Creekside Mailer Results In A variety Of Great Community Feedback

In early January we sent out a mailer to all Creekside residents to let them know about the this web site and encourage participation and feedback. The mailer resulted in a bunch of votes on the solar poll (on the left side-bar) and many new e-mail subscriptions to the site and e-mail feedback. Here is a summary of what we learned from the resident feedback:

1. Creekside residents are supportive of solar power: Granted that not everyone in Creekside has voted in the poll but we feel that we have a significant sampling of Creekside residents voting.
2. Request for the Creekside mailing list: Our mailing list was developed from public tax records available at the Marion County Assessors web site. Since the Creekside HOA does not share the Creekside Mailing list we will be making the public version available on this website.
3. Issues other than solar power: Creekside residents tell us they have other issues they are concerned about in addition to solar power such as: Wind power, grass requirements, Wacky fence aesthetic priorities which encourages chain-link fences but prohibits wood no matter how elegant the wood fence is.
4. Many would prefer to remain anonymous. As a result we've added the Discussion page that allows feedback and discussion on any subject where the commenter can remain anonymous.

We appreciate and agree that there are many opportunities to improve Creekside and even though our immediate focus is renewable energy we would be happy to have this web site act as a discussion forum for other issues that the community would like to discuss. The Discussion page is starting place for this discussion.

Thank you for all the feedback and participation! Keep up the good work.

How Green Is My Valley

A recent article in the Eugene Register Guard described the growth of the solar power industry in the Willamette Valley. There are currently seven facilities, from Portland to Eugene, producing everything from silicon ingots and wafers to solar cells to inverters. These facilities employ about 700 people, with plans to expand to over 2700 in the period 2010-2011.  This means at least 2000 Valley residents currently work in or serve/supply this industry and  within two years that figure will jump to over 8000. In addition, the article indicates the (disclosed) investments made, or to be made, in these plants and facilities exceeds $700 million. Another way to look at how green solar power can make our valley is the home owner's investment when installing a photovoltaic system.  We recently received a proposal to install a 2.5kW PV system for $17,500.  After figuring in the Energy Trust cash incentive and the federal and state tax credits which can be taken, the net investment in this system will be only $3188.  Our estimated savings in electricity costs results in a payback of a bit over 14 years.  In addition, data is beginning to come in indicating that solar power installed on a home increases its value and resale price (more on this in another article).  Put together, that's a lot of green to get by being green!