Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is on the way. A time of year to reflect on where we are and where we are going. Being an optimist, I am very pleased with the movement over the last year towards at least talking about Renewable Energy in the media and most levels of government. Although I don't subscribe to Rock Star politics per se, I must thank the celebrities who have brought our cause to the attention of the world. Now let's hope the momentum carries through and we actually start to see real solutions and progress taking place. We need 2008 to be the year of implementation. Time for the engineers to be set free to do what they do best ... build stuff :-)

A personal favorite solution of mine is the idea of automating your lights (www.hometoys.com  is our other eMag site). Not only does this save energy (both electrical and humanoid) ... but it's a whole lotta fun. Apparently dimming lights by 25% reduces electricity consumption by 20% and quadruples the life of light bulbs. Not bad and it's also nice when one button push turns all the lights off at night. Two articles this month -- WANT TO GO GREEN? AUTOMATE YOUR HOME! and HOME AUTOMATION IS SMART ECONOMICAL AND SAVES ENERGY -- discuss the possibilities.

If you're building a new home be sure to consider using a GEOTHERMAL ENERGY SYSTEM. It just makes sense.

Some other ideas close to home are discussed in ENERGY SAVING TIPS IN THE KITCHEN.

How about some technologies that still need to be researched and developed. Energy from burning tires -- TIRE DERIVED FUEL and USING SOUND ENERGY TO DRIVE YOUR CAR?. Some interesting concepts.

Of course the solar industry is on fire. I did interviews with 2 companies that are providing some great new ideas when it comes to getting systems installed in the real world. LYNDON RIVE OF SOLARCITY discusses their Community Solar Program where groups of homeowners get together to get discounts on their systems. NAT KREAMER OF SUN RUN has another great concept. They buy, install and maintain the equipment in your home and you pay them back monthly for the power that is generated.

And here's an eye opener by Bill vonBrethorst. In NATURE OF GRID TIED PV he points out some potential problems in the future if we depend on grid tied systems without battery storage.

If transportation is your thing you must read about Mark Hazen's ELECTRIC VEHICLE CONVERSION. Never a better use for a 1998 Chevy S10. Plus, in ECO-FRIENDLY AIRLINER James Russo kindly points to the energy saving features that Boeing has built into the 787 Dreamliner.

We always like to include a few commentaries to light your fires as well. According to Steve Clemens in  SUV DRIVERS VERSUS YOU, us meat eaters emit more carbon to the atmosphere than those demons of the road :-(  And in THE WELL PLANNED DISASTER, Bill James pleads with us to get busy and avoid being passengers on the Titanic.

We also received some nice articles about the goings on at the following tradeshows and conferences:

• CLEAN TECH OPEN 2007
• ALTERNATIVE ENERGY AND TRANSPORT EXPO

Lastly, we are planning to publish some of the entries in this years Student HYDROGEN CONTEST in the next issue. Having been involved in the winning entry in the  Urban Car competition back in 1971, I know how much innovation can go into these contests when unconstrained students put their heads together. We should see some great ideas here.

Enjoy the issue and please be sure to let us know your thoughts.

Bob Hetherington