Clean Energy Advocate Practices
What He Preaches At Encinitas 'Demonstration Site' Home

By Jan Jennings I May 31, 2005

Rob Wilder by the thermal collectors, which heat water for the pool, shown in background. The Wilders have an acre of property, much of it left natural or planted with exotic plants.

For years, academic Rob Wilder has been talking and writing about environmental policy, and how to keep things cleaner and greener. Two years ago, he and his wife, Diana, a management services offices at the Institute for International Comparative and Area Studies, decided to put Wilder's words into action.

Wilder's passion is an interest in "how the earth works" - and how to keep it working in the most efficient, desirable manner.

"Two considerations are important," says Wilder, who has lectured in the UCSD Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. "First, we must work to prevent pollution on land. Second, I have what seems to be an outrageous notion to many -- that we do away with oil all together. In other words, we move beyond oil to clean energy."

Wilder is concerned with both land and sea and is the author of Listening to the Sea, a book exploring how the use of clean technologies on land could affect water quality and life in the ocean. "I am concerned with the global ocean," Wilder says. "In order to protect marine biodiversity, we have to be smarter on land."

In the last two years, the Wilders have transformed their home step-by-step in an effort to do just that. Some of the home's energy-saving features include:

. The pool is painted black to hold in the heat.

. Deciduous plants around the house help keep it cool in the summer and when they are bare in the winter, the heat of the sun impacts the house.

. Energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs are used instead of incandescent bulbs.

. A retractable awning lends shade when needed and allows the sun's rays to heat the home when retracted.

. The 55-inch television is a diode projection TV and uses half the electricity of a plasma TV.

. Wherever possible, recyclable materials are used, such as in the hammock that hangs outside Wilder's newly built free-standing office on the property.

Wilder also plans to get an electric car and he wants to harness wind power as well for his clean energy, as he calls it, "demonstration site."

The Wilder Encinitas home or 'demonstration site' with solar panels on the roof and thermal collectors to heat water for the pool in the foreground.

Are these steps anyone can take? Sure, says Wilder. "It's simple." For solar power, step one, look up solar in the yellow pages. "That will get you started." Of course, a basic requirement for the solar panels is that you must have sunshine on your property.

For Wilder, the bottom line has been about $15,000 for the solar panels. "The panels cost $30,000," Wilder says. "We received a state rebate of $12,000 and a tax credit of $3,000." The thermal collector on the roof to heat water for the house was $5,500.

The thermal collectors for the pool were already installed when the Wilders moved in and only required some repair and maintenance. Other cleaner and greener assets have been a matter of smarter shopping.

Wilder estimates that in seven to 10 years, the solar panels will have paid for themselves and after that, it's free electricity.

Wilder's background includes political science, law, and marine science. He has a degree in environmental law from the University of San Diego. He holds masters and Ph.D. degrees in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Wilder's recently built free-standing office sits atop a slight slope on his property. Break time can be spent on the hammock made from recycled materials.

"My vision is clear," says Wilder, "if you care about the environment, you have to cross disciplines." When studying for his Ph.D. in political science, he had to take marine science as independent study - because it did not fit neatly into the political science curriculum.

Wilder has taught international environmental law, marine policy, and clean energy at UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, and UCSD. He also has taught at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and has worked in marine coastal restoration for The Nature Conservancy, the world's largest environmental nonprofit agency.

Describing himself as one who has "always been an academic" and who loves teaching and research, Wilder has taken his crusade for clean energy to a new level. The WilderHill Clean Energy Index, initiated by Wilder and comprised of 37 companies involved in clean energy, is now on the New York Stock Exchange.

"It's been a thrill to apply academic theory to Wall Street," says Wilder.

It all began as a hobby. Six years ago, Wilder began putting his academic theory of a clean energy solution into the form of an index of companies involved in wind, solar, and fuel cell technology, superconductivity, and energy conservation. Assisted by a specialist in hydrogen energy and an economist, he reviewed patents, intellectual property, and other business and scientific information and came up with 37 companies for a clean energy index which he posted on the Web site, www.wildershares.com.

"Globally, I have had e-mails on clean energy from at least 100 countries," Wilder says. "The Web site index gets about 100,000 hits a month."

Of all the diversified mutual funds on the Stock Market, there had been none on clean energy. A year ago, the mutual fund company PowerShares contacted Wilder and said they would invest in the fund. Wilder put up another $50,000, primarily to put the index on the Stock Exchange and other assorted fees.

On March 3, the PowerShares WilderHill Exchange-Traded Fund was launched on Wall Street. During that first day, 650,000 shares totaling $10,000,000 were sold - a sell-out.

Since then, the fund, like the Exchange, has been up and down.

"The short term movements of the stock fund are almost irrelevant to the long-term potential of some companies on the index," Wilder says, "and their potential impact on the way the United States uses clean energy."

Meanwhile, Wilder's clean energy crusade marches in other directions as well.Earlier this month, Wilder attended a meeting at the United Nations which included participation by Al Gore and Ted Turner. The focus was on new solutions using clean energy to address global climate change.

For further information on Wilder's clean energy research, visit the Web site at www.wildershares.com.