24

Texas: The Next Solar Superpower?
By Michael E. Webber and Erin M. Keys
The nation’s leader in wind power turns its face to the sun.

28

GET STARTED | Solar-Heat Your Home
By Bob Ramlow
Radiant heating systems are almost always the best way to deliver solar
heat into a building.

32

Why Simple Payback Is Too Simple
By Will Kessler and Sönke Dornblut
In order to recognize the value of renewable energy over finite energy
sources, the energy bottom line is more important than the fiscal.

38

CASE STUDY | Larry’s Beans:
A Small Business Going Green
By Yoko S. Crume and Richard V. Crume
How energy efficiency helps one small business survive the recession.

42

CASE STUDY | Living Green in
Affordable Housing
By Mary Murtagh
A nonprofit developer leads the way to sustainable living
for all income levels.

46
38

CASE STUDY | Solar-Heated Water
Brews Craft Beer
By Amie McCarty
Beer is an entirely natural product. Why shouldn’t it be fully sustainable?

Copyright © 2009 by the American Solar Energy Society Inc. All rights reserved. ON THE COVER: As the stronghold of the oil and natural gas industry, Texas seems an unlikely candidate to be the world’s solar market leader. But if solar development in the state follows wind’s trajectory over the next decade, then Texas may become just that. IlluStratIon by Kurt Struve.

Articles appearing in this magazine are indexed in Environmental Periodicals Bibliography and ArchiText Construction Index: afsonl.com.

next issue: The Solar Energy-Water Nexus

Huge amounts of energy are needed to deliver water, and huge amounts of water are required to generate conventional energy. Will widespread adoption of solar energy help solve these challenges or perpetuate water constraints?