Facebook faces down google for title of most energy efficient

Facebook and Google seem to be in an all-out war to see which company can come up with the best energy efficiency solutions for power-gobbling data centers. This round probably goes to Facebook, which just announced two new green data center strategies on two distinct tracks. One is the use of ambient air and renewable energy to power its own data centers, and the other is an open-source project to improve the energy efficiency of computer hardware across the board.
Climate is Facebook’s Best Friend

First let’s take a look at Facebook’s climate-wise data center location strategy. Last week the company announced that it would build a new energy efficient data center in Lulea, Sweden. The project is significant because it is Facebook’s first non-U.S. data center, and it has the potential to be operated entirely by renewable energy, so it sets a pretty high bar for future overseas projects. The Lulea climate will provide all of the center’s cooling needs (Yahoo is in on this ambient-air cooling trick, too, btw), and it will also have access to Sweden’s ample hydropower resources.
Open-Source Energy Efficiency for Data Centers

Facebook’s other step is actually a continuation of the Open Compute Project it launched last April. Last week, the company announced that it has formed a foundation in support of Open Compute, which was formulated with the mission of increasing energy efficiency in computer hardware. The initial project resulted in Facebook’s new custom-designed servers that reduce energy loss and recycle hot air for use in office space, among other things. Facebook calculates that the new design uses 38 percent less energy than its existing servers, while costing 24 percent less.
Energy Efficiency and Green Branding

For Open Compute, Facebook published all of its new energy efficient specs and designs at opencompute.org and basically invited the world to contribute to further improvements. The new foundation carries it a step forward by recruiting input from the business community. It has already racked up an impressive list of charter members including Intel, Dell, ASUS, Mozilla, Netflix, and, interestingly, Goldman Sachs (what, no Google?) – all of which stand to benefit from the project’s success, by positioning themselves as important green brands.

Google Holds its Own on Green Cred

It will be interesting to see who’s first out of their corner when the bell rings for the next round in the Battle for the Green. Google already has a raft of green actions under its belt aside from energy efficient data centers, including a couple of Google Earth projects that map out rooftop solar power potential in California and geothermal energy potential across the U.S., a partnership with NASA to promote green aviation, and a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy to use Google Maps as the primary platform for locating electric vehicle charging stations.

http://cleantechnica.com/2011/10/30/facebook-open-compute-project-challenges-google-for-energy-efficient-data-center-title/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29

Πρώτη η Κίνα στην παραγωγή υδροηλεκτρικής και αιολικής ενέργειας

Μετά από τέσσερα χρόνια διπλασιασμού της εγκατεστημένης ισχύος της αιολικής ενέργειας σε ετήσιο αριθμό μεταξύ 2006 και 2009, η Κίνα πρόσθεσε ακόμα 16,5 GW το 2010. Σύμφωνα με την αναλυτική έκθεση από τον ολλανδικό Οργανισμό Περιβαλλοντικής Εκτίμησης, σχεδόν το 20% του συνόλου των ποσών καθαρής ενέργειας στην Κίνα να προέρχεται από την αιολική ενέργεια, δηλαδή να είναι το ίδιο με αυτό της υδροηλεκτρικής ενέργειας. Η Κίνα σήμερα παράγει το 21% της παγκόσμιας υδροηλεκτρικής ενέργειας.

Η υδροηλεκτρική παραγωγή αυξήθηκε κατά 5,3% το 2010 με την συνεισφορά της Κίνας για περισσότερο από το ήμισυ του ποσοστού, λόγω της αύξησης της παραγωγικής ικανότητας και των ευνοϊκών καιρικών συνθηκών το 2010. Καθώς το κλίμα θερμαίνεται προκαλώντας άγριες καταιγίδες, η υδροηλεκτρική ενέργεια θα μπορούσε να προμηθεύσει περισσότερη ενέργεια σε περιοχές που πρόκειται να σημειώσουν αύξηση της βροχόπτωσης σύμφωνα με ορισμένα σενάρια, όπως η Pacific Northwest, η οποία πρόσφατα αναγκάστηκε να κλείσει άλλες πηγές, καθώς οι καταιγίδες απέδωσαν πολύ αυξημένη παραγωγή υδροηλεκτρικής ενέργειας .

Τα κράτη της Ε.Ε. ως σύνολο έχουν εγκαταστήσει ένα πρόσθετο 9,3 GW της αιολικής ενέργειας το 2010, ανεβάζοντας το συνολικό σε 84,1 GW. Αυτό κατά τη διάρκεια ενός έτους με κανονικές συνθήκες αέρα, να παράγουν το 5,3% της συνολικής κατανάλωσης ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας της ΕΕ σύμφωνα με το GWEC (2011).

Σε όλο τον κόσμο η δυναμικότητα αιολικής ενέργειας αυξήθηκε κατά 22,5% το 2010 με την εγκατάσταση 35,5 GW, φέρνοντας το νέο παγκόσμιο σύνολο στα 194,4 GW, ενώ σχεδόν το ήμισυ των νέων εγκαταστάσεων να έχουν γίνει στην Κίνα, και οι υπόλοιπες περισσότερες στον αναπτυσσόμενο κόσμο.


http://www.ecofinder.gr/news/ΕΝΕΡΓΕΙΑ/1/Πρώτη_η_Κίνα_στην_παραγωγή_υδροηλεκτρικ ής_και_ αιολικής_ενέργειας

Η Novatec Solar εισάγει νέα τεχνολογία στα ηλιακά πάνελ

Οι ειδικοί της Novatec Solar πάνω στην συγκεντρωτική ηλιακή ενέργεια (concentrating solar power) έχουν σχεδιάσει ένα καινοτόμο αποδέκτη Fresnel που παράγει υπέρθερμο ατμό με θερμοκρασίες που ξεπερνούν τους 500°C στο ηλιακό πάρκο στην Murcia της Ισπανίας με απόδοση 1,4 μεγαβάτ (MW).

Η τεχνολογία υπέρθερμου ατμού χρησιμοποιεί σωλήνες απορρόφησης κενού με αποτέλεσμα να έχουμε μείωση των θερμικών απωλειών κατά 50% σε σχέση με την παλαιότερη σειρά συγκεντρωτικών ηλιακών πάνελ. Ύστερα από αρκετές δοκιμές η Novatec Solar εισήγαγε τελικά την συγκεκριμένη τεχνολογία και πλέον την χρησιμοποιεί σε όλα τα προγράμματα που έχει αναλάβει.

Το Γερμανικό Κέντρο Αεροδιαστημικής (German Aerospace Center) θα πραγματοποιήσει κάποιες δοκιμές επιδόσεων στα πάνελ των σταθμών που έχουν την παραπάνω τεχνολογία για να πιστοποιήσουν την λειτουργικότητα τους. Αυτή η πιστοποίηση θα αποτελέσει μια αξιόπιστη βάση για τα έργα με συγκεντρωτικά ηλιακά πάνελ που θα χρησιμοποιήσουν υπέρθερμο ατμό.

Για την δημιουργία του ατμού χρησιμοποιούνται επίπεδα κάτοπτρα για να συγκεντρωθεί όλη η ηλιακή ενέργεια σε ένα δέκτη. Ο ατμός μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί για την παραγωγή ηλεκτρισμού, σε νέους σταθμούς ηλεκτροπαραγωγής ή ως εξοικονόμηση καυσίμων στους ήδη υπάρχοντες αλλά και σε άλλες βιομηχανικές εφαρμογές που απαιτούν θερμικές διαδικασίες.

http://www.ecofinder.gr/news/ΕΝΕΡΓΕΙΑ/1/Η_Novatec_Solar_εισάγει_νέα_τεχνολογία_σ τα_ηλια κά_πάνελ

Μεγάλη άνοδος πωλήσεων της Yingli Green στη Γερμανία

Η Yingli Green Energy Holding, κινεζική εταιρεία κατασκευής εξοπλισμού φωτοβολταϊκών, της οποίας το στοκ μειώθηκε κατά 72% στο δεύτερο τρίμηνο του έτους, ανακοίνωσε μεγάλη άνοδο πωλήσεων στη Γερμανία και επιτάχυνση στην Ιταλία.

“Οι πωλήσεις εξοπλισμού φωτοβολταϊκών στη Γερμανία αυξάνονται μετά από μία μείωση των τιμών που συνέβαλε στην αύξηση των νέων εγκαταστάσεων κατά περίπου 15%” σύμφωνα με δήλωση του Ντάρεν Τόμσον, διευθύνοντα συμβούλου της Yingli στην Ευρώπη.

http://www.ecofinder.gr/news/ΕΝΕΡΓΕΙΑ/1/Μεγάλη_άνοδος_πωλήσεων_της_Yingli_Green_στη_Γερμανία

Η ESA Renewable ολοκληρώνει το φωτοβολταϊκό πάρκο των 999 kW στη Βόρεια Καρολίνα

Η ESA Renewable ολοκληρώνει τα ηλιακά φωτοβολταϊκά συστήματα των 999 kW στην πόλη Murphy της Βόρεια Καρολίνα.

Η ηλιακή φωτοβολταϊκή εγκατάσταση έκτασης πέντε στρεμμάτων, αποτελείται από περίπου 4.500 φωτοβολταϊκούς ηλιακούς συλλέκτες που θα παράγουν κατ 'εκτίμηση 1,3 GWh ετησίως.

Ο Jeffrey Burkett Πρόεδρος της ESA Renewables, δήλωσε τα εξής:

Η θετική επίδραση που έχει το φωτοβολταϊκό σύστημα και θα συνεχίσει να έχει για την κοινότητα, το περιβάλλον, και την κίνηση προς την πράσινη ενέργεια, είναι κάτι στο οποίο όλοι όσοι ασχολούνται θα δουν κάποια στιγμή ότι θα αποδώσει καρπούς.


http://www.ecofinder.gr/news/ΕΝΕΡΓΕΙΑ/1/Η_ESA_Renewable_ολοκληρώνει_το_φωτοβο λταϊκό_π άρκο_των_999_kW

Φωτοβολταϊκά: αντιδράσεις για το πάρκο στην Πεντέλη

Έντονες αντιδράσεις για το ενδεχόμενο εγκατάστασης φωτοβολταϊκού πάρκου στην Πεντέλη εξέφρασε η δημοτική κίνηση «Πεντέλη στο ύψος της» σε ανακοίνωση που εξέδωσε.

Όπως επισημαίνεται στην ανακοίνωση, δεν πρέπει να γίνει «κανένα φωτοβολταϊκό πάρκο σε δασική έκταση, ζώνη προστασίας του Πεντελικού ή περιοχή που αμφισβητείται ιδιοκτησιακά».

«Δεν μπορεί και δεν πρέπει να ανοίξει ο δρόμος για καταστρατήγηση της δασικής νομοθεσίας, ούτε για τη μη τήρηση του Προεδρικού Διατάγματος Προστασίας του Πεντελικού (Π.Δ. 755), που για τόσα χρόνια έχει βάλει κάποιους φραγμούς σε προσπάθειες οικοπεδοποίησης ή παράνομης αξιοποίησης του βουνού».

«Σε ότι μας αφορά δηλώνουμε έντιμα και καθαρά ότι σε περίπτωση που προχωρήσουν τα σχέδια αυτά, εμείς με κάθε νομικό και πολιτικό τρόπο θα βάλουμε φρένο στις ορέξεις όλων αυτών που προσπαθούν να κερδοσκοπήσουν στο ταλαιπωρημένο Πεντελικό βουνό. Θεωρούμε ότι υπάρχουν έντιμοι δημόσιοι λειτουργοί που δεν θα παρανομήσουν», καταλήγει η ανακοίνωση.

http://www.econews.gr/2011/10/30/fwtovoltaiko-parko-pentel/

Υδρογονάνθρακες: νέα πρότυπα ασφαλείας για υπεράκτιες γεωτρήσεις

Η πιθανότητα μείζονος ατυχήματος σε υπεράκτια εγκατάσταση στα ευρωπαϊκά ύδατα παραμένει σε απαράδεκτα υψηλά επίπεδα. Με ένα αυστηρό καθεστώς ασφάλειας είναι δυνατόν να περιοριστεί ο κίνδυνος τέτοιου ατυχήματος στο απόλυτο ελάχιστο.

Η βλάβη που επέρχεται στο περιβάλλον και στις παράκτιες οικονομίες μπορεί να μειωθεί σημαντικά εάν προβλεφθεί αποτελεσματικό σχέδιο αντιμετώπισης έκτακτης ανάγκης. Αυτός είναι ο λόγος που η Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή πρότεινε ένα νέο νόμο με τον οποίο διασφαλίζεται ότι η ευρωπαϊκή παραγωγή πετρελαίου και φυσικού αερίου στην ανοικτή θάλασσα θα τηρεί παντού στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση τα υψηλότερα παγκοσμίως πρότυπα ασφάλειας, υγείας και προστασίας του περιβάλλοντος.

Το νέο σχέδιο κανονισμού τάσσει σαφείς κανόνες που καλύπτουν ολόκληρο τον κύκλο ζωής των πάσης φύσεως δραστηριοτήτων έρευνας και παραγωγής, από τον σχεδιασμό μέχρι την τελική απομάκρυνση μιας εγκατάστασης άντλησης πετρελαίου ή φυσικού αερίου.

Υποκείμενος στον έλεγχο των εθνικών ρυθμιστικών αρχών, ο ευρωπαϊκός κλάδος θα υποχρεούται να αξιολογεί και βελτιώνει περαιτέρω, σε τακτική βάση, τα πρότυπα ασφάλειας για τις υπεράκτιες δραστηριότητες. Η νέα αυτή θεώρηση θα οδηγήσει σε ευρωπαϊκή εκτίμηση επικινδυνότητας συνεχώς αναβαθμιζόμενη με τον συνυπολογισμό της νέας τεχνολογίας, της νέας τεχνογνωσίας και των νέων κινδύνων. Με αυτήν θεσπίζονται απαιτήσεις για την αποτελεσματική πρόληψη και αντιμετώπιση μείζονος ατυχήματος:

- Χορήγηση αδειών: Οι αρχές αδειοδότησης στα κράτη μέλη θα υποχρεούνται να βεβαιωθούν ότι μόνο οι φορείς με επαρκείς τεχνικές και οικονομικές ικανότητες που είναι αναγκαίες για τον έλεγχο της ασφάλειας των υπεράκτιων δραστηριοτήτων και της προστασίας του περιβάλλοντος επιτρέπεται να εξερευνούν την ύπαρξη κοιτασμάτων και να παράγουν πετρέλαιο και φυσικό αέριο στα ύδατα της ΕΕ.

- Ανεξάρτητοι ελεγκτές: Οι κρίσιμες για την ασφάλεια στην εγκατάσταση τεχνικές λύσεις που παρουσιάζονται από τον φορέα εκμετάλλευσης πρέπει να ελέγχονται από ανεξάρτητο τρίτο μέρος πριν και κατά τακτά διαστήματα αφού η εγκατάσταση αρχίσει να λειτουργεί.

- Υποχρεωτικός εκ των προτέρων σχεδιασμός ανάγκης: Οι εταιρείες θα οφείλουν να συντάξουν έκθεση περί μειζόνων κινδύνων για την εγκατάστασή τους, η οποία θα περιέχει εκτίμηση επικινδυνότητας και σχέδιο αντιμετώπισης έκτακτης ανάγκης πριν αρχίσει η εξερεύνηση κοιτασμάτων ή η παραγωγή. Οι εκθέσεις αυτές θα πρέπει να υποβληθούν στις εθνικές αρχές οι οποίες εάν μείνουν ικανοποιημένες θα δώσουν το πράσινο φως.

- Επιθεωρήσεις: Ανεξάρτητες εθνικές αρμόδιες αρχές, υπεύθυνες για την ασφάλεια των εγκαταστάσεων, οι οποίες θα επαληθεύουν τις διατάξεις για την ασφάλεια, την προστασία του περιβάλλοντος και την ετοιμότητα σε έκτακτη ανάγκη των ικριωμάτων και εξεδρών, καθώς και των εργασιών που διεξάγονται σε αυτές. Εάν ένας φορέας εκμετάλλευσης δεν τηρεί τα ελάχιστα πρότυπα, η αρμόδια αρχή θα επιβάλλει την τήρηση του νόμου ή/και κυρώσεις· τελικά, ο φορέας εκμετάλλευσης, εάν δεν συμμορφωθεί, θα υποχρεούται να σταματήσει τη γεώτρησή του ή τις παραγωγικές του δραστηριότητες.

- Διαφάνεια: Στους πολίτες θα διατίθενται συγκρίσιμες πληροφορίες σχετικά με τα πρότυπα επιδόσεων του κλάδου και τις δραστηριότητες των εθνικών αρμόδιων αρχών. Αυτές θα δημοσιεύονται στους δικτυακούς των τόπους.

- Αντιμετώπιση καταστάσεων έκτακτης ανάγκης: Οι εταιρείες θα συντάξουν σχέδια αντιμετώπισης έκτακτης ανάγκης βασιζόμενα σε εκτιμήσεις επικινδυνότητας των ικριωμάτων ή εξεδρών τους, θα διατηρούν δε πόρους σε ετοιμότητα ώστε να μπορούν να τους ενεργοποιήσουν όταν είναι αναγκαίο. Τα κράτη μέλη θα λαμβάνουν ομοίως πλήρως υπόψη τα εν λόγω σχέδια όταν καταρτίζουν εθνικά σχέδια έκτακτης ανάγκης. Τα σχέδια θα δοκιμάζονται σε τακτά διαστήματα από τον κλάδο και τις εθνικές αρχές.

- Αστική ευθύνη: Οι εταιρείες πετρελαίου και αερίου θα είναι πλήρως υπεύθυνες για τυχόν περιβαλλοντικές βλάβες προκαλούμενες στα προστατευόμενα θαλάσσια είδη και φυσικά ενδιαιτήματα. Για βλάβες στα ύδατα, θα επεκταθεί η γεωγραφική ζώνη ώστε να καλύπτει όλα τα θαλάσσια ύδατα της ΕΕ συμπεριλαμβανομένης της αποκλειστικής οικονομικής ζώνης (μέχρι περίπου 370 χλμ. από την ακτή) και της ηπειρωτικής υφαλοκρηπίδας, όπου το παράκτιο κράτος μέλος ασκεί δικαιοδοσία. Για βλάβη στα ύδατα, το ισχύον στην ΕΕ νομικό πλαίσιο για την περιβαλλοντική ευθύνη περιορίζεται στα χωρικά ύδατα (περίπου 22 χλμ. στα ανοικτά).

- Διεθνής διάσταση: Η Επιτροπή θα συνεργαστεί με τους διεθνείς εταίρους της για να προωθήσει την εφαρμογή των υψηλότερων δυνατών προτύπων ασφάλειας σε όλο τον κόσμο.

- Ενωσιακή ομάδα αρχών αρμόδιων για τις υπεράκτιες εγκαταστάσεις: Επιθεωρητές εγκαταστάσεων στην ανοικτή θάλασσα των κρατών μελών θα συνεργαστούν ώστε να διασφαλίσουν την αποτελεσματική κοινοχρησία των βέλτιστων πρακτικών και να συμβάλουν στην ανάπτυξη και βελτίωση των προτύπων ασφάλειας.

http://www.econews.gr/2011/10/30/protupa-asfaleias-gewtriseis/

Building Green Expo για το ενεργειακά αυτόνομο κτίριο και τον αστικό χώρο

Η Building Green expo, η μεγαλύτερη επαγγελματική έκθεση για την Πράσινη Δόμηση και το Ενεργειακά Αυτόνομο Κτίριο ανοίγει τις πόρτες της στους επαγγελματίες και το κοινό, 2 - 5 Δεκεμβρίου 2011, στο εκθεσιακό κέντρο ExpoAthens στην Ανθούσα

Η έκθεση τελεί υπό την αιγίδα του ΥΠΕΚΑ και του ΚΑΠΕ. Για περισσότερες πληροφορίες, μπορείτε να επισκεφτείτε το site της έκθεσης http://www.buildinggreenexpo.gr/.

http://www.neaenergia.gr/index.php/eidiseis/periballon/Building-Green-Expo-gia-to-energeiaka-aitono mo-ktirio-kai-ton-astiko-xoro.html

ExelGroup: Δώδεκα έτη εγγύηση για τα φωτοβολταϊκά πλαίσια

Σε επέκταση της εγγύησης για τη σειρά φωτοβολταϊκών πλαισίων ESP series 60 (πολυκρυσταλλικά και μονοκρυσταλλικά φ/β πλαίσια) από πέντε (5) σε δώδεκα (12) έτη, προχώρησε η ExelGroup. Η εγγύηση προϊόντος ήδη έχει τεθεί σε ισχύ από αρχές Οκτωβρίου και έρχεται να συμπληρώσει την εγγύηση απόδοσης ονομαστικής ισχύος (90% για τα πρώτα 12 έτη και 80% για τα 26 έτη), με σκοπό να συνεχίσει η σειρά ESP series 60 να παρέχει από τις μεγαλύτερες εγγυήσεις της αγοράς.

Με την επέκταση της εγγύησης, σκοπός της ExelGroup είναι να συνεχίσει να καλύπτει τις ανάγκες της αγοράς, οι οποίες υπαγορεύουν την παραγωγή προϊόντων αποδεδειγμένης αξιοπιστίας και ποιότητας. Η εταιρεία χρησιμοποιώντας πρώτες ύλες από αξιόπιστους προμηθευτές παγκοσμίως, αλλά και μέσα από τον αυστηρότατο ποιοτικό έλεγχο που πραγματοποιείται σε όλη την παραγωγική διαδικασία και φυσικά τις πιστοποιήσεις που έχει λάβει, παρέχει στην εγχώρια αλλά και διεθνή αγορά ανταγωνιστικά προϊόντα.

Σε δήλωσή του ο Διευθύνων Σύμβουλος της ExelGroup κ. Σταύρος Τριανταφύλλου επισημαίνει: «Με την επέκταση της εγγύησης η ExelGroup θέλει να παρέχει στους πελάτες και επενδυτές της αγοράς των φωτοβολταϊκών, την απαιτούμενη ασφάλεια με ποιοτικά και αξιόπιστα προϊόντα. Ιδιαίτερα στη δύσκολη οικονομική συγκυρία που βρισκόμαστε, τέτοιες κινήσεις αποδεικνύουν ότι η ελληνική επιχειρηματικότητα μπορεί να δημιουργήσει ποιοτικά προϊόντα, ικανά να επιβιώσουν στο διεθνή ανταγωνισμό».

http://www.neaenergia.gr/index.php/eidiseis/fotoboltaika/ExelGroup-dodeka-eti-eggiisi-gia-ta-fotob oltaika-plaisia.html

John Petersen

In their 1969 bestseller "The Peter Principle" Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull quoted a Latin-American student named Caesare Innocente who lamented, "Professor Peter, I'm afraid that what I want to know is not answered by all my studying. I don't know whether the world is run by smart men who are, how you Americans say, putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it." After watching the events of the last few weeks, I think most SA readers would agree that the imbeciles are clearly steering the ship.

Last March I went to the Geneva Motor Show on press day, which gave me a chance to see the cars up close and personal without fighting the crowds. While I'm generally skeptical when it comes to electric drive, I left Geneva convinced that the Fisker Karma was the most beautiful passenger car I'd ever seen. I even promised my inner geek that I'd secretly take a test drive once production started. That long-awaited event transpired mid-month when the EPA issued its official fuel economy rating of 52 MPGe for an all-electric range of 32 miles and 20 MPG for gasoline fueled operations using the 2.0 liter range extender engine. I was crestfallen. How could something so gorgeous and green get such crappy mileage?

The answer, it seems, is that when you put the Karma on a scale it weighs a few hundred pounds more than a Hummer H3 and a few hundred pounds less than a Cadillac Escalade. That's right folks: it's a 2.5-ton subcompact behemoth that was engineered in California with $169 million of DOE loan proceeds. While most of the long-term economic benefits from making these oh so green $100,000 machines will be outsourced to Finland, at least the batteries will be made by A123 Systems (AONE) which only had to invest $23 million in Fisker to "establish a strategic relationship" and win the battery supply contract.

When journalists and other questioned the reasonableness of the Fisker loan, the DOE explained that:

"Fisker’s loan has two parts. In the first part, Fisker used $169 million to support the engineers who developed the tools, equipment and manufacturing processes for Fisker’s first vehicle, the Fisker Karma. That work was done Fisker’s U.S. facilities, including its headquarters in Irvine, California, which has 700 employees and plans to continue hiring. While the vehicles themselves are being assembled in Fisker’s existing overseas facility, the Department’s funding was only used for the U.S. operations. The money could not be, and was not, spent on overseas operations. The Karma also relies on an extensive network of hundreds of suppliers in more than a dozen U.S. states."

The sophistry of using taxpayer money to finance one-off engineering jobs in the US while creating larger numbers of long-term manufacturing jobs in another country speaks for itself. The more important questions in my mind are:

1. How many $100,000 Karmas will Fisker need to sell to earn enough profit to repay $169 million in DOE loans?
2. How many battery packs will A123 need to sell to Fisker if it wants to recover its $23 million investment?
3. Is either outcome even remotely possible given the stellar sales and profit history that Tesla Motors (TSLA) has realized from its almost as sexy and equally expensive Roadster?

There's no question that this was a series of deals negotiated by imbeciles who really mean it. The most outrageous part of the DOE's defense was the penultimate paragraph which says:

"Remember that plasma TVs, cell phones, personal computers and many other common products were once fabulously expensive luxury items, but quickly became a staple for middle class Americans. These price declines wouldn’t have been possible without the first, commercial scale marketing as premium products."

WHAT BALDERDASH! I expect that kind of techno-tripe from zealots but not from government officials.

There is no possibility that electric vehicles will ever experience the kinds of cost reductions we witnessed during the information and communications technology revolution because the fundamental science is totally different. There is no Moore's law for the physics of moving a 2.5-ton vehicle down the road. There is no Moore's law for electrochemistry. Now, instead of rationally discussing science and economics, we have the DOE seeking cover behind the time-honored proposition "that the essence of legal argument is the plausible boldly asserted."

A little over three years ago I started cautioning readers that Ener1 (HEVV.PK) was a disaster in the making. My cautions got more strident when Ener1 made a substantial investment in Th!nk Motors to strengthen their strategic relationship and keep a battery supply contract that was jeopardized by Th!nk's earlier failures. While some readers believed my words of caution, many did not. This week they learned that analyzing battery and electric vehicle companies through rose colored glasses is a great way to end up on the Pink Sheets. While I generally like to be right, I hate being this right. I wonder how the DOE feels about that $118.5 million ARRA Battery Manufacturing Grant they gave Ener1 in August of 2009.

My graph for this week is courtesy of Lux Research and appeared in their recent report "Using Partnerships to Stay Afloat in the Electric Vehicle Storm." The graph is particularly instructive because it offers a view of both the lithium-ion battery and the electric vehicle industry in a single simple picture.





The blue shaded area represents the total planned production capacity of the global lithium-ion battery business through 2020. The yellow lines represent total demand for lithium-ion batteries in automotive applications over the same period using three different oil price scenarios. The inescapable conclusions are that (1) a capacity glut in the lithium-ion battery manufacturing sector will be a crushing burden for all but the most efficient and financially sound manufacturers, and (2) growth in the electric vehicle manufacturing sector will be tepid at best and certainly not fast enough to justify nosebleed market capitalizations. The takeaway for investors who are willing to remove their rose colored glasses is that both sectors are dominated by imbeciles who really mean it and are doomed to underperform the market for years.


http://www.altenergystocks.com/archives/2011/10/electric_vehicle_and_lithiumion_b attery_inves ting_for_imbeciles.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlternativeEnergyStocks+%28AltEnergyStocks.com%29

U.S. Identifies solar zones open for development in Western States

The Obama administration has unveiled a plan detailing where utility-scale solar power projects can be developed in the western U.S., with 17 proposed solar energy zones in six western states given the highest priority for solar development.

The blueprint of the plan, released by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), identifies about 445 square miles of desert in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. “That’s where the sweet spots are, so that’s where development will be driven,” said U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

The BLM identified another 31,250 square miles where large-scale solar power projects could be potentially be sited if environmental impacts are minimal. The plan would not apply to 13 solar energy projects already being built or dozens more awaiting approval.

A coalition of environmental groups issued a joint statement supporting the effort, calling it a “a balanced package intended equally to reflect the needs of the emerging solar industry and the mandate to conserve our nation’s precious natural resources.”



http://blog.cleantechies.com/2011/10/29/u-s-identifies-solar-zones-open-for-development-in-western-states/

Wind power at bargain basement prices by 2020

Researchers at Iowa State University’s new Wind Energy Manufacturing Laboratory are on a mission to lower the price of wind power down to six cents per kilowatt hour by 2020, and they are taking a somewhat unusual path to get there. Instead of focusing on new wind turbine technology, the research team is working behind the scenes to bring down the cost of manufacturing turbine blades, with the goal of developing new manufacturing systems that could improve productivity by 35 percent.
The Road to Cheaper Wind Power and Solar Power

In some ways, the new lab’s work mirrors an emerging trend in low cost solar power. Rather than focusing narrowly on improving the efficiency of the technology itself, the solar industry has been focusing on the big picture, including cheaper materials, lower manufacturing costs (especially processes that use less energy), and lower installation expenses.
The U.S. Department of Energy Gets It

Regular readers of Cleantechnica will recognize that this big-picture outlook on alternative energy did not emerge all by itself. It has been carefully nurtured under the Obama administration’s manufacturing initiatives, most recently through the Department of Energy’s SunShot program announced earlier this year. The new lab was funded partly with a DOE grant, and the research team also works closely with DOE’s Sandia National Laboratories.
A Cheaper Way to Manufacture Wind Turbines

The Iowa lab’s signature project is a laser scanning device that analyzes how precisely fiberglass fabric will fit into a mold used to manufacture wind turbine blades. The scan is run through a computer that can pick out the tiniest possible flaw that could interfere with the finished blade’s efficiency. The lab is also equipped to develop new non-invasive methods for evaluating turbine blades during the manufacturing process, improve blade edges, and develop automated processes for manipulating fiberglass fabric.
Low Cost Wind Power is Here to Stay

Wind power is already having a significant effect on local energy markets, particularly in Texas, where excess wind power sometimes forces coal and nuclear power plant operators to dump their nighttime output into the grid for next to nothing, to avoid a shut-down. Also in Texas, energy giant NRG recently cancelled two planned nuclear reactors based mainly on future risks revealed by last spring’s nuclear disaster in Japan, but also taking into account the more reliable regulatory framework for wind energy.
A Place in the Sun for Wind Turbines

Speaking of nuclear disasters, one non-technological factor that could ultimately tip the balance in favor of wind power (and solar, too), is the availability of sites where new power generating facilities can be built without posing real or potential danger to human populations – or wildlife, for that matter. The Nature Conservancy recently commissioned a survey showing that ample space exists for wind power on land that is already developed, and the Obama Administration’s Re-Powering America’s Land initiative is specifically geared to creating new green jobs by siting wind and solar installations on brownfields and other derelict lands.

http://cleantechnica.com/2011/10/29/wind-power-at-bargain-basement-prices-by-2020/?utm_sour ce=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanT echnica%29

How fast can offshore wind be deployed ? What are its infrastructure requirements?

Guest post by Andy Dawson

One anti-nuclear argument that’s frequently made is that nuclear is slow to deploy – that renewables can make inroads into carbon production rather faster than can building new nuclear stations. I was recently proiked into taking a look at this, in the context of the UK’s 2020 and 2030 CO2 and Renewables targets, and out plans for nuclear new-build.

Our average capacity factor for onshore wind over recent years has consistently been around the 26% mark.

The first thing for US readers to understand is that space is at a (relative) premium here in the UK – and hence the options to deploy new onshore wind-farms (the dominant renewables option for us) is limited. We added approximately 500MW of onshore wind in 2009-10 (the last Renewables Obligation reporting period). To all accounts this is likely to slow as resistance to the siting of windfarms increases, and in fact, new accrediations of onshore wind have fallen in each of the last three years (700MW in 2007-8, 600 in 2008-9).

On that basis, we’d be well advised to assume at most adding an extra 2500 or so MW by 2020.

Our average capacity factor for onshore wind over recent years has consistently been around the 26% mark. Applying that, we can anticipate average production equivalent to about 650MW.

Let’s assume that EDF get just one reactor up and running in that time (their schedule would have three, so let’s be pessimistic). And, let’s assume it hits the same average capacity factor that Sizewell B has through life, to date – about 88%.

That one reactor gives me 1425 MW average equivalent generation. More than double the amount estimated from onshore wind.

So, rather more progress towards the 2020 goals from the “too little, too late” nuclear option than from wind deployment.

Now, the next thing I’m sure you’ll say is “what about offshore wind”. Well, that’s hardly flying out there – but we’ll ignore that problem too, and simply concentrate on logistics.

We’ll make an easy assumption – we’ll go for a floating system (much faster to deploy than sea-bed mounted systems, especially if we’re assuming moving far offshore). And move far-offshore we will have to, since near-shore potential is ultimately limited.

We’ll assume 5MW units. We’ll assume that the ambition is deploy the same average equivalent generation rate as I’d get from an EPR – 1425 MW. We’ll also assume we’ll beat the current capacity performance for offshore wind in the UK (same source as above) of 27%, by hitting the dizzy heights of 30%.

We’ll need to deploy 950 units.

OK, it’s now 2011. Let’s assume we’re a year in the design, survey etc. for these various schemes, but after that, can push the button at the end of 2012, giving me eight years until the end of 2020.

I need, on average to build and emplace 2.3 5MW units per week. Between friends, let’s call it one per two working days.

Let’s assume a VERY conservative 13 weeks to build the floating platform for each turbine (that’s rather better, btw, than was achieved on much simpler liberty ships in WW2). That’s 65 working days. Allow 5 days at each end for getting the completed unit out and floated, and then the dry-dock cleaned up for the next.

Roughly, I need about 35 working dry docks large enough to build the equivalent of a vessel of several thousand tonnes.

Problem is, there are probably only a couple of hundred such dry-docks worldwide. And about half a dozen in the UK.

So, let’s assume we can build an extra 30 or so in perhaps two years. But, if we need two years, that ups the build rate to about three per week. We’d actually need 40 extra dry docks. Never mind….let’s assume that’s all OK.

But, there’s a problem. I’ve worked offshore, in the north Sea. It’s a b******d of a place for about eight months of the year. Basically, you do the absolute minimum for eight months of the year – don’t even think about trying to emplace a structure other than between March and September, or anything that needs more than about a three-four day period of good weather.

So, we need the ability to manage rather more than two units a week – I need about to emplace 950 units over about six years (having built the dry docks) in about 100 weeks – 700 days. About 1 per day.

Putting an anchored platform for an oil platform in place takes about six weeks at an utter minimum. Lifting the pylon and nacelle for a wind turbine on land needs a week or so, and erecting the blades about the same.

So, about enough anchoring capability to emplace (950*6/100) units at a time – I make it 57. So far as I’m aware, the entire North Sea oil sector supports one or two. We also need to provide floating cranage to life 100 metre length blades onto a 120 metre pylon – about 20 such units. I thinks there’s one or two that service the North Sea oil business.

Quite an expansion, you’ll agree. And that’s just to deliver average generation capacity, in the same time it takes to build a single 1600 MW EPR. One reactor between 2011 and 2020.

So, what’s the actual history of deployment of offshore wind? Well, we’ve yet to emplace a single far-offshore unit. And the record even on nearshore, seabed anchored systems is chequered, to say the least. In 2003, about 50MW. In 2004, much the same. In 2005, about 180MW. In 2006, none. In 2007 about 180MW, and in 2008 back to 90. In 2009-10, we hit about 320 MW. We seem to have nothing due for completion in 2011, then about 2GW is due in 2012, and nothing in 2013. Meaning, it’ll taken us about ten years to install capacity sufficient to give an average ouput equivalent to about half an EPR.

For comparison, France alone built and commissioned about 2 ½ reactors per year through the 70s and 80s. Or, 18 times the rate implicit in the calculations above. The current plans of our three potential nuclear consortia would commission just under 16,000MW from construction of the first unit starting in 2013 to the last starting up in 2025.

I really don’t thing a renewable enthusiast should be making an argument about the slowness of deployment.

http://theenergycollective.com/rodadams/67246/how-fast-can-offshore-wind-be-deployed-what-are-infrastructure-requirements

Aesthetic energy - beautiful transmission and glamorous turbines

We talk a bit about the economics of electric power transmission and wind power here, but there is more to understanding the world than economics. Previously we have noted Virginia Postrel writing on the techno-glamour of, among other things, wind turbines. Now we take note of the Pylon Design Competition and its recently announced winning design, a transmission tower design intended to “be both grounded in reality and be beautiful” as per the competition guidelines, the Bystrup T-Pylon (I liked short-listed entry 3 as well).

And if you like integrating artistic insights into your thinking about power transmission and wind turbines, you just might want to support a planned performance art piece intending to promote exactly that kind of integration. The piece will be based on recordings in the wind energy oral history project housed in Texas Tech University’s Southwest Collection.

http://theenergycollective.com/michaelgiberson/68028/beautiful-transmission-tower-glamorous-wind-turbine

In Australia, can renewable energy get over the tea party blues?

Australia’s government is trying to initiate a new era of clean energy and facing such powerful opposition that some renewables companies that will benefit from the policy are scared to proactively campaign for it.

The debate around Australia’s new Clean Energy Future legislation has seen conservative parties here — as in the USA — take a stance that is not just oppositional, but dangerously radical. They now oppose traditional conservative measures such as carbon trading and corrections to market failure and a substantial minority are vocally anti-science.

“We can repeal the tax, we will repeal the tax, we must repeal the tax. This is a pledge in blood. This tax will go,” says opposition leader Tony Abbott.

What Abbott is calling ‘the tax’ is a comprehensive suite of measures, the Clean Energy Future package. If implemented, the CEF it will stimulate tens of billions of dollars of investment, create jobs and increase Australia’s long-term energy security. But Australia’s conservatives have seemingly abandoned their traditional role as advocates of effective markets and technological progress.

The Washington Post’s Brad Plumer blames Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for undermining Australia’s progress towards market-based, technological solutions to climate change;

On many of the underlying structural dynamics, Australia resembles the United States pretty closely. Coal and agricultural interests wield a lot of clout. Per-capita carbon emissions are high. There’s a well-developed network of climate denialism — the country’s best-selling newspaper, the Australian, regularly gives voice to skeptics of global warming.

As in the U.S., Australian conservative parties have been the target of a take over by self-styled Tea Party radicals in recent years. In the past, the intellectual leadership in conservative politics came from smart executives and well-educated professionals.

Conservatives are increasingly led by a more shrill, less educated set, who are more likely to be small business owners or from the resource sector. To these climate denialists, renewable energy is part of a global conspiracy to destroy prosperity and Western values. Solar and wind, whether they like it or not, are being defined as a politicised brand in Australia, wrongly associated with radical green values.

Unsurprisingly, some think tanks on the conservative side of politics are now linked with the notorious climate denial and astroturf efforts of the Koch brothers.

A new low point was reached recently, when Australia’s opposition finance spokesman, Andrew Robb, made an uninformed attack on the integrity of the clean technology sector. In an interview with the Age, Robb accused the clean technology sector of being “white-shoe salesman” and “vested interests.”

Robb alleged that corrupt deals have been struck between renewable energy companies and the Labor Government and the Australian Greens. He is pursuing “what backdoor promises and commitments have already been made and to whom," in an ill-advised witch hunt against some of America’s and the world’s smartest technology companies.

The practical implication for investors and technology companies is that he reiterated the opposition’s determination to axe the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which is a centerpiece of Australia's whole climate legislation package.

Informed commentators are almost unanimously in favor of the corporation and the rest of the package. The Guardian’s Bryony Worthington praises the policy, writing ‘This is very good news. It has been an uphill battle, with the opposition and business lobby all but claiming that the sky would fall in should the bill be passed.’

Worthington says that the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and related measures are not just good policy but also good politics;

It will also be used to stimulate investment in new clean energy technologies leading to new jobs and increased inward investment. Hopefully over time this will boost Labour and the Greens' popularity, so ensuring that the policy is protected – despite opposition leader Tony Abbott's "blood promise" to repeal the legislation.

Global warming is forcing conservatives in America and Australia to declare their hand. They a have to make a choice between the interests of the economy as a whole or the politically dominant fossil fuel sector of the economy. Australian conservatives have chosen to back coal, oil and gas interests, to the detriment of the Australian economy.

For more than a century, parties such as the Opposition’s Liberal and National Parties have been clearly aligned with the interests of capital against parties of the left, that were aligned with the interests of the working class or a broader, social majority. Big business supported the conservatives at most elections during the 20th century.

Over the past 10 to 20 years, Australian society has undergone social and technological transformations that make the old alliance between conservatives and business problematic. Enter the inconvenient truth of global warming and the system is pushed to a breaking point.

It is too early to say where these shifting tectonic plates will come to rest, but the political landscape is new. Every day there is a new innovation or major deal in the clean tech space internationally and Australia’s conservatives are left further behind.

Multinational technology and renewable energy companies now get a better hearing from the Australian Greens than the Liberal Party. This is despite the fact that the Greens are associated with the progressive values of the Occupy Movement and constantly under attack from Rupert Murdoch’s climate denial mouthpiece, the Australian.

Smart companies are political pragmatists. They are finding ways to exploit the new situation and forging working relationships with the Greens, because it benefits their economic interests. This is a foretaste of the emerging political economy, where the relationship between business and politics is more open and flexible than in the past.

In Australia, the best option for the renewable energy sector is to ‘man up’ as Sarah Palin would put it. It needs to define the agenda in the media and shape its political relationships. Something like 90 p[ercent of the Australian public supports renewable energy so if the industry wants to have electoral clout, it just has to get organized.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/10/tea-party-blues-for-australias-solar-and-wind-industries

Solar jobs report shows 6.8% growth over 2010

The 2010 prediction was for 26% growth in solar jobs to occur from August 2010 to August 2011 but the number came back at only 6.8%. That's ten times more jobs than the overall economy.

DALLAS – The Solar Foundation released its National Jobs Census last week at Solar Power International (SPI) in Dallas, Texas. The good news is that the solar power industry added almost ten times more jobs over the past year than the overall U.S. economy, which added jobs at a rate of a mere 0.7%. The bad news is that the percentage of job growth since last year is a much-smaller-than-predicted 6.8%.

Andrea Luecke, executive director of The Solar Foundation, the organization that authored the report, shed some light on the data on Tuesday during a sit-down video interview at the Event Broadcast booth.

Overall, Luecke said she is happy with the results, despite the fact that they are so much lower than expected. “We really didn’t expect to reach 26% but that’s how the employers responded,” she said. The Jobs Census is the result of employers reporting how many jobs they expect to add over the course of the year. The survey is taken during the June through August timeframe.

Luecke said employers were overly optimistic for a lot of reasons: explosive demand for solar, increased public acceptance for solar and expectations that the economy would bounce back much quicker than it has. “It was a sign of the times,” she said.

Luecke also mentioned the mid-term elections last year as something that really changed the course for green jobs and clean energy investment.

Employers were asked in the survey about what hindered them from adding the number of jobs that they had predicted and more than 30% of solar employers cited general economic conditions. Luecke said for one, the residential pace of installations stalled. Last year a lot of employers were buoyed by the booming demand for residential solar systems but much of that fell away when the housing market ground to a halt. And once one segment of the market dropped out, the ripple effect felt throughout the value chain, said Luecke, meant that employers were no longer as confident about investing in growth.

“You know were are undergoing the worst recession since the great depression,” she said, “we have 14 million Americans out of work and millions upon millions more either discouraged or underemployed and people are afraid.”

But that’s not all. According to the report, industry execs also put the lack of state incentives, the lack of consumer awareness and the lack of consumer access to loans or credit as other obstacles that impacted their ability to add jobs within their companies.

Solar Requires Specific Training

Another important aspect of solar jobs – one that resonates throughout the report – is the fact that employers are seeking highly qualified employees and have a difficult time finding them. Solar installation companies – both solar hot water and solar PV – predict that they will need to hire 40-50% more installers and technicians over the course of the next year. With so many unemployed right now, it would seem like filling those spots would be relatively simple, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“This is really one of the biggest challenges that employers face,” said Luecke. The solar industry is still a fast-paced quick moving industry that is experiencing growth, she said. Employers “don’t feel that they have the time or want to incur the liability of training workers,” she said. They want the people they hire to be able to hit the ground running, said Luecke.

“It is the classic catch-22,” said Luecke. Employers cite on-the-job training as one of the most valuable assets that a potential employee can bring to the hiring process and yet, employers aren’t willing to invest the time in giving them that very training. And because the pool of potential employees is so incredibly large, employers have the luxury of being extremely picky.

Can you break into the solar industry? Yes, you can but you’ll need to go out and get specific training, some of which can take up to five years. “For installers, on the job apprentice programs are really important,” she said. “Electrician, plumber, journeyman electrician, master electrician programs…. that’s really the best bet for getting an installer job.”

Experienced-based learning is really the most desirable pathway to getting a job in the solar industry, she added. At minimum, the report points out that certifications offered by non-profit and for-profit accredited training organizations and even community college courses can help.

Indeed, a credentialed workforce is as beneficial to the industry as it is to the company and individual. The Jobs Census reports that there are clear advantages to holding certifications like NABCEP or UL such as distinguishing workers and their companies and building professionalism in the workplace. In other words, the industry at large is better off if all of its workers have the proper training and can prove it.

This is good news if you are a plumber or an electrician or an engineer. Katherine Hart, who runs the Career Center at SPI, however, says that she doesn’t see a lot of those folks looking for jobs. “Most of the people who come by the career center are tradespeople such as construction workers looking to break into solar. I also see a lot of former salespeople who need jobs,” she said.

It’s been well documented that there is a lack of engineers in the U.S. As the current crop of engineers and utility executives retire, the country is likely to experience some problems. Hart explains that electricians are looking for solar jobs but aren’t sure how to get them, “I feel there is a huge disconnect between electricians and engineers to understand how to get involved in the solar industry.”

Manufacturing

One of the highlights of the 2010 report was what it showed us about solar manufacturing. Last year, The Jobs Census report showed that almost 25,000 people worked in solar manufacturing and that number was expected to go up by 36 percent by August 2011. That didn’t happen.

Instead The Solar Foundation has reported that as of August 2011, approximately 24,000 workers are employed by the solar power industry. Luecke explained that while layoffs did play a role in the lower number, the survey firm also made improvements to the methodology it used to study the industry. According to the report, “Solar manufacturers employ 24,064 solar workers and expect strong growth over the coming year. Though this number is lower than the reported figure in 2010, the reduction is not due to layoffs or plant closures but to fine-tuning of how firms are classified. In fact, manufacturers increased their workforce by 24.9% since August 2010.”

Luecke explained that the refinements to the methodology were in how it classified companies. Last year more companies were included in the manufacturing sector than really should have been, she said. “There is a lot of overlap in the industry,” she said. “A lot of manufacturing companies work in installation, some work in sales and distribution, some do R&D, there’s just so much overlap that companies that should have been categorized [in 2010] as sales and distribution were actually categorized as manufacturing,” she said.

Despite all of that, now-correctly categorized manufactures do indeed expect to add jobs in 2012. The report shows that manufacturing companies expect to add 3,473 workers over the next 12 months. Nationwide, manufacturing is predicted to decline by 2.6 percent over the same timeframe.

How To Use This Data

Luecke feels that the report is really an assignment for employers in the industry. “They should really use this information that educate policymakers and other powers that be about the value of the solar industry in helping our economy recover,” she said.

The Jobs Report is one more piece of a comprehensive set of data that we already have about the solar industry, Luecke points out. “We have lot of great data on solar exports, solar revenues, solar capacities and solar cost reduction but jobs was really the missing piece.”

She goes on further to explain that this being the second year for the report, there are now solid figures that point to solid growth.

The report is incredibly comprehensive in nature, offering readers specifics about which U.S. states are expected to be adding jobs in the next year. It also offers recommendations for policymakers, workforce training providers and employers and the solar community. With a U.S. unemployment rate of more than 9%, the Solar Foundations’ jobs report is much needed summary of how at least the solar industry can start putting some people back to work.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/10/solar-jobs-report-shows-6-8-growth-over-2010

Why "Market-Based" is poor criteria for solar policy

When it comes to solar policy in the U.S., there are three flavors: tax or cash incentives, long-term CLEAN Contracts, and solar renewable energy credit markets.   Policy makers are often drawn to flavors that taste like markets, but unfortunately "market-based" and "cost-effective" aren't synonyms in solar policy.  Furthermore, by virtue of being available almost anywhere, renewable energy presents a unique opportunity to disperse the economic value of generating energy and the right policy can make more of us into energy producers.

The Three Solar Policy Flavors


Incentives are simple: pay people to go solar.  The federal tax incentives are the backbone of solar financing and programs like California's Solar Initiative provide production-based payments that further reduce the break-even price for a solar developer.  Incentives work by closing the gap between what utilities want to pay for electricity and what it costs to go solar.

CLEAN Contracts are also simple: provide people a long-term contract for solar power.  In the German CLEAN Contract (or feed-in tariff) program, this means setting a contract price sufficient to provide a reasonable return on investment based on the cost of installing solar.  In the U.S., CLEAN Contracts have been set in this cost-based fashion, but also by using utility's "avoided cost" rates (e.g. what they would have to pay to get electricity from another source).  Both have worked, the former in Gainesville, FL; Vermont; and San Antonio, TX and the latter in the Sacramento Municipal Utility District in California.
Solar renewable energy credit (SREC) markets are a bit more complex.  First, the state mandates a certain quantity of solar, e.g. one percent of electricity by 2020, with incremental mandates each year.  Then a market for SRECs is established.  Each solar project gets one SREC for each megawatt-hour of electricity it produces.  These SRECs are purchased by utilities in order to meet the state mandate.  If the supply of solar is less than demand, prices jump.  If the supply of solar exceeds demand, prices fall.  It's textbook economics.  It can also be very volatile.  The following chart illustrates SREC prices over the past two years in the eight states with active SREC markets, and shows the general collapse in value in the past six to nine months across nearly every state (when, for the first time, supply exceeded the state mandate).





The Problems of "Market-Based" Policy


SRECs are traded in a market, hence their claim to be market-based.  But it's an artificial market whose prices are totally reliant on the relationship between a state solar mandate and the supply of solar power.  And as a new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance reveals, using SRECs may also be more costly than alternatives like CLEAN Contracts.
Why wouldn't the SREC market be the most efficient?
For one, it's a price set by an artificial state mandate for solar and has no real relationship to the actual cost of installing solar power.  The following chart illustrates the relationship between SREC prices in New Jersey and the cost of installing solar power there.  For comparison, it also shows the price of the German feed-in tariff (adjusted for the stronger New Jersey solar resource and federal tax incentives).



Of course, this isn't apples-to-apples because SRECs are sold on a spot market or shorter-term contracts (1-5 years, typically) while a CLEAN  contract price is set for 20 years.  But it does highlight how the former policy prices the artificial supply-demand relationship while the latter is focused on administratively setting the contract price based on the cost of installing solar.  If the policy administrators are adept at adjusting prices (the Germans do so twice a year and a CLEAN Contract Program modeled on the CSI could do so automatically based on a given quantity of solar installed), then CLEAN Contracts can be a very accurate measure of the cost of solar compared to SRECs.
The second reason CLEAN Contracts can beat SRECs on cost-effectiveness is that they lower risk.  If you've ever picked investments for a retirement fund, you know that more risk = more return.  Savings accounts pay little because your money is safe.  By the same principle, CLEAN Contracts can offer lower contract prices than SRECs because they offer transparency and certainty to investors in solar projects.  They may also make life easier for solar installers, whose livelihood depends on consistency in the market.  It remains to be seen how the solar markets of the many states with SRECs are affected by the crash in SREC prices.

Incentive programs fall in between SRECs and CLEAN Contracts.  If consistent and predictable, like the California Solar Initiative, they can also lower risk and therefore the cost of solar.  But if they take the form of rebate programs that are fully subscribed, expire, and then get renewed a year later, they will have to offer developers a higher return to take up the risk.
Ultimately, the transparency and certainty of the incentives is what makes financing solar cheap, and the longer this market certainty persists, the faster solar installers will drive down the cost of solar.
It's Also About Ownership



Risk and return aren't the only considerations.  CLEAN Contracts dramatically simplify the process of going solar, so much so that half of Germany's 53,000 megawatts of renewable energy are citizen-owned, not in the hands of utilities.  The economic benefits to local communities are vastly higher when the bar to participation is dramatically lowered, and the democratization of energy production means a much stronger commitment to clean energy than when only the rich can play.
There are many good criteria for evaluating solar policy, from cost-effectiveness to the volume of solar to the democratization of ownership.  "Market-based" fails to make the


http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/10/why-market-based-is-poor-criteria-for-solar-policy

The pending solar apocalypse — Not!

The hysterics around recent solar industry announcements that in general profit margins are narrowing are, as usual with all things solar recently, completely overblown. "Is This A Death Spiral for Solar Companies?" might be my favorite histrionic headline.

Yes, narrowing margins are making life difficult for smaller, higher cost producers. But this is and has always been a standard part of the evolution of any industry from niche to growth to mainstream. An undervalued name we own and that I’ve used as an industry representative example before, Canadian Solar (CSIQ), announced October 17 that, due to the rapid growth in the solar industry and emerging commoditization of some components, their overall profit margin is expected to shrink to 12 percent by year end 2011.

Meanwhile, their industry is growing at 10 times the rate of the overall U.S. economy and will far more than make up in volume what it loses in margins. This is the normal progression with any new technology, and is usually considered a good thing. In fact, most mature industries operate — profitably — at or below 12 percent. Here's the Fortune/CNN 2009 list of profit margins by industry.

According to the list, solar, even with its newly revised lower 12 percent margins, would still rank sixth of 53 on this list (if it were included). And the truth is, as solar grows and grows, and panels become cheaper and cheaper, margins will continue to drop to 10 percent and below. But, again, the industry is maturing into a high-volume business wherein scale will more than compensate for this narrowing just as occurred in most of the above industries. Yet when was the last time you heard a pundit claim that most of these industries was in a “death spiral?” I would argue that with its booming growth, solar is a better long term investment than any of these "stalwart" industries that currently operate between one percent and 10 percent margin rates.

Also bear in mind that as panels become ever cheaper and margins narrow, solar is fast becoming the cheapest source of electricity of any kind. Extrapolation of current trends shows that solar will be the cheapest electricity in the world by 2018, latest. What happens to industry growth as that day approaches?

After CSIQ's announcement, its shares dropped another 13 percent to $3.00, which is less than one-fifth of their $16.03 per share in cash. Ridiculous. CSIQ was already priced at one-quarter of cash, like a company hemorrhaging money, not making it. So the reduction in margin announcement should hardly have had the effect that it did, so what the further decline represents for me is a buying opportunity.

Bear in mind that China has made a $313 billion commitment to green energy, primarily solar, over just the next four years (the U.S. commitment is trivial by comparison, no doubt thanks in part to some dangerously misguided calls for America to give up on solar altogether). The favored Chinese manufacturers of solar PV will thus have no problem maintaining liquidity much less solvency as the industry, predictably, matures and consolidates. This kind of large, rapid investment in solar PV manufacturing has resulted in global supply outpacing demand at the moment, which is one of the factors causing shrinking industry margins. However, we believe this is a temporary imbalance because we’re observing aggressive solar scaling, utility-scale and rooftop, in nations worldwide. More on that in a later post.

As an aside, we disagree with current U.S. based efforts to sue China for solar panel price dumping. Dumping, which is defined as selling a product under production cost to capture market share, is not the same as out-competing, which has the same effect. If China has invested so much more in its solar capability that its cost of production is significantly lower than ours, so be it; the appropriate response is to invest in our domestic industry to make it more competitive. It will be interesting to see what the WTO concludes, but I don’t think the dumping case is necessarily clear. In any event, winning the case will allow the U.S. to apply tariffs to foreign solar panels, thus raising the cost for consumers, prolonging our dependence on fossil fuels (although that may be the point) and keeping energy prices higher overall.

Again, solar is a booming growth industry that is adding jobs, revenue and profits worldwide (including here in America), that is going to keep growing, and fast, for years if not decades: how many of us are aware that already, solar employs 100,237 people in the United States and is booming, compared to coal's 80,600 and shrinking jobs? [Note: the coal jobs figure is from the U.S. BLS. The BLS does not keep track of solar jobs, but refers interested parties to The Solar Foundation’s “National Solar Jobs Census,” cited above.]

The trick for investors is to find the low cost manufacturers with access to capital and with already profitable business models. Solar as an industry is here to stay; investors who own the best solar companies now will be very pleased in the long run.


http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/10/the-pending-solar-apocalypse-not

Interior's new solar plan aims at environmentally-sound developments

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has released a plan to develop an environmentally responsible roadmap for solar development on public lands in the West. While the plan reduces the number of acres considered best suited for solar projects, it also provides companies with incentives for developing in the recommended locations.

The plan, known as the Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), aims to concentrate the development of solar projects in sunny, flat areas near transmission lines that pose minimal threats to wildlife and cultural resources. The proposal affects public land in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

The revised plan slashes the number of solar energy “zones” in these states to 17 from the 24 proposed in the first version of the plan, released in December of last year. The zones’ total acreage was reduced from 285,000 acres from 677,000. Five sites in Nevada, four in Colorado, three in Utah, two each in California and Arizona, and one in New Mexico were identified as ideal for solar development.

While California has just two projects — both near the Arizona border in the southeastern part of the state — it has more than half the total acreage, with 153,627 acres. Nevada has the next-highest acreage at 60,395.

The changes were made after the Interior and Energy departments received more than 80,000 comments on the original plan from solar energy developers, conservationists and others.

Department of Interior officials say that solar energy and transmission projects sited in solar energy zones will also enjoy faster and easier permitting. Developers will be able to site projects outside the recommended zones, but will likely face a longer permitting process, Salazar said.

Solar developers will be encouraged to build their projects within the zones because the work of identifying potential threats to wildlife and other resources has already been done, officials said.

Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), said that siting flexibility and access to transmission are essential to the development of utility-scale solar projects. “There are some significant areas of concern regarding the viability of a solar-energy zone approach.”

Resch said the Solar PEIS will “set the rules of the game for project development over the next 20 years, and it is critical that we get it right.”

Fong Wan, senior vice president for energy procurement for Pacific Gas and Electric Company, applauded the decision, saying that PG&E supports the process and believes it will provide more certainty for project development on the front end. “It is steps like these that will help increase the likelihood of successful projects, propelling the country toward our shared renewable energy goals.”

The plan’s stakeholders will now engage in a review of updates and provide commentary during a 90-day period starting on Oct. 28.

A megasession regarding renewable energy development and wildlife issues will be held at the Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America in Long Beach, Cali. on Feb. 16, 2012. The megasession will feature presentations from renewable energy developers, environmental groups, government entities and industry associations, focused on animal and habitat protection and solutions for achieving successful renewable projects while protecting wildlife.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/10/interiors-new-solar-plan-aims-at-environmentally-sound-developments

China taking uncertain path toward electric vehicles

China's Energy Saving and New Energy Vehicle Development Plan is still awaiting approval, stymieing the efforts of domestic new energy vehicle producers to map out their development plans and raising concerns that foreign rivals may come in to the local market and grab the new growth opportunities.

Since the beginning of the year, the technologies adopted by new energy cars as well as the development plans and favorable policies for the sector have been drawing the public's attention with a special focus on the quality, supporting facilities and production costs of electric vehicles. Biofuel and fuel cell technologies are also included in the development plan, but so far those remain at the concept stage. Pure electrics and hybrids, though, are gearing up for vast expansion.

The road map for electric vehicles hasn't been determined yet, causing the delay in introducing the plan, said Zhang Shulin, a consultant at the China Automotive Technology and Research Center. In addition, the road map remains as a contentious point of discussion among the various government entities with a hand in the exercise – the Ministries of Science and Technology (MST), Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), and Finance as well as the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

MST considers the electric vehicles as a priority, while MIIT emphasizes giving equal treatment to electric cars and energy conservation.

“We should continue to place value on hybrids while accelerating the development of all-electric vehicles,” said Su Bo, deputy minister of MIIT. Former MST minister Xu Guanhua presented his view whereby the transformation of the automotive industry in China is accelerated through the development of compact-sized electric cars. Xu also put forward specific approaches towards the development of electric cars, including the government's offering of guidance and support, developing clear targets and accelerating the construction of charging infrastructures, as well as introducing incentives such as subsidies and tax exemptions.

Given the debate, some industry researchers called for a clear road map for the future of the sector.

In an article published by the Chinese Communist Party's bi-monthly official journal Qiushi, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pointed out that the challenges facing the development of new energy cars needed to be addressed, including issues surrounding the road map, core technologies, investment and preferential policies.

Attendees at the recent 2011 International Forum on Chinese Automotive Industry Development in Tianjin agreed that developing electric cars is not the only way forward and several approaches need to be brought into play in order to spur the growth of new energy cars in the country.

China did launch a new subsidy policy concerning fuel-efficient cars, effective from Oct. 1. Under the new policy, cars are eligible for the 3,000-yuan ($470) subsidies only if they consume 6.3 liters of gas or less per 100 kilometers, compared with the previous level of 6.9 liters. It is worth noting that a hybrid car buyer can receive a subsidy of 5,000 yuan ($780), compared to up to 60,000 yuan ($9,400) for the buyer of a pure electric car. The policy seems to be sending a strong signal that the country values pure electrics over the energy-saving kind.

China has many advantages when it comes to pure electric cars, including good availability of resources and strong production bases of key parts, according to an industry researcher. However, some industry insiders believe that the hybrid is the more promising option. In addition, some industry researchers indicated that the country ignores the subsidies on new energy car batteries, a major component of the vehicle that plays an important role in the development of electric car technologies and of the sector.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/10/china-taking-uncertain-path-toward-electric-vehicles

Obama administration fast track for transmission projects does little for western geothermal interests

Several expedited projects make reference to potential transport of geothermal energy, but no firm commitments.

As part of the campaign to gain support for the American Jobs Act, the Obama Administration has recently identified 7 major transmission projects for expedited permit streamlining. According to Nancy Sutley of the Council on Environmental Quality, this move will "speed the creation of thousands of construction and operations jobs while transforming the nation's electric system into a modern, 21st century grid that is safer and more secure, and gives consumers more energy choices."

The choice of these transmission projects is touted as a means to increase grid reliability and to integrate renewable energy resources. An analysis of these selected transmission lines by the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) shows little to no benefit from these projects to expanded transmission access to geothermal resource areas in the western states. Although several of these projects make reference to potential access and transport of geothermal energy, GEA could find no specific commitments from any of these transmission projects to actually facilitating project development.

These major transmission projects may be missing out on the potential to connect to geothermal electricity stations:

Boardman-Hemingway Line — The new 500-kilovolt (kV) transmission line proposed by Idaho Power would create an approximately 300 mile long, single-circuit electric transmission line from a proposed substation near Boardman, Oregon to the Hemingway Substation near Melba, Idaho — known as the Boardman to Hemingway Transmission Line Project or B2H Project. The power imported on the proposed transmission line would come from a variety of northwest sources including hydroelectric, natural gas, coal, nuclear, and wind resources.

Gateway West Project — Jointly proposed by Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power, this project would add approximately 1,150 miles of new, high-voltage transmission lines between the Windstar Substation near Glenrock, Wyoming and the Hemingway Substation near Melba, Idaho. According to the developers, “the electricity that will be transported over the new transmission lines will come from a variety of existing and future sources including coal, hydroelectric, geothermal, natural gas and wind resources in Wyoming and Idaho.” The July 2011 Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project does reference several geothermal leasing areas in Wyoming and Idaho as within the Project area, and the document also notes that the Raft River Geothermal Power Plant operated by U.S. Geothermal is within the project area. However, the Draft EIS goes on to state that “As of June 2011, all of the generators requesting transportation on Gateway West were wind energy (PacifiCorp 2011).

Cascade Crossing Line — Portland General Electric’s proposed Cascade Crossing Transmission Project includes approximately 210 miles of 500-kV transmission line from Boardman to Salem, Oregon—for the construction of four new substations, expansion of three existing substations, and upgrades to the existing transmission systems near Salem. According to the developer, Cascade Crossing is expected to create about 450 jobs during peak construction, and “would provide transmission to wind projects that are planned but are not currently served by transmission.”

SunZia Transmission — SunZia Transmission, LLC plans to construct and operate up to two 500 kV transmission lines originating at a new substation in Lincoln County in the vicinity of Ancho, New Mexico, and terminating at the Pinal Central Substation in Pinal County near Coolidge, Arizona. According to the developer, this project will provide access to geothermal, solar and wind resources. However this line is primarily designed to access the remote wind-rich region in central New Mexico that is estimated to contain over 11,300 MW of power. Solar interests in Arizona and New Mexico are also interested in utilizing the line, but there is no specific reference to where the commercially viable geothermal resources of Arizona or New Mexico are located that could access this interstate transmission line.

TransWest Express — TransWest Express LLC plans to construct and operate a more than 700 mile, 600-kV transmission line. According to the developer, “This project will facilitate the development of new wind projects in Wyoming.”

Two of the “fast tracked” projects are in the eastern United States where there are no commercially operated geothermal power plants.

Susquehanna to Roseland Line — PPL Electric Utilities (PPL) and Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) have proposed the Susquehanna-Roseland power line project which includes an approximately 145 mile long 500-kV transmission line from the Susquehanna Substation in Pennsylvania to the Roseland Substation in New Jersey, and several 500–230-kV substations in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Hampton-Rochester-La Crosse Line — This double-circuit capable 345-kV transmission line will run between a new substation near Hampton, Minnesota, a new substation north of Pine Island, Minnesota, and continue on to cross the Mississippi River near Alma, Wisconsin. A single circuit 345-kV line will be built in Wisconsin to a new substation in the La Crosse area. Two 161-kV lines will be built between the new substation near Pine Island and existing substations northwest and east of Rochester.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/10/obama-administration-fast-track-for-transmission-projects-does-little-for-western-geothermal-interests

Leasing options bringing solar awareness to the masses

DALLAS -- How can we make solar more accessible to the public? This question has been dogging the industry since its inception. Installing solar on a home is no easy task, and though prices have reduced dramatically in recent years, it can still be very costly for most homeowners. Enter: solar leasing.

Leasing programs have allowed the industry to get more in-tune with the public. It also has garnered more recognition through creative marketing campaigns and business strategies, and companies are taking notice.

At Solar Power International, several established solar companies are introducing solar leasing programs to their business models in hopes of reaching a broader customer base.

SANYO has announced that it is partnering with Brightgrid to introduce a three-tier leasing program. Customers have the option of putting no money down, a partial payment, or paying for the system in full. Why pay in full? The program strives to take the uncertainty out of solar, and each plan includes the install costs and a 20-year maintenance and monitoring program. “We wanted to make it available for everybody, and when you don’t have to put up any upfront payment, everyone can afford it,” said Anna Lickova, Sales and Marketing Manager at SANYO. To sweeten the offer, SANYO will be including 3D television in the deal.

But this isn’t where SANYO’s vision ends. It hopes that these televisions will soon be able to display a home energy management system. With this program customers will be able to monitor their system’s efficiency, their own consumption habits, share these statistics with their neighbors and friends though social media, and play educational games about energy efficiency. “We are trying to make it a community program. People are disconnected today, and we’re just trying to reconnect them,” said Matt White of SANYO.

CentroSolar has also announced a partnership with Brightgrid to establish a CentroLease program. The program will involve a similar three-tier payment system with an operating 20-year term that includes a full warranty on all parts, theft insurance, and revenue grade monitoring. “We looked at the residential market as a key market for our products and the services that we offer. The residential marketplace is being driven by finance solutions – more and more homeowners are demanding it for purchasing their solar solutions,” said Mike Thompson, Senior Manager of Business Development at CentroSolar.

Though these companies are creating new, innovative programs, established solar leasers are introducing savvy marketing tactics and making game-changing business deals.

Sungevity has been in the game since 2007 and recently made great strides in the East Coast market. To achieve its success, Sungevity took to the streets over the summer to meet potential customers face-to-face in a popsicle truck. Outfitted with solar panels for refrigeration and a biodiesel engine, the truck traveled the coast to major cities, attracting crowds everywhere it went. Individuals received solar leasing quotes on iPads while waiting in line for a refreshing organic popsicle in the summer heat.

“We want to do this in creative, fun ways and get customers engaged in the process. The ice pops were a big catch; people loved them. It worked great and helped launch us in the Northeast, as did a brand takeover of the Acela train. It put us in front of hundreds of thousands of energy-conscious customers,” said David Kennedy, President and Founder of Sungevity.

Sungevity also recently announced a partnership with Lowes that allows them to solar leasing via the popular hardware store. Sungevity currently is in Lowes stores in California and New Jersey and will be moving to new stores soon. “We are getting literally hundreds of quotes every week from that relationship just in the small subset of stores they have put us in. With over 1,500 stores, things have been going well and we hope to be with them for the long-haul,” said Kennedy.

Solar leasing is a new concept, but it is growing rapidly, said Kennedy: “We are now 50 percent of the residential market, at least. Which is a pretty amazing thing to say because four or five years ago there were no solar leases. Consumers are speaking with their feet of where they are going. When we present the ‘cash or buy’ proposition to our customers, 99 percent of the time they go with the lease. Why wouldn’t you?”

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/10/leasing-options-bringing-solar-aware ness-to-the-masses

Geothermal industry holds strong amid challenges

Walking the exhibit hall at the 2011 Geothermal Expo in San Diego, Calif., you’d be hard-pressed to find anything but high energy and enthusiasm — impressive for an industry that only saw one project go online in the U.S. in the past year. But hope is prevalent as each company strives to carry on and plan for the future.

“We’ve got another 700 megawatts (MW) of projects that are in the active building and construction phase right now,” said Karl Gawell, director of the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA).

The project pipeline looks full, and companies are well aware of what needs to be done to get the line flowing: policy standards and simplified permitting procedures. While a call for policy is prevalent across all renewables, permitting troubles have hit the geothermal industry especially hard. Many projects take at least three to five years to get past the paperwork. “We need to cut project times in half without short-circuiting our own safeguard. I think the government, Secretary Salazar, has made a commitment to do that, and we’re trying to make sure they push through,” said Gawell.

While many are pushing Washington for industry standards, others are preparing the workforce. The National Geothermal Academy made its scholarly debut this summer with an intensive eight-week course on all aspects of geothermal development, including how to find resources, build a plant and make a business model.

“We hope to target both scientists and engineers. But we also had some business and policy people as well. The diversity of content is really hitting all aspects of geothermal. It’s a small community; everyone in it wears multiple hats. They get to see the geology, the engineering, and a little about the policy and management side as well,” said Wendy Calvin, director at the Center for Geothermal Energy.

Despite its challenges, the industry continues to grow and evolve — it’s not going anywhere. Said Gawell, “It’s not going to be easy…building a geothermal project is really a struggle, but we’re doing it. We’re building new projects, and what’s really exciting is the new technology, new people, new companies, and a world market that’s really blossoming.”

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/10/geothermal-industry-holds-strong-amid-challenges

Excellence in renewable energy awards: Nominate now !

Imagine yourself walking down the green carpet. The editors of the Renewable Energy World network announce the opening of nominations for the 2012 Excellence in Renewable Energy Awards.

New Hampshire, U.S.A. -- Get ready to celebrate the industry's achievements. At RenewableEnergyWorld.com, we are ready to accept nominations for the Excellence in Renewable Energy Awards. These awards recognize the best companies, people and projects in the North American renewable energy industry.

Last year’s awards were a huge success. And over the past 9 months, we’ve been getting a lot of questions about when nominations will open up for the 2012 awards. Wait no longer -- the time is now.

Nominations will remain open until December 31, after which the editors of the Renewable Energy World Network will vote for the winners in each category. We will also post the finalists in each category so that our audience can select the Reader’s Choice Award.

The 2012 categories are as follows:

Project of the Year for Wind, Solar, Hydro, Bioenergy and Geothermal — These five awards recognize leading renewable energy projects of any type and scale in the five technology areas listed below. It can be given to a tech company, a developer, a financier, or even an individual, and each project is judged on the overall impact it had on a community or an industry. The projects must be located in North America and must have been commissioned (completed and/or started operation) in 2011.

Innovation in Policy, Technology and Finance — These three awards recognize innovations in technology, policy and finance that have led to major advances in lowering costs, improving performance, advancing the rapid uptake of, or creating entirely new applications for renewable energy in North America.

Leadership in Renewable Energy in Policy, Technology and Finance — These three awards recognize individuals who have made an exceptional technological, financial, or political contribution to the field of renewable energy.

Reader’s Choice — After all of the nominations have been made, readers will be asked to vote for their favorite project or innovation. The winner will receive the Readers Choice Award. Voting for this award will begin in early 2011 and extend until the winners are announced at the Renewable Energy World Conference and Expo in Long Beach, California, February 14-16, 2012.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/10/nominate-now

“Πράσινη” αντεπίθεση από την Panasonic

Η Panasonic σχεδιάζει την μετατροπή μονάδας παραγωγής τηλεοπτικών οθονών στην Ιαπωνία σε εργοστάσιο παραγωγής εξοπλισμού φωτοβολταϊκών, καθώς έχει υποστεί διπλό πλήγμα από τον βιομηχανικό πόλεμο τιμών και από το ισχυρό γιεν που καθιστά τις εξαγωγές της λιγότερο ανταγωνιστικές.

Επιπλέον, σύμφωνα με το Reuters, η Panasonic διεξάγει συζητήσεις με την ιαπωνική κοινοπραξία δημόσιων και ιδιωτικών συμφερόντων display για την πώληση μονάδας παραγωγής τηλεοπτικών οθονών υγρών κρυστάλλων, που βρίσκεται σε πόλη κοντά στο Τόκιο.

Σύμφωνα με την εφημερίδα Nikkei, οι μονάδες παραγωγής τηλεοπτικών οθονών της Panasonic ωθούν τα αποτελέσματα της εταιρείας με έδρα την Οσάκα στο “κόκκινο”, με αποτέλεσμα να εξετάζει το ενδεχόμενο μεγαλύτερης στροφής της στην “πράσινη” ανάπτυξη.

http://www.ecofinder.gr/news/ΕΝΕΡΓΕΙΑ/1/Πράσινη_αντεπίθεση_από_την_Panasonic

Leaseplan: Με 650 «Πράσινα» ampera σε 12 ευρωπαϊκές αγορές

Ξεκινώντας από φέτος το Νοέμβριο, το επαναστατικό ηλεκτρικό Opel Ampera θα διατίθεται μέσω προγραμμάτων leasing στο πλαίσιο μιας πανευρωπαϊκής συμφωνίας μεταξύ Opel και LeasePlan, μιας από τις μεγαλύτερες διεθνείς εταιρείες του είδους στην Ευρώπη.

Οι πελάτες θα μπορούν να αποκτήσουν τα Ampera με μακροχρόνια μίσθωση μέσω της LeasePlan αρχικά σε Γερμανία, Ολλανδία, Βέλγιο, Λουξεμβούργο και Γαλλία. Του χρόνου, η LeasePlan θα αγοράσει μέχρι 650 Ampera και θα προσφέρει το Ampera σαν όχημα lease για καθημερινή χρήση σε 12 ευρωπαϊκές χώρες. Εν όψει της κοινής προσπάθειας για την προώθηση της ηλεκτρικής μετακίνησης, η Opel και η LeasePlan οργανώνουν ένα εξαμηνιαίο ευρωπαϊκό roadshow συνοδεία ειδικού πούλμαν ξεκινώντας από τον Οκτώβριο.

Σε διάφορες περιοχές, οι επισκέπτες θα μπορούν να μαθαίνουν τα πάντα για την τεχνολογία, τα χαρακτηριστικά και τις ικανότητες του Ampera, και παράλληλα θα έχουν την ευκαιρία να οδηγήσουν το επαναστατικό ηλεκτρικό αυτοκίνητο. «Το Ampera είναι ένα εξαιρετικά ελκυστικό προϊόν για τον τομέα fleet», δήλωσε ο Vahid Daemi, CEO της LeasePlan. «Συμπεριλαμβάνοντας το Ampera στο προϊοντικό μας πορτφόλιο, μπορούμε τώρα να προσφέρουμε ένα καινοτόμο όχημα το οποίο είναι φιλικό προς το περιβάλλον και παράλληλα προσφέρει μία αυτονομία ικανοποιητική για όλες τις απαιτήσεις των πελατών μας».

http://www.ecofinder.gr/news/ΜΕΤΑΦΟΡΕΣ/1/Leaseplan_Με_650_Πράσινα_ampera _σε_12_ευρ ωπαϊκ ές_αγορές

SMA: Νέος μικρο-μετατροπέας

Με ένα νέο μικρο-μετατροπέα επεκτείνει η SMA Solar Technology AG το χαρτοφυλάκιο των προϊόντων της.

Ο μετατροπέας «Sunny Boy 240», o οποίος παρουσιάστηκε για πρώτη φορά την περασμένη εβδομάδα στην έκθεση Solar Power International 2011 στο Ντάλας του Τέξας, είναι κατάλληλος για φωτοβολταϊκά συστήματα στέγης, ισχύος μέχρι 2 κιλοβάτ. Το προϊόν θα είναι διαθέσιμο από τα μέσα του 2012. Με το νέο μετατροπέα, η SMA επεκτείνει το χαρτοφυλάκιο των προϊόντων της και στη χαμηλή κατηγορία ισχύος.

http://www.ecofinder.gr/news/ΕΝΕΡΓΕΙΑ/1/SMA_Νέος_μικρο-μετατροπέας

Αιολικά: Το μέλλον των ΗΠΑ

Όπως προέβλεψε η αμερικανική κυβέρνηση, το μέλλον των ΗΠΑ θα επικεντρωθεί στα αιολικά. Πρόσφατη μελέτη μάλιστα της υπηρεσίας Energy Information Administration (EIA) δείχνει ότι οι ΑΠΕ θα δουν το μερίδιό τους να αυξάνεται και να αγγίζει το 23% το 2035 της συνολικής παραγωγής ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας.

Η ΕΙΑ υποστηρίζει ότι οι ΑΠΕ θα είναι η ταχύτερα αναπτυσσόμενη πηγή παραγωγής ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας τα 25 επόμενα χρόνια και δηλώνει ότι περισσότερο από το 80% αυτής της ανάπτυξης θα προέρχεται από την αιολική και την υδροηλεκτρική ενέργεια, τις οποίες χαρακτηρίζει ως τις πλέον οικονομικά συμφέρουσες. Ειδικότερα, η ανοδική αυτή πορεία θα προέρχεται κατά 55% από την υδροηλεκτρική ενέργεια και κατά 27% από την αιολική, ενώ οι εκτιμήσεις της ΕΙΑ σχετικά με την ηλιακή ενέργεια είναι μάλλον ουδέτερες.
Σε ό,τι αφορά την πορεία της κατανάλωσης, η ΕΙΑ υποστηρίζει ότι έως το 2035 θα παρουσιάσει παγκοσμίως μια αύξηση της τάξεως του 53%, η οποία αύξηση θα προέρχεται κατά το ήμισυ από την κατανάλωση ενεργείας σε Κίνα και την Ινδία.

Η ΕΙΑ υπογραμμίζει, πάντως, στην έκθεσή της ότι οι ΑΠΕ θα παραμείνουν στη σκιά των ορυκτών καυσίμων αν δεν ενισχυθούν σε πολιτικό επίπεδο με ισχυρή βούληση σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο.

http://www.ecofinder.gr/news/ΕΝΕΡΓΕΙΑ/1/Αιολικά_Το_μέλλον_των_ΗΠΑ

ΔΕΗ: συμφωνία για την ποιότητα του αέρα στη Δ. Μακεδονία

Συμφωνία για την εποπτεία του δικτύου ποιότητας της ατμόσφαιρας στη δυτική Μακεδονία υπέγραψαν ο περιφερειάρχης Γιώργος Δακής και ο γενικός διευθυντής παραγωγής της ΔΕΗ ΑΕ, Γιάννης Κοπανάκης.

Στο πλαίσιο της συμφωνίας, με τη συνδρομή του Κέντρου Περιβάλλοντος (ΚΕ.ΠΕ.), η περιφέρεια δυτικής Μακεδονίας, αναλαμβάνει την εποπτεία της σωστής λειτουργίας του δικτύου, μέσω της τηλεμετάδοσης των στοιχείων και της συστηματικής παρακολούθησης των εργασιών συντήρησης και βαθμονόμησης.

Το δίκτυο σταθμών μέτρησης ποιότητας της ατμόσφαιρας αποτελείται από έντεκα σταθμούς, οι οποίοι είναι εγκατεστημένοι στην Κοζάνη και τη Φλώρινα, περιοχές που υφίστανται τη μεγαλύτερη επιβάρυνση από τις δραστηριότητες της ΔΕΗ.

Η υπογραφή του μνημονίου αποτελεί αναγνώρισητης συνεισφοράς του ΚΕ.ΠΕ. και της περιφέρειας στο έργο της προστασίας της υγείας των πολιτών.

Το ΚΕ.ΠΕ ως τεχνικός σύμβουλος σε θέματα προστασίας του περιβάλλοντος της περιφέρειας, αναλαμβάνει την εποπτεία και λειτουργία του δικτύου που του ανατίθεται, επ’ αόριστον, από τη ΔΕΗ ΑΕ.

http://www.econews.gr/2011/10/29/dei-dutiki-makedonia/

λιακά σχολεία τελευταίας τεχνολογίας στην Αφρική

Παρελθόν θα αποτελέσει για πολλούς μαθητές στην Αφρική η διδασκαλία των σχολικών μαθημάτων σε ετοιμόρροπα σχολεία ή κάτω από δέντρα, καθώς σε πολλές αγροτικές απομακρυσμένες περιοχές σύντομα θα φτάσουν κινητές αίθουσες που λειτουργούν με ηλιακή ενέργεια.

Σύμφωνα με το σχέδιο που παρουσιάστηκε στο Γιοχάνεσμπουργκ την περασμένη εβδομάδα, οι αίθουσες – κοντέινερ, μήκους 12 μέτρων, είναι πλήρως εξοπλισμένες με πολλά gadgets, μεταξύ των οποίων ηλιακοί φορητοί υπολογιστές, βιντεοκάμερες, ενεργειακά αποδοτικά ψυγεία, διαδραστικοί πίνακες κ.α.

Η Samsung, που έχει αναλάβει την κατασκευή των καινοτόμων σχολείων, επισημαίνει ότι «το ηλιακό διαδικτυακό σχολείο μπορεί να μεταφερθεί εύκολα σε απομακρυσμένες περιοχές, αντέχει τις αντίξοες καιρικές συνθήκες και μπορεί να λειτουργήσει οπουδήποτε, ακόμα και αν δεν υπάρχει παροχή ηλεκτρικού ρεύματος».

Τα φωτοβολταϊκά που θα εγκατασταθούν πάνω από τις αίθουσες θα παρέχουν αρκετή ενέργεια για τη λειτουργία του ηλεκτρονικού εξοπλισμού της τάξης, μέχρι και εννέα ώρες ημερησίως. Τα πάνελς μάλιστα έχουν φτιαχτεί από λάστιχο αντί για γυαλί, έτσι ώστε να είναι πιο ανθεκτικά στις μεγάλες αποστάσεις και τις δύσκολες καιρικές συνθήκες.

«Η ηλεκτρική ενέργεια παραμένει η μεγαλύτερη οικονομική πρόκληση για την Αφρική, με το χαμηλό διείσδυσης στις αγροτικές περιοχές κάτω του 25%. Η έλλειψη ηλεκτρισμού απομονώνει τις κοινότητες και περιορίζει την πρόσβασή τους στην εκπαίδευση και την πληροφόρηση, εργαλεία ουσιαστικής σημασίας για την προώθηση της ανάπτυξης», επισημαίνει η Samsung σε ανακοίνωσή της, εκφράζοντας την ελπίδα ότι τα ηλιακά σχολεία θα δώσουν νέες ευκαιρίες στα παιδιά απομακρυσμένων περιοχών.

http://www.econews.gr/2011/10/29/iliaka-sxoleia/

Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλίας: Σημαντική εξοικονόμηση ενέργειας από τις πράσινες στέγες

Σημαντική μείωση της κατανάλωσης ενέργειας προσφέρουν οι πράσινες στέγες στα ελληνικά κτίρια, όπως προκύπτει από σχετική έρευνα του Πανεπιστημίου Θεσσαλίας. Στη μελέτη τονίζεται μεταξύ άλλων ότι οι πράσινες στέγες προσφέρουν εξαιρετική θερμομόνωση, υγρομόνωση και ηχομόνωση.

Επισημαίνεται επιπλέον ότι η μείωση του κόστους ενέργειας για ψύξη μπορεί να φτάσει έως και το 40%, ενώ στον τελευταίο όροφο, κάτω από την φυτεμένη επιφάνεια, αλλά και στις μονοκατοικίες η μείωση φθάνει το 87%. Κτίρια με πράσινη στέγη είναι το δημαρχείο της Ελευσίνας, το υπουργείο Οικονομικών και υπάρχουν πολλά ιδιωτικών φορέων.

Το Νοέμβριο αναμένεται να προκηρυχθεί πρόγραμμα για πράσινες ταράτσες προϋπολογισμού 20 εκατ. ευρώ από το ΕΣΠΑ για δημόσια κτίρια.

http://www.neaenergia.gr/index.php/eidiseis/eksoikonomisi-energeias/panepistimio-thessalias-sima ntiki-eksoikonomisi-energeias-apo-tis-prasines-steges.html

Φωτοβολταϊκό πάρκο 100 KW στην Κάλυμνο με εξοπλισμό της IBC Solar

Ολοκληρώθηκε το έργο 100 kw σε ανοικτή έκταση στην περιοχή Γιαννοχώραφα από την εταιρεία «Άννα Τσέρου & ΣΙΑ Ο.Ε.». Η εγκατάσταση του συστήματος ολοκληρώθηκε τον Οκτώβριο του 2011 από την «Άννα Τσέρου & ΣΙΑ Ο.Ε.- Sunergy συνεργάτη της IBC Solar A.E.». Το σύστημα υλοποιήθηκε με 400 Φ/Β πλαίσια Sanyo HIT-H250E01, υβριδικού τύπου, ισχύος 250 Wp ανά πλαίσιο και με αντιστροφείς (inverters) τύπου αλυσίδας (string) της εταιρείας SMA. Το σύνολο του εξοπλισμού το προμήθευσε η IBC Solar A.E.

Το έργο έχει συνδεθεί με το δίκτυο της ΔΕΗ. Η εγκατάσταση του εξοπλισμού έγινε από εξειδικευμένο προσωπικό της «Άννα Τσέρου & ΣΙΑ Ο.Ε.- Sunergy». Τα περιβαλλοντικά οφέλη που θα παράγει η φωτοβολταϊκή εγκατάσταση αναμένεται να είναι ιδιαίτερα εντυπωσιακά, καθώς θα αποτρέπουν κατ' εκτίμηση την εκπομπή 130 τόνων διοξειδίου του άνθρακα ετησίως.

http://www.neaenergia.gr/index.php/eidiseis/fotoboltaika/fotoboltaiko-parko-100-KW-stin-kalimno-me-eksoplismo-tis-IBC-Solar.html