Grid Alternatives Director of International Programs Jenean Smith is today’s guest on Planet Watch Radio. The vision of Grid Alternatives is a successful transition to clean, renewable energy that includes everyone, and its mission is to make renewable energy technology and job training accessible to underserved communities everywhere. On today’s program, find out about exciting volunteer opportunities in Nepal, Nicaragua, and around the world bringing solar electricity to rural villages! Jenean joined the solar industry in 2007 to work for Mitsubishi Electric’s Solar Division and later worked ..read more

Report on last summer’s forest fires in British Columbia, Canada, as well as a rebroadcast of an interview with solar and wind expert Chris Bley. Find out what’s new in the wind turbine industry that could be scaled up even farther and why this clean energy source could help solve some of our problems. Original Air Date: August 6, 2017 on KSCO radio station AM1080 The post Wind Turbines and the Forest Fires of August-PW079 appeared first on Planet Watch Radio Podcast ..read more

How will Trump’s tariffs on solar panels affect efforts to install millions of solar panels and fight climate change? Who are the winners and losers in this trade game? We’ll hear from Markus Beck CTO of Siva Technologies, a solar manufacturing firm in the Bay Area, and Antony Tersol, Principal at Applied Solar Energy in Monterey. Air Date: January 28, 2018 on KSCO radio station AM1080 The post Trump’s Solar Tariffs: Boon or Bane?-PW055 appeared first on Planet Watch Radio Podcast ..read more

Chie Kawahara and Kurt Hurley designed their passive house to save tons of energy. Find out how they turned a 95-year old house into a modern energy saving miracle. And they did it without solar electricity! More at Midorihaus.com. Plus, what’s greener, fake or real Christmas trees? Alexis Navarro explores this vexing question.  Air Date: December 17, 2017 on KSCO radio station AM1080 The post A Passive House That Uses 80% Less Energy-PW049 appeared first on Planet Watch Radio Podcast ..read more

A tour of an off-the-grid solar home in California with Bob Stayton, author and engineer, plus passive cooling of your home and homemade solar bread . Air Date: July 16, 2017 on  KSCO radio station AM1080 Power Shift: From Fossil Energy to Dynamic Solar Power is Bob’s new book, available on Amazon. Contact Radio Planet Watch hosts Joe Jordan and Rachel Anne Goodman at radioplanetwatch@gmail.com The post Off-Grid Solar Home Tour- PW027 appeared first on Planet Watch Radio Podcast ..read more

Solar energy! The sun can provide clean energy and can save you money. Find out from solar expert Jack Martin how he won a solar car race with a vehicle he built,  and why. Community College teacher “Sustainable Jack”, who has taught solar installation to thousands, discusses alternative energy and environmental issues on his show “Home Power Radio Hour” every week on our affiliate radio station WCOM-LP in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. From another of our affiliate radio stations, WGRN FM Community Radio out of Columbus, Ohio, we interview community radio founder Eugene Beer. Bringing the tw ..read more

Ever thought of making your own electricity in a nearby stream? We’ll talk with Don Harris, world-class guru on micro-hydropower and inventor of the Harris Hydroelectric Permanent Magnet Turbine about his experiences with these low-cost, high-return devices. Don lives up in the hills in the off-grid community of “Last Chance”, north of Santa Cruz, but his electric power generating systems have been installed at small stream sites all over the world. Air Date: April 9, 2017 on KSCO radio station AM1080 The post Micro-Hydro Power Guru Don Harris – PW013 appeared first on Planet Watch Radio Pod ..read more

Governor of California Jerry Brown’s Senior Policy Advisor, Ken Alex, discusses how California will stay the course on the environment during the Trump era. Also an interview with David Auston, a researcher in the Institute for Energy Efficiency, and Director of the UC TomKat Carbon Neutrality Project at the University of California Santa Barbara. Austin will talk about the project’s goal of helping all the University of California campuses achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. Air Date: March 5, 2017 on KSCO radio station AM1080 The post California’s Environmental Policy – PW009 appeared first ..read more

A road map for getting the U.S. completely off fossil fuels by 2050 is the subject of today’s interview withMark Jacobson, Stanford University professor of engineering and author of The Solutions Project. Also on the show Dan Sugar, CEO of NEXTracker, a solar company making big strides in sustainable energy, turning data into action for solar power plants. Air Date: February 26, 2017 on KSCO radio station AM1080 The post The Solutions Project: A Roadmap for Getting the U.S. completely off fossil fuels – PW007 appeared first on Planet Watch Radio Podcast ..read more