Even the locally famous bear is excited about EV + PV, which is getting plenty of attention at the World Renewable Enegy Forum at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colo.

Solar-charged driving might not be taking off as quickly as I’d hoped back when I started SolarChargedDriving.Com nearly three years ago.

But there’s plenty of evidence that EV and solar PV are coming together in the U.S. and that more and more solar folks are getting fired up about EVs and more and more EV folks are getting fired up about solar.

I saw, and experienced, some of the significant enthusiasm for EVs in the solar world today at the American Solar Energy Society’s (ASES) World Renewable Energy Forum here in Denver, Colo., where I attended one panel on EV + PV and led another panel on solar-charged driving later in the day.

Each session on EV + PV attracted about 60 WREF conference goers. That was enough to come close to filling the rooms in which the sessions were held at the Colorado Convention Center.

Several thousand people are attending the American Solar Energy Society's World Renewable Energy Forum in Denver, Colo. [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich]

I’m attending, and presenting at, the American Solar Energy Society’s World Renewable Energy Forum (WREF) in Denver, Colo. this week along with thousands of other renewable energy experts and enthusiasts -- I’m definitely part of the latter group, not the former ;-)

To get to WREF, I hopped on the Denver RTD light rail and zipped from the University of Denver, where I teach journalism and communication courses, to the Colorado Convention Center, which boasts a 300 kilowatt solar system which covers about 15 percent of its annual electric use.

As the light rail train sped northward from DU to downtown Denver on yet another beautiful, blue-sky perfect-for-solar Colorado day, we passed a long train going the other way pulling dozens and dozens of cars full of – you guessed it – coal.

[Photo credit: Robynne Millward of Manly Environment Centre.]

We’ve written before about how solar companies are waking up to the power of EVs as a rolling marketing tool for solar and for their company.

As we’ve noted in the past, more and more solar companies are buying or leasing EVs such as the Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt, Mitsubishi iMiEV, etc. and ad-wrapping them to help sell solar, and their solar company, as a clean, green ticket to auto fueling independence.

Of course, until now, the solar companies we’ve found which have ad-wrapped an EV to help sell their wares, and, more broadly, solar-charged driving, were all located in the United States.

Add Australia as another country in which at least one solar firm is tapping the power of EVs as a rolling marketing machine for solar.

Broomfield County (Colorado) Republican Chairman Erich Feigel claims solar doesn't work, but it's sure worked well for us: We've produced more than 15,000 kWh of local, clean solar electricity in less than two years with our 5.59 kW system here in Aurora, Colo.

Mitt Romney was in Colorado a couple of days ago campaigning and, perhaps not surprisingly given the oil and gas drilling boom underway in parts of this state, he put himself in front of an oil drill – and took aim at the Obama Administration’s support for renewable energy and green jobs.

To the applause and whoops of an adoring drill baby drill crowd, Romney poked fun at Colorado’s 51,000 green jobs – a total that accounts for a small but respectable 2.3 percent of total employment in the Rocky Mountain State. He egged on the crowd with a, “Have you seen those jobs anywhere?” a set up to which, according to a story in the Denver Post, the supporters on hand shouted a gleeful, “No!”

[Photo Credit: Tom Moloughney]

Yet another car maker has partnered with a solar company to actively promote the electric vehicle-home solar synergy.

BMW of North America is working with Real Goods Solar to offer BMW ActiveE drivers the potential to get all the energy to charge their EV at home from sustainable solar energy. Real Goods Solar will install solar panels on the homes of ActiveE drivers, known as Electronauts, at a substantial savings of approximately 35 percent.