Panama And California Laying A Path For Sustainability


al 4a 183x300 Panama And California Laying A Path For Sustainability2425 trump ocean club 8 340x255 300x225 Panama And California Laying A Path For SustainabilityThe 9th Annual Global California Panama Conference was held this past Friday in San Jose California. The all day information packed conference was presented by TradePort, United States Panama Business Council – WestGlobalCalifornia.com, Monterey Bay International Trade Association and the City of San Jose. Robert Krieger, President of Krieger Worldwide and a featured panelist described Panama as the next Hong Kong. The new Free Trade Agreement and the fact that the Panama Canal is set to double its capacity  means a boast for Panama, California and the Americas.  Panama is now the largest free trade zone in the Western hemisphere.

Keynote speaker Juan Sosa the Former Ambassador to Panama and current President of United States – Panama Business Council said “the Panama Canal is now operating at 95% capacity. Panama is experiencing double digit growth with only 1% of the population in Latin America. Now as a logistic hub we believe that ports on the west coast, the Gulf and the Atlantic will benefit by our new capacity if they too can upgrade their capacity.” Port of Oakland’s Ron Brown who also spoke welcomed Panama’s expansion as a sign of growth for California.

9th copy 300x225 Panama And California Laying A Path For SustainabilityThe heightened economic activity in Panama is not just  about the canal. Panama City the panama and central america Panama And California Laying A Path For Sustainabilitynation’s capital dubbed “Panhatten” is a dynamic city. Real estate, banking, ecotourism and renewable energy are all poised for growth throughout the nation. Alvaro Cabal Lachman also a panelist and head of USPAW and CEO of Nearshore Development provided key insights on real estate in the country today and in the future. Participating panelists and sponsors  shared valuable insight on doing business in the country. In attendance were representatives of Morgan Stanley, Citibank, FedEx, Panama Pacifo, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Jose Branca, NICE Inc. and US Commercial Service. Daniel Robin a Senior Partner with In3 Finance Group who has worked on agricultural and renewable energy projects and ventures in Latin America suggested that PPA’s (Power Purchase Agreements) could provide an affordable solution to bringing solar energy to Panama. A trade mission to Panama will be held on July 25-27, 2012. By Richard Andrews

India Looks To Solar Power

SunPower Solar Tracker Makes Energy For Bloomberg


sunshines resized1222 600x01 300x225 SunPower Solar Tracker Makes Energy For Bloomberg

SunPower Corp. today announced the completion of a 1.8-megawatt solar power system for Bloomberg in New Jersey. The eight-acre, ground-mounted solar tracking system is generating the equivalent of 58 percent of electricity demand at the 100,000-square-foot main building at Bloomberg‘s Skillman, N.J. campus. It is the first completed renewable energy project at a Bloomberg facility. “Renewable energy development is a core part of Bloomberg’s overall commitment to environmental sustainability. This significant solar installation contributes to Bloomberg’s environmental and financial goals, and diversifies New Jersey’s energy supply with reliable, clean and affordable power,” said Curtis Ravenel, global head of sustainability for Bloomberg.

image009 1 300x232 SunPower Solar Tracker Makes Energy For BloombergBloomberg is buying the power generated from the system at prices below retail rates, providing a long-term hedge against rising power prices with no initial capital investment. The system is owned by a subsidiary of Integrys Energy Services, Inc., which is also selling the solar renewable energy credits and environmental attributes associated with the project. The system is being partially financed through PSE&G’s Solar Loan Program, through which PSE&G offers low-interest loans for solar power development. The system uses high-efficiency SunPower solar panels with the SunPower T0 Tracker system. The Tracker follows the sun’s movement during the day, increasing sunlight capture by up to 25 percent over conventional fixed-tilt systems, while significantly reducing land use requirements.

“The T0 Tracker delivers more solar energy per square meter and greater energy savings than conventional systems, reliably maximizing the clean, renewable solar power generated on site for the next 20 years or more,” said Howard Wenger, SunPower president, regions. “With this system, Bloomberg is achieving significant long-term cost savings on electricity and supporting renewable energy development that is critical to environmental health and energy independence.”

Cali And Panama Conference Targets Renewable Energy

Stanford Finds Future Of Solar Power Is Bright


thumb 300 300 reichelstein stefan j Stanford Finds Future Of Solar Power Is BrightNearly everyone thinks that generating electricity via solar power is good for the environment, but there’s much less agreement on whether it makes sense from an economic point of view. At what point will solar power be competitive with electricity generated by conventional, fossil-fuel plants, and how long will subsidies need to remain in place before the solar industry can stand on its own? Those are some of the questions addressed in “The Prospects for Cost-Competitive Solar PV Power,” a new working paper by Stefan Reichelstein, William R. Timken Professor of Accounting at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Michael Yorston, graduate student in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Their paper breaks new ground in studying the life-cycle cost of electricity generated by solar photovoltaic, paying particular attention to key factors such as location, public subsidies, and the long-term learning effects in manufacturing solar panels.

Concerning the future, and this may sound like a pun, the future of solar PV looks rather bright. The industry has consistently been able to lower the cost of solar panels. If this trend can be maintained for the next 10 years, and if subsidies are continued for that period, there is a real prospect for solar to become cost competitive on its own (that is, without a subsidy), at least for commercial installations. Utility-scale installations will take longer to become competitive; possibly 15 years, though it obviously becomes murkier to make projections that far into the future.

Renewable energy and solar in particular remain rather controversial in the public debate about energy policy. Passions have been running high. What motivated me is the bewildering range of statements you have out there regarding the cost effectiveness of electricity based on solar PV. Given the range of opinions, I wanted to do my own analysis. I’m looking at it from the point of view of a business economist who is interested in measuring the life-cycle cost of this abundant energy source.

2013 Solar Challenge Announced

Scientists Tap Into Underwater Solar Energy


full 1339546084underwater 300x200 Scientists Tap Into Underwater Solar EnergyScientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Electronics Science and Technology Division, dive into underwater photovoltaic research to develop high bandgap solar cells capable of producing sufficient power to operate electronic sensor systems at depths of 9 meters.Underwater autonomous systems and sensor platforms are severely limited by the lack of long endurance power sources. To date, these systems must rely on on-shore power, batteries or solar power supplied by an above water platform. Attempts to use photovoltaics have had limited success, primarily due to the lack of penetrating sunlight and the use of solar cells optimized more towards the unimpeded terrestrial solar spectrum.

“The use of autonomous systems to provide situational awareness and long-term environment monitoring underwater is increasing,” said Phillip Jenkins, head, NRL Imagers and Detectors Section. ”Although water absorbs sunlight, the technical challenge is to develop a solar cell that can efficiently convert these underwater photons to electricity.”Even though the absolute intensity of solar radiation is lower underwater, the spectral content is narrow and thus lends itself to high conversion efficiency if the solar cell is well matched to the wavelength range. Previous attempts to operate solar cells underwater have focused on crystalline silicon solar cells and more recently, amorphous silicon cells.High-quality gallium indium phosphide (GaInP) cells are well suited for underwater operation. GaInP cells have high quantum efficiency in wavelengths between 400 and 700 nanometers (visible light) and intrinsically low dark current, which is critical for high efficiency in lowlight conditions.

The filtered spectrum of the sun underwater is biased toward the blue/green portion of the spectrum and thus higher bandgap cells such as GaInP perform much better than conventional silicon cells, states Jenkins. Preliminary results at a maximum depth of 9.1 meters reveal output to be 7 watts per square meter of solar cells, sufficient to demonstrate there is useful solar power to be harvested at depths commonly found in nearshore littoral zones.The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is the Navy’s full-spectrum corporate laboratory, conducting a broadly based multidisciplinary program of scientific research and advanced technological development.

Dartmouth Students On Vehicle For Change

D’Angelo Plays Eco Arts Bonnaroo Music Festival


voodoolive 243x300 DAngelo Plays Eco Arts Bonnaroo Music FestivalRock the Earth, a national not-for-profit environmental organization that partners with the music industry, just held the largest music festival in the United States – the 11th Annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn., June 7-10. Rock the Earth held a series of artist interviews and performances live on Bonnaroo’s Planet Roo Solar Stage, as well as a series of environmental films at the festival. To coincide with its environmental programming, together Rock the Earth and Bonnaroo held a cell phone recycling campaign that  rewarded participants who recycled their old and unused mobile phones with free goodies and entry into the daily drawing for prizes.

Moderated by Rock the Earth’s founder and Executive Director, Marc Ross, the theme of this year’s performances and discussions on the Planet Roo Solar Stage were on  “Social Change Through Music.” Attendees  learned what inspires musicians to be activists, and explored the synergies between the artists that create music and music’s interconnectedness to the environment and world.

From Manchester, Tennessee the Newsfeed Resecher reported, “D’Angelo is back. The reclusive R&B singer made his first live U.S. appearance in 12 years at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival early Sunday morning, surprising a few thousand fans during Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Superjam session. “I’ve been waiting 12 years to say this ladies and gentlemen, D’Angelo!,” Thompson said as the crowd roared. It was his first U.S. show since 2000 and a prelude to an appearance at July’s Essence Music Festival and a European tour with many of the same players who backed him Sunday morning. D’Angelo played live in Europe earlier this year.”

GE Opens Electric And Hybrid Vehicle Innovation Center

NYC, IBM And CUNY Creating Solar Energy Venture


shia lebeouf wall street money never sleeps 300x193 NYC, IBM And CUNY Creating Solar Energy VentureIBM is helping New York City (NYC) become a global leader in Solar Map NYC 161x300 NYC, IBM And CUNY Creating Solar Energy Ventureurban solar energy market analysis and sustainability through an innovative agreement with CUNY Ventures, a City University of New York (CUNY) Economic Development Corporation entity.  The goal of this effort is to nourish solar adoption by developing the capability to analyze and understand key solar market indicators that can make solar system development more cost competitive.  Using IBM’s Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) for Smarter Cities as the backbone, this analytics-based approach will help New York City monitor and analyze solar production and capacity through a virtual control room that will provide a dashboard view of key indicators.

The collaboration is part of  ‘Solar Market Analytics, Roadmapping, and Tracking NY’ (SMART NY), a groundbreaking project supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ‘Rooftop Solar Challenge’, part of the DOE SunShot Initiative which is striving to make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade.

With IBM’s IOC software, CUNY Ventures will access and analyze data from the NYC Solar Portal, an inter-agency permitting and tracking solution developed by Procemx; data systems in solar empowerment zones; and the NYC Solar Map, putting in place a long-term solution designed to drive down the costs of solar deployment.   Initially, five state and city entities will utilize the solar market analytics: the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the NYC Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability, Consolidated Edison, the NYC Department of Buildings and the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Full Article: IBM Smarter Cities Technology Helps NYC Envision Solar Energy Leadership through CUNY Ventures

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