Local solar guru Dave Strenski just wrote in to warn me that a Japanese firm was marketing solar bras.

I guess he’s concerned that they might put my jockstrap wind turbine company out of business.

Speaking of Dave, it seems as though he and Corinne, the manager of the Ypsi Food Coop, have been successful in getting a Michigan Energy Efficiency grant to double the number of solar panels at the Coop, and put 12 panels on the back of City Hall.

The good news is, the money that a lot of us (83 people) pledged to get the Solar City Hall project going, won’t be needed now. As I understand it, the state money will cover 100% of the project as it’s currently envisioned. The judges, from what I’m told, very much liked that a lot of us in the community had pledged our own money to get the project going, and that’s one of the reasons we were awarded the grant… I don’t know about the rest of you who pledged, but, assuming Dave’s up for it, I’d be happy to roll my $50 pledge over to another project, now that City Hall is done. (Assuming, of course, that Dave gets Historic District Commission approval for mounting the panels on City Hall.)

How about a Solar Senior Center and Rutherford Pool?

[Speaking of big, local alternative energy projects, I know I owe all of you an update on the Great Ypsi Bike Powered Film Series thing. We’ve made some progress since our first meeting, and I want to tell you about it, but I just haven’t had the time. Hopefully I can share something with you by the end of this week.]

Congratulations again to Dave, Corinne, Murph and everyone who played a part in the Solar CIty Hall initiative. I know that other communities are gravitating toward renewable energy, but, to my knowledge, Ypsi is one of the only ones where the effort isn’t being led by city government, but by residents themselves. My hope is that, sooner or later, people outside of Ypsi start taking notice of that fact. I think that we’d make a fine home for a company setting out to produce wind turbines or solar cells. We don’t just want to call ourselves a “green” city, we actually want to be a “green” city. I’ve got to think that will attract good things.