Coalition Partners

Tucson Electric Power

Global Solar

Habitat for Humanity

Primavera Builders

John Wesley Miller Companies

Progressive Solar

The Solar Store

The City of Tucson

Community of Civano

Case Enterprises

The Kino Project

Venture Catalyst Inc.

Tucson Unified School District

Pima Community College

ASETT Center

Tucson Institute for Sustainable Communities

Expert Solar Systems

National Association of Home Builders Research Center

Written & Edited by:

Valerie Rauluk & David Fuller
Venture Catalyst Inc. 
(520) 326-3195
Email: sol3az@igc.org

P.O. Box 42708
Tucson, AZ 85733

Habitat for Humanity Solar Home: A First!

The first solar-powered Habitat for Humanity home was unveiled on February 28,1999. Dedication is planned for June 26th. The project is a partnership between Tucson Electric Power, Santa Rita High School (TUSD), The Solar Store, Pima Community College and other Coalition members. Funding was also provided by the Utility Photovoltaic Group, the Department of Energy, and the State of Arizona Energy Office. The home, built by Santa Rita students, was outfitted with PV and solar hot water appliances during a two day workshop. High School students, Habitat volunteers and Coalition members participated. Built to TEP. s Guaranteed Heating, Cooling and Comfort standards, this home will cost less than $25 per month for heating and cooling. With the addition of solar appliances, most other energy needs will be greatly reduced. The decrease in energy costs will result in a permanent inccrease in family income

Tucson's Community Energy Fund

The success of the Habitat Solar Home and the realization of the positive impact solar energy appliances can have on family income, has led the Coalition to form the Community Energy Fund. The Community Energy Fund is a campaign to generate community-wide support for solar energy appliances for families of low and modest incomes. From time to time, the Fund will raise funds from individual, corporate, and foundation sources, in addition to community events. As funds become available, solar energy appliances will be purchased and installed in Habitat for Humanity, Primavera Builders, and other affordable housing projects. At the discretion of contributors, funds can also be used to install solar appliances in schools.

Contributions to the fund can be sent to: Community Energy Fund, P.O. Box 42708, Tucson AZ 85733. Specifiy beneficiary (school or affordable housing program) if you like. For more information about the Fund, call the Tucson Coalition for Solar at (520) 326-3195.

Coalition Receives Funding for Million Solar Roof Activities

The Tucson Coalition for Solar was awarded funding from the Department of Energy to further its objective of increasing the use of solar energy throughout the region. The Coalition funding, awarded on a competitive basis, was selected from dozens of applications nation-wide. Seventeen other recipients include the states of Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina, New Jersey, Georgia, Montana, Nevada, Washington, and the cities of Boulder, Philadephia, San Diego and Oahu. Funding will be used to continue education and technical briefings for real estate professionals, architects, and builders. For information call Venture Catalyst at (520) 326-3195.

Inner-City Solar Village Announced

An all-electric solar village will soon be developed in a downtown Tucson historic neighborhood. Armory Park del Sol on 3rd Avenue, a venture of John Wesley Miller Companies, Tucson Electric Power Co. and TEP. s sister company Global Solar Energy, will consist of 99 homes in a 14-acre community. It will combine the turn-of-the-century architectural styles of the neighborhood with cutting-edge distributed solar energy. Global Solar Energy will provide its thin-film PV product to deliver a projected 75% of each home. s power needs. The developer characterizes the project as . building a new power plant one home at a time.. As of mid-May, more than half of the home sites have been reserved. The project has proven so popular that Miller is investigating other inner-city parcels for similar projects.

Solar Energy Demo at the Tucson Spring Home Show

TCS presented a first time ever demonstration of solar energy at the annual Southern Arizona Spring Home Show. Tucson Electric Power connected its 2kW PV solar trailer unit to a manufactured home. Thousands of consumers got their first real-life demonstration of PV capacity. A solar hot water demonstration was also presented. Most visitors to the TCS booth were pleasantly surprised at the growing affordability of solar energy systems.

Solar Design Laboratory

On May 20th, 21st and 22nd, the TCS hosted a series of technical briefings on photovoltaic and solar hot water applications and technologies. Steven Strong of Solar Design Associates, and Bill Guiney of the Florida Solar Energy Center, both nationally recognized experts in PV and solar hot water applicances respectively, presented the technical briefings. Gale Marsland, principal of Progressive Solar, and Solar Built, presented the Civano Solar Case Study. The three-day conference also included a design charrette. Co-sponsored by the Southern Arizona Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, University of Arizona Dept. of Architecture, and Civano, the series was funded by the Department of Energy, Utility Photovoltaic Group and the TCS. A key set of outcomes of the conference were solar energy application designs and a . wish list. for prospective solar energy products. Proceedings reports will be available after August, . 99.

Civano Opening

On April 16, 1999 the long awaited grand opening of the Community of Civano was held. Officials from the Department of Energy, Fannie Mae, as well as the Governor Jane Hull of Arizona were in attendance. The Coalition, especially member Gale Marsland of Progressive Solar, has worked hard to maintain a solar focus for the project. This has resulted in photovoltaic installations in the Neighborhood Center and models and solar hot water appliances as standard on all first-phase homes.