Found a great blog on SketchUp

Greetings all,

The semester is in and I've been busy getting my projects lined up, hence the absence of late. I found a great blog (thanks to SketchUp on Twitter) on (of course) SketchUp that I'd like to share: http://sketchupisland.blogspot.com/

As I have ideas of getting this solar parking lot movement going on, I analyzed the paved parking of Greensboro NC last fall. Total and also all churches as identified in the city's parcel data. There are over 900 properties defined as churches in Greensboro. Covering up all those parking lots with solar panels will be a definite foot in the door for solar power here in North Carolina! And it will also raise the awareness of the people as to the need to change the net metering regulations here in this state. As of now they protect the utility's profit margin: renewable energy devices are allowed to connect only until that utility company's net profit of .2% is reached - at peak load. Talk about money talks and politics walks that talk! So, I figured that the best way to get renewable energy going on in this state (which happens to necessarily import ALL of its energy!) is to get the church folk aware of the benefits of solar parking lots! (Plus, they're the ones with the money in this bumbling recession!).

I hope to start posting pictures of the churches in Greensboro and was going to actually make them into a 3D model for Google Earth using SketchUp, however I'm busy this semester with my favorite subject: weather & climate! I have another plan and will use an idea from the above blog - just pull up a shape in the form of the church and then post the statistical data on the walls of the church. Hopefully, the pictures will also have the GPS coordinates right on them (still pricing cameras!) so that interested folk may know exactly where I'm talking about!

Ok, confessional here: I'm also going to put a PayPal button on my blog in hopes of donations for my endeavors..... (had to admit that!)

SketchUp is great and I found a link (www.3dvinci.net) that publishes SketchUp student books and books for K-12 teachers too. I'll be purchasing one for my son's upcoming birthday and will let ya'll know how it is later on in September.

Until next time....... :)