Donald Aitken Associates
Dr. Donald Aitken is currently Principal of his own consulting company,
Donald Aitken Associates, Affiliate Faculty Member at the Frank Lloyd
Wright School of Architecture, and Senior Consulting Scientist for the
Energy Department of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Previously he
has been a staff research physicist and astrophysicist at Stanford University,
Founder and Chairman of the Department of Environmental Studies at San
Jose State University, Executive Director of the Western Regional Solar
Energy Center for the U.S. Department of Energy, and Senior Staff Scientist
for Renewable Energy Policy and Economics with the Union of Concerned
Scientists. He has over 100 publications in these various fields.
In 1994 Dr. Aitken co-introduced the concept of a “Renewable Portfolio
Standard” for the first time into legislative proceedings. Nevada
has since, with Dr. Aitken’s early assistance, adopted the nation’s
most forward-thinking RPS legislation. He also participated in the early
conception of Nevada’s net-metering legislation, and then designed
Nevada’s first net-metered tract home, in Gardnerville, to prove
the viability of the concept. In 1991 Dr. Aitken developed the pioneering
marketing “Sustained Orderly Development” framework which
was subsequently adopted by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District
for its now-world-famous renewable energy program.