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NorCal Solar Board of Directors |
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Board of Directors Advisory Board | Claudia Wentworth
President Claudia Wentworth has been active in the solar industry for over eight years and the green building and construction industry for more than twenty. Currently Claudia is the President of Quick Mount PV, a PV, solar thermal, HVAC, and satellite code compliant roof mount manufacturer. Quick Mount PV has both a product line and is able to custom manufacture mounts for commercial, industrial and residential applications. An entrepreneur at heart, Claudia has been granted one utility patent and currently she and her husband have a few more in the works in the mounting field.
Claudia is certified NABCEP PV with entry level of knowledge and is an Adjunct Professor at Diablo Valley College teaching a class in Leading Change for Organization Sustainability. As President of the NorCal Board of Directors, Claudia is helping NorCal work towards meeting its mission and goals in the most efficient and sustainable manner. Claudia is also the proud parent of three teenagers.
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| | Ted Pope
Vice President Ted has been interested in solar energy for a number of years, but has spent most of his time working in the energy efficiency field. His current paying job is as Director of Energy Solutions, an energy efficiency program design, implementation and marketing consulting firm based in Oakland. He provides market research, program design and implementation, marketing, regulatory compliance, and efficiency standards intervention support to utility, local government, and non-profit clients. He manages the staff of the Cool Roof Rating Council and sits on the Board of Directors of Home Energy magazine. In the past, he’s worked for Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Seattle City Light, and the Washington State Energy Office. Email:
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|  | Rich Watson
Treasurer Rich brings to extensive experience in the financial management of
nonprofit organizations along with project management skills. He is urrently serving as director of finance of Vesper Society, a Private Operating Foundation in San Francisco. He travels extensively with his
project work at Vesper Society and is a Certified Trainer in Conflict Mediation. He served as an international observer during Nicaragua's national election in 1989. Rich attended the University of California,
Berkeley, for undergraduate studies and received his M.A. in International Relations with an emphasis in finance from Golden Gate University. Email:
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| | Carla Din
Secretary Carla Din is the Western Regional Field Director for the Apollo Alliance. Carla joined the Apollo Alliance in 2004 to advance renewable energy and energy efficiency through policy development and project implementation as a means to drive investments into modern energy technology, create high quality jobs, boost industries, revitalize communities, and reduce dependence on foreign oil. Carla represents United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard on the California State Teachers’ Retirement System’s Clean Tech Advisory Committee. She also serves as an Advisory Board Member of the MMA Renewable Ventures' Bright Future Project; and as an Executive Board member of the Northwest Energy Coalition. She holds a Bachelor of Art's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Washington in Seattle. In 2005, Carla was one of the recipients of the Byron Sher Environmental Leadership Award from the California League of Conservation Voters. Email:
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| | Elaine Hebert
Director, Past President
Elaine Hebert got early lessons in energy growing up with long New England winters. After she left home and had to pay her own utility bills, she took a class in energy conservation (circa 1978, after the oil embargoes) that also covered solar energy - - and she was smitten. She sought out a local solar nonprofit organization in Boston – the Urban Solar Energy Association - to do volunteer work and eventually got hired there, starting a long career in energy that included wind energy and energy efficiency work. She continued volunteering in solar energy and was recognized by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) in 2005 with their coveted Rebecca Vories Award for outstanding volunteer efforts supporting ASES’s mission. In 2007, ASES named her an ASES Fellow. Elaine had a roundabout college experience and in 1992 earned a B.S. (with highest honors) from the third institution she attended, University of California/Davis. She selected Davis because of the city’s reputation for innovative solar housing, great bike lanes, and curbside recycling. Her degree is in Environmental and Resource Science. In 1994 she got a job at the California Energy Commission (CEC), and she joined the NorCal Solar Board. In 1997, Elaine bought an old Victorian house in Sacramento that needed “a little fixing up.” She continues to work at the CEC (in research and development in building energy) and to renovate her house to be as green as possible.
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| | Claire Curtin
Director Claire has been involved in diverse environmental education projects for over 30 years - from serving as Sierra Club president in high school to crewing on the Hudson River sloop The Clearwater, to recent work installing solar panels on Bay Area rooftops with Grid Alternatives. Her other solar projects: producing the 2008 version of NorCal Solar's well received Solar Energy Resource Guide and contributing to the San Francisco Solar Map. Currently, Claire is employed by Global Energy Partners, LLC, specializing in energy efficiency and automated demand response. Email:
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| Bruce Lymburn
Director Bruce is a partner in the Oakland, California law firm of Wendel, Rosen,
Black & Dean, where he practices in the firm's business, land use and real estate groups. He also is the General Counsel of firm client Clif Bar & Company (the maker of energy bars and other great-tasting foods for athletes, women, children and people on the move). As a real
estate, land use, and business lawyer for 26 years, Bruce has represented companies and entrepreneurs in a very broad mix of matters and in hundreds of real estate and business transactions.
Bruce is a founding member and head of the firm's Green Business Practice Group. In addition to representing businesses with "green" products and values, his practice includes the management of "green
building" design and construction teams. Bruce is a LEED(r) Accredited
Professional, one of only a handful of lawyers in the country to earn this accreditation. As a LEED(r) AP, Bruce understands green building practices and principles; is familiar with LEED(r) requirements, resources, and processes; and has the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in the design process, support and encourage integrated design, and streamline the LEED(r) application and certification process.
Bruce's other experience includes stints as a geologist with the National Park Service in Yellowstone National Park, and as a criminal justice planner for Santa Cruz County. He has been a pilot and aviation
enthusiast for many years and is a special deputy sheriff for the City and County of San Francisco, where he served as the Commander of the San Francisco Sheriff's Air Squadron.
In recognition of his professional accomplishments, in 2000 Bruce was
elected to membership in Lambda Alpha International, an honorary land economics society.
Bruce holds an undergraduate degree in Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Email:
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| | Advisory Board
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| Donald Aitken Dr. Donald Aitken, a LEEDTM Accredited Professional, is currently Principal of his own consulting company, Donald Aitken Associates, Affiliate Faculty Member at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and Senior Consulting Scientist for the Energy Department of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Previously he has been a staff research physicist and astrophysicist at Stanford University, where he founded and directed three laboratory research programs, and founder and Chairman of the Department of Environmental Studies at San Jose State University, where he was named "Professor of the Year". Dr. Aitken has also served as the Executive Director of the Western Regional Solar Energy Center for the U.S. Department of Energy, and Senior Staff Scientist for Renewable Energy Policy and Economics with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He has over 100 publications in these various fields. | 
| Andy Black Andy Black is owner of OnGrid Solar performing Solar Financial Analysis & Purchaser¹s Consultations. He specializes in the financial payback of solar electricity systems. He holds a Masters in Electrical Engineering and a Certificate in Marketing. He is a NABCEP certified solar installer. Andy is also a board member of the American Solar Energy Society, former board member and Treasurer of the NorCal Solar Energy Association and Solar Tour coordinator for the annual San Jose Solar Tour. Email:
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Phone: (408) 428-0808. | | | Tom Chatagnier Tom Chatagnier has been teaching electrical, electronics and computer courses at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, CA for 23 years. In the last 6 years, he has started courses in Alternate Energy Systems and Photovoltaic Design and Installation. Approximately 500 students have taken these courses. The present PV Design course is NABCEP approved to offer completing students the opportunity to take the Entry Level Exam by NABCEP. Tom has worked with electric cars, wind systems and biodiesel. | | | Gwen Rose Vote Solar |  | David Springer A 1973 graduate of the University of California at Davis, entered the energy field as a designer of solar heating systems and formed Natural Heating Systems, the Sacramento Valley's first specialty solar contracting firm. In the late 1980's he was employed in the California Energy Commission's Solar Office, where he managed state building retrofit projects, and provided support for the development of the energy standards. A founding principal, and currently president of Davis Energy Group, Mr. Springer now manages operations, and participates in mechanical design, technology development, market transformation, standards development, and other projects, and is currently leading one of the four National Renewable Energy Laboratory Zero Energy Home program teams. He is an ASHRAE member and serves on the board of the Radiant Panel Association. |  | Tom Starrs Tom Starrs is vice president and chief operating officer of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (www.b-e-f.org), a charitable and nonprofit corporation dedicated to encouraging and funding activities and projects that lead to greater reliance on clean, environmentally preferred renewable power and to healthy, sustainable fish and wildlife habitat in the Pacific Northwest. |
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1981 NorCal Solar Board of Directors
The Northern California Solar Energy Association (now known as NorCal Solar), was started by a visionary group of engineers and educators in 1975. A full list of Board members from 1975 through 2005 is available in our 30th Anniversary “Sun Newsletter,” posted on www.norcalsolar.org.
The first Board of Directors, as of June 23, 1975, included President: Kinsell L. Coulson, UC Davis Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources Vice President: Bruce A. Wilcox, Berkeley Solar Group Secretary: Dean Anson, UC Davis Division of Environmental Studies Treasurer: Robert E. Paterson, Chevron Research Company Directors: Donald Aitken, Larry Anderson, Freeman A. Ford, Yvonne Howell, Marshal Merriam, Robert Pelikan, Dale Sartor, David Springer.
In 1974 the solar energy movement was just warming up in California, and the founders of NorCal Solar were all eager young engineers and renewable energy advocates who understood the need to educate the public about the new technology and provide communication venues for solar industry professionals. In the absence of the Internet, communication in the first twenty years of the organization took place at in-person workshops, conferences, and social events.
During the first few years the group held monthly member meetings where more than 100 people spent the day together sharing the latest technology developments and policy initiatives and coordinating their efforts to promote the solar energy agenda.
From the beginning NorCal Solar has had a distinctly democratic and grassroots style. The newsletter printed all letters submitted, all members were encouraged to participate in Board meetings, and the organization addressed a wide array of technologies, regions, and energy-related issues.
In the late 1970s, like today, solar energy advocacy groups were popping up all over Northern California, and NorCal Solar provided the main venue for sharing information between government program managers, solar installers, utilities, university institutes, local solar advocacy groups, and the general public.
Throughout its thirty years NorCal Solar has maintained its role as an information portal on all-things-solar for industry professionals, policymakers, advocacy groups, and the general public. The hundreds of Board members and thousands of volunteers through the years may be justly proud of the posit i ve impact NorCal Solar has had on the application of solar energy technology in California.
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About NorCal Solar 
