Elektra One A New Solar Powered Plane

Posted on July 25, 2011 by quest

SolarWorld, a large U.S. manufacturer of solar panels, will showcase the maiden U.S. appearance of a zero-emissions electric aircraft at EAA AirVentureOshkosh 2011 in Oshkosh, Wis., starting Monday. The single-seat Elektra One is designed for more than three hours of flight, a range of more than 250 miles, a cruising speed of more than 100 mph and zero emissions. With 1,400 propeller rotations a minute at cruising altitudes, Elektra One is nearly silent. The plane weighs 440 pounds, including battery, and can carry a payload of 220 pounds, including pilot.

Elektra One is emblematic of a future in mobility that relies on efficient and environmentally sound electric vehicles,” said Frank Asbeck, CEO of SolarWorld. “We need to stop depending on fossil fuels – and their dirty, noisy use of scarce resources – to get from one place to another. Solar power, abundant and pervasive, is the obvious choice for travel in the skies.” The Elektra One made its maiden flight in March in Augsburg, Germany, where Gologan’s vision of marrying the aircraft with a solar-charging hangar was conceptually demonstrated. PC Aero will begin taking orders for the aircraft in Europe and the U.S. in 2012. Gologan intends for a complete system – solar-equipped airplane combined with a hangar – to be priced around $145,000, or 100,000 euro.

SolarWorld and Germany’s PC Aero are working together to pioneer the world’s first comparatively affordable electric aircraft system complete with solar-equipped aircraft and solar-charging hangar. PC Aero’s Calin Gologan will make several speaking appearances at AirVenture, which is expected to attract more than 500,000 people. Gologan will outline his vision of electric flight, including a talk as part of the SolarWorld-sponsored World Electric Aircraft Symposium on Friday, July 29. Elektra One will be on display in AirVenture’s Innovation Hangar, except at midday Wednesday, July 27, when it is expected to fly. SolarWorld and PC Aero are developing a new aviation filling station and hangar fitted with the company’s high-performance solar panels to service small aircraft, including the Elektra One, which also will bear SolarWorld photovoltaic cells to extend its range up to 30 percent.

GO ORGANIC

Green Boot Camp Instructs Teachers In New Jersey

Posted on July 24, 2011 by quest

Union County and Honeywell last week hosted the third annual Green Boot Camp, an interactive workshop focused on best practice instruction methods for teaching energy, sustainability and environmental concepts. As part of the five-day event, 40 middle school teachers from across North America gathered to explore the roots of green technology, sustainable living and environmental awareness by using the Union County Vocational-Technical Schools (UCVTS) campus in Scotch Plains, N.J., as a living laboratory.

“Our objective is to equip teachers with the tools to get students excited about science and engineering, and enable them to understand sustainable practices that will positively affect their families, schools and communities,” said Paul Orzeske, president of Honeywell Building Solutions. “By teaming with a renowned institution like UCVTS, we are educating the next generation of green workers and building a foundation for environmental stewardship.”

Green Boot Camp participants covered a comprehensive set of topics ranging from green energy and greenhouse gas emissions to electric vehicles and the smart electrical grid. For example, attendees worked on course materials to clearly articulate the principles of renewable energy by designing a solar house, and constructing a wind turbine and bicycle generator. In addition to the on-site instructors, Honeywell and UCVTS also invited a host of special guest speakers who specialize in environmental and energy-related disciplines, such as rainwater conservation and building energy management.

Picking Up Money Recycling in Port Au Prince

Executives Without Borders (ExecWB), in partnership with CSS International Holdings, Inc. and Haiti Recycling, will officially launch Ramase Lajan, a “cash for recyclables” program

Solar To Power Leading Wind Power Maker

Posted on July 23, 2011 by quest

Portland Mayor Sam Adams has announced solar panels from SolarWorld, the largest U.S. manufacturer of solar technology for more than 35 years, have been selected to power the North American headquarters of Vestas, a leader in providing high-tech wind power systems. “As Portland seeks to become the capital of the global green economy, collaborations among our leading clean energy firms are key,” Mayor Sam Adams said on July 20. “I’m excited to announce this unique partnership. It’s an excellent example of how two companies can come together and make something great happen in Portland.” The move links two of the top U.S. producers of renewable energy systems and underscores the companies’ confidence in the vitality of American manufacturing and the value of sustainability.

The announcement came outside the 102-year-old Meier & Frank Depot building in downtown Portland, future home of Vestas’ continental head office. The building’s redevelopment will feature a 112-kilowatt photovoltaic system, the largest roof-mounted solar array in Portland’s central business district. The system will cap an impressive list of cutting-edge energy and environmental features that are expected to position the historical building on Northwest Everett Street to pursue LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification. The SolarWorld panels will supply about 12 percent of the building’s electricity needs.

Both SolarWorld and Vestas have their headquarters for the Americas in the Portland area. SolarWorld employs more than 1,000 workers at its main U.S. site in Hillsboro, Ore., and more than 250 in Camarillo, Calif., where it has operated a solar-panel manufacturing site since the late 1970s. Vestas employs about 400 people in Portland and 3,000 nationwide. The company, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in Portland next year, has sold more than 11,000 wind turbines in North America. When complete in spring 2012, the building will measure 172,000 square feet, including an addition on the fifth floor featuring an eco-roof terrace and garden and tenant and retail space on the first floor.

Eicke Weber Envisions Worldwide Solar Power Network

PetersenDean Solar Joins California Jobs Summit

Posted on July 21, 2011 by quest

PetersenDean Solar was joined by Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski and over 100 local business leaders at the 2011 Business Summit sponsored by Fremont, Newark and Union City Chambers of Commerce. The summit focused on a roundtable discussion with local business owners, industry leaders and government officials to collect ideas to build up the local economy and bring new jobs to the community. Wieckowski, who represents the 20th Assembly District in the California State Legislature, announced a new “Made in California Jobs Initiative” program. The plan is to revitalize California’s economy through targeted incentives, streamlining government and investing in emerging technologies such as clean energy, biotech and medical research.

The Jobs Initiative Plan, a 7-Point strategy, includes support of California’s Green and Clean Technology Industries, an essential issue to alternative energy companies like PetersenDean Solar, Inc., the nation’s largest private provider of solar solutions. “I am encouraged to know that someone like Assemblyman Wieckowski, who serves as the co-chair of the Assembly Select Committee on California’s Clean Energy Economy takes this kind of interest in job creation for local communities,” says Jim Petersen, CEO and founder of PetersenDean Solar, Inc. “We need the support of our elected officials to represent local employers in alternative energy.”

Current legislation of particular interest to alternative energy providers in California is the Assembly Bill 1314 – Renewable Energy Act which allows clean technology projects to be funded faster and in turn spurs the economy. According to Jim Petersen, “We have seen it in our own business, people want to enjoy clean energy but it needs to be affordable. When government helps people get the funding they need to afford alternative energy, it leaves us less dependent on foreign and domestic oil and encourages people to fulfill their alternative energy needs.” Assemblyman Wieckowski’s focus is to provide the proper incentives to create jobs and grow the economy. “We at PetersenDean are interested in job creation because we employ real people to do our work and not robots,” says Petersen. “Government support for clean energy stimulates the clean energy economy and that means we can put more people on the payroll.”

Butte College Generates 100% Energy from Solar

Charlize Theron & Ryan Reynolds Going Green Hollywood Style

Posted on July 18, 2011 by quest

If you can believe the latest word out of Hollywood, Green Lantern star Ryan Reynolds and Academy Award winner, film producer and former fashion model Charlize Theron have been dating for months. Both have some pretty strong ” green” activist street creds. Theron also is a supporter of animal rights and active member of PETA. She appeared in a PETA ad for their anti-fur campaign.

In July 2009 it was announced that Theron’s Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) would form a coalition with LAFC Soccer Club to give soccer fields to rural areas in South Africa. LAFC Chelsea, one of the United States’s most successful and prominent youth soccer clubs, made a three-year commitment to help build a community-wide soccer program for the schools in the Umkhanyakude District. This help includes uniforms, cleats, balls and equipment, along with professional training for local coaches, referees and administrators. “Our goal is to help truly create a safer, healthier and better life for young people in South Africa, especially those living in remote areas, and to ensure that the resources we bring are self sustaining. The three year commitment is so incredible and key to being sure that the program will be around for many years to come”, says Charlize Theron.

Canadian born actor Ryan Reynolds known for his roles in National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Waiting…, Definitely, Maybe, The Proposal and X-Men Origins: Wolverine wrote in the Huffington Post after the BP oil rig explosion; “What we’re doing is literally the same thing cave men did: we set things on fire to produce energy. There are so many viable alternatives. Wind farms and solar plants, for instance, don’t explode, destroying thousands of miles of marshlands and oceans. That’s something worth focusing on. I started out feeling angry about the spill, and I think a lot of other people did too. Slowly but surely, I’ve been trying to redirect that anger into something positive. And you start to think, “How can we change this? How can we turn this into an opportunity? I see this whole thing as a wakeup call: a chance to shift to cleaner energy and build a greener economy.  It’s easy to vilify Big Oil after a tragedy like this, but there are still hard working people in that industry who need to put a roof over their heads. I firmly believe we can pass clean energy and climate legislation and by doing so, put millions of Americans to work.”

VISIT THE GREEN NEWS WALL

Solar Affordable In San Francisco With Solar@Work

Posted on July 18, 2011 by quest

The City of San Francisco launched Solar@Work, a new program that offers solar energy systems to businesses in the Bay Area through an innovative group purchase model. The new program makes it possible, for the first time, for small- and mid-sized businesses and commercial property owners to pay less for solar power than they pay for electricity from the grid without local rebates. This can allow some business owners to save hundreds of thousands of dollars over the lifetimes of these solar power systems. As the first major commercial group purchase of solar power in the United States, Solar@Work will bring together interested participants to buy more than 2 Megawatts (MW) of solar power over the next 6 months.

The Solar@Work model was developed by the City and County of San Francisco’s Department of the Environment (SF Environment), in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Optony. SF Environment found that the main barriers keeping San Francisco businesses and commercial property owners from purchasing solar energy were upfront costs and lack of access to affordable financing. With American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar America Cities program and support from U.S. DOE’s SunShot Initiative, SF Environment proposed the Solar@Work “aggregation” approach, which combines multiple participants into one solar purchasing group, along with a standardized solar equipment lease. To help make this a reality, the program’s stakeholder group, led by the World Resources Institute (WRI), negotiated with solar vendors who could address the unique needs of businesses and property owners in San Francisco, and selected winning vendor, SolarCity.

SolarCity, a national solar integrator with more than 15,000 projects completed or underway, is headquartered in the Bay Area, and is an approved installer with the San Francisco GoSolarSF program. SolarCity expects to hire more than 400 new workers in the second half of 2011, including 100 in the Bay Area. “We believe Solar@Work will provide the most affordable solar options available to small and medium-sized businesses in San Francisco,” said Erik Fogelberg, SolarCity’s director of commercial projects. “SolarCity is honored to have been selected for this important project.” “The city has the ambitious goal of meeting its electricity needs with 100 percent renewable energy, so we need to do everything we can to make sure our local and regional building owners have the ability to install renewables with minimal up-front investments,” said Melanie Nutter, Director of San Francisco’s Department of the Environment.” “Programs like Solar@Work will boost our economic competitiveness, create American jobs, and help reach the President’s goal of doubling our clean energy in the next 25 years,” said Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative.