Last summer we marched to Re-Energize Iowa. This summer, lets mobilize around re-building Iowa.

Calls from Governor Culver to rebuild focused on mobilizing federal money and emphasizing safety. Excellent, that will make our work easier! We can help, lending the vision for building a better world and the energy to put ourselves in the places to make a difference. So much of the work we need to do is literally rebuilding the country to be safer, healthier and more ecologically responsible. Obviously 500 year storms shouldn’t be necessary to motivate us to reconsider how communities are built, but we want to be sure that what replaces destroyed blocks in Ceder Rapids is climate and people friendly.

In Other News:

First Solar is scaling up production of its printed photo-voltaic cells, which sell for $2.40/watt, edging closer to the mythic $1/watt where the industry believes solar becomes cheaper than coal. The company is moving to a new production facility near Tuscon, AZ big enough to produce 40 megawatts of PV per year. link

While the US is a world leader in research and development, we’re generally weak at scaling up production. A German firm, Q-Cells, is building a huge solar production facility just south of the Mexican border, taking advantage of free trade laws and generating a projected 3,500 of green jobs. link

Producing solar requires polysilicon, a mineral processed from sand and rock. “Solar cell makers paid US$25 per kilogram for solar-grade polysilicon five years ago but the price recently reached US$500 in the spot market,” according to Digitimes. Yikes! What does that mean for the future? “Based on public announcements, it appears polysilicon supply will increase by 35% in 2008. This may provide adequate supply of silicon feedstock to allow an 80% growth in the solar industry as well as continued steady growth in silicon for electronics.” Said Hemlock Semiconductor CEO. Expect strong growth in solar, but even at 35% it will be several years before significant percentages of US roofs to have panels. link

Lastly, on a different note, almost 600,000 people have signed a petition for “Congress to act immediately to lower gasoline prices (and diesel and other fuel prices)* by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries.” There are other ’solutions’ out there to the energy crisis. They won’t work, of course, but when has that stopped large numbers of people from trying something? link

The Power Vote pledge is up to 1,763, so…. lets get to work!