Solar Roundup

In Pendleton, OR

Rural Pendleton is blazing an unlikely renewable energy trail, offering no-interest loans to spark interest in solar power and a group-buy philosophy to get better prices. More than 50 residents installed systems last year, and the program was expanded to more residents and to include businesses this year. [...]

"We're a Western community, and we're proud of that, but we're also in the 21st Century," city manager Larry Lehman said. "There are people here who are interested in renewable energy, and we wanted to make it easy for them."

In many ways, solar makes a lot of sense in communities such as Pendleton: it's far more sunny than in Western OR, the days are hot in the summer (when A/C is needed, solar can power it) yet nights are comfortably cool, and the enormous amount of wind energy produced in the area can primarily be sold for profit to the ever increasing number of data centers located in that part of Oregon. It only cost the city $10,000, but the investment will probably yield far more revenues down the road. Winning the future!