will be moderated by Shaun Chapman, the Campaign Manager for the New York Chapter of Vote Solar, and will feature some of the most respected names in the field, including Richard Perez, Ph.D. – Research Professor and Senior Research Associate at the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at SUNY-Albany and former Associate Editor of Solar Energy Journal; Wilson Rickerson – Policy Advisor at the Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College and Policy Fellow at the Center of Energy and Environmental Policy; Tom Thompson, Senior Vice President at Atlantis Energy Systems, a manufacturer of Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) systems; and Fred Zalcman, Northeastern States Director of Regulatory Affairs at SunEdison LLC.

On June 29, 2008 at 4:00 PM, Solar One will host “Interactivism: A Conversation About the Practical Intersections of Design and Advocacy”, a panel on the evolution of grassroots advocacy through innovations in media and design, as a fitting end to Citysol. This phenomenon has transformed the relationship between public opinion and progressive politics. While the network power of the internet is primarily responsible for this transformation, other inventive modes of interaction have emerged at the margins to offer creative new ways of engaging and educating citizens, generating feedback to elected officials, and building enduring connections between members and organizations. Practices from game making, exhibit design, architecture and other disciplines have been creatively imported into activist approaches. All of these diverse approaches involve a level of interactivity that is meant to engage, impress, elucidate and include in ways that more conventional means of outreach cannot deliver.

Led by a panel of accomplished artists and designers who are separately pioneering ‘interactivist’ approaches in the NYC area, this discussion will explore a number of specific local projects and future innovation in advocacy and education. Panel members include: Natalie Jeremijenko, Ph.D. – New York University, Environmental Health Clinic; Eve Mosher, artist – HighWaterLine, Insert____Here, and seeding the city; Elliott Montgomery, designer – “I ♥PV” mobile solar chargers; and Chloe Varelidi, game designer – The Institute of Play. Solar One’s Advocacy Coordinator Chris Neidl will moderate.

These events are free and will be held at Solar One, at 23rd Street and the East River.

About Citysol

The centerpiece of Solar One’s summer-long Green Energy Arts Festival, Citysol is a free four-day music and art festival that runs from June 26 through June 29 at Solar One on the East River and 23rd Street. Citysol promotes renewable energy and environmental stewardship in NYC and aims to inspire and support local environmental initiatives in a manner that is both educational and entertaining. Last year’s event drew over 5,000 attendees to witness 17 art installations, 12 contemporary and innovative musical acts, ten workshops and a green marketplace featuring dozens of vendors. In addition to our two panel discussions, this year’s festival will feature 14 more musical acts, four comedy acts, six installations, seven workshops, as well as food, drinks and our annual wind energy sign-up drive. For more information on Citysol, please visit www.citysol.org.

About Solar One

Solar One is New York City’s only Green Energy, Arts and Education Center, working to educate New Yorkers about environmental issues through education, outreach and arts programming. Started as a project of Community Environmental Center, Solar One has reached tens of thousands of people in just three years and drawn acclaim for its unique and innovative approach. For more information, please visit www.solar1.org.