Green Gazette By Shelley Stonebrook
WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 7Green Gazette
About a year ago, legislation extending the popular
Solar Investment Tax Credit was passed, which set
the stage for solar to continue soaring. This tax
credit allows a homeowner or commercial builder
to deduct 30 percent of the cost of installing a solar
system from their federal taxes.
A fact sheet published by the Solar Energy
Industries Association (SEIA), based on data com-
piled by GTM Research, says solar jobs in particular
will see a huge boost thanks to the extension, with
approximately 220,000 jobs added in the next five
years. What else can the industry expect to see in
the coming years? The SEIA analysis projects that
by 2020 in the United States, we will:- Install 72 additional gigawatts (GW) of photovol-
taic capacity, reaching about 100 GW — enough to
power 20 million U.S. homes. - Provide 3.5 percent of our electricity with solar power, up
from just 0.1 percent in 2010, an increase of more than
3,000 percent in one decade. - See an estimated $132 billion in additional investment in
the economy.
Should these projections be accurate, by the year 2021, the
United States will produce enough solar power to offset more
than 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. To
put that in perspective, that would be the equivalent of offset-
ting the yearly emissions from 27 typical coal power plants
or 20 million passenger vehicles — enough vehicles for each
resident of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston,
and Philadelphia.
If you’re interested in installing solar on your home and want
to take advantage of the extended tax credit, EnergySage, an
online solar marketplace, offers a guide to walk you through
the process. Find it at http://goo.gl/dcxrey.Until recently, organic seed growers
encountered an educational gap when
seeking mentors and comprehensive
courses covering both theoretical and
practical applications related to seed.
To fill that need, the nonprofit Organic
Seed Alliance (OSA) teamed up
with the Multinational Exchange for
Sustainable Agriculture (MESA) to
create a national internship program,
which launched in 2015.
As part of the program, organiz-
ers developed an extensive course
on growing organic seed. The online
portions of the six-month course
are also available free of charge to
folks outside the internship program.
This includes monthly webinars and
reading lists, as well as discussion
forums for participants to hash out
all things seed-related. Each webinar
covers a new area of organic seedproduction, such as variety trials and seed
selection, diseases and pests, harvesting
how-to and equipment, and seed cleaning.
Students will even get to delve into the
economics and public policies affecting
the sustainable seed-growing sector.To help grow the number of organic
seed growers and advocates, the course
also helps professional seed growers
refine their techniques as well as set
up a structured plan for mentoring and
teaching others their knowledge and
skills. Right now, OSA reports,
Certified Organic farmers can use a
non-organic seed option when the
availability of organic seed is lim-
ited because of high demand, and
the farmer will still be in compli-
ance with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s organic standards. The
more organic seed growers there
are, the more farmers can source
seed that aligns with their values
and growing practices.
To learn more and follow updates
about courses to be offered in 2017,
head to http://www.Learn.MesaProgram.
org/Courses/Organic-Seed-Internship.Take a Free Course on Organic SeedTake a Free Course on Organic SeedTake a Free Course on Organic Seed
Sunny Outlook for Solar GrowthSunny Outlook for Solar GrowthSunny Outlook for Solar Growth
By extending the Solar Investment Tax Credit, the U.S. government will create jobs
while also supporting the use of solar power instead of fossil fuels.Farmers and gardeners who are interested in organic
seed production won’t want to miss these free materials.WWW.RARESEEDS.COM; TOP: ISTOCK/JIM PRUITTISTOCK/ZERBORp 6-8 Gazette.indd 7 10/6/16 3:17 PM