Solar Industry Leader Applauds Obama Budget

Posted on February 21, 2011 by quest

Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released the following statement today commending President Barack Obama’s FY2012 budget request: “A few weeks ago, President Obama laid out a vision to keep America competitive in a rapidly evolving global marketplace. The Administration’s budget delivers on that vision, helping to lay the groundwork for a level playing field that allows solar energy to compete with traditional fossil energy sources that have received substantial support from the federal government for decade after decade.

“This budget is a smart investment for the American taxpayer. If this budget is enacted, I expect the solar industry to more than double in 2012, creating tens of thousands of good-paying solar energy jobs. And as the industry grows, our costs continue to decline helping to make solar the best economic choice for taxpayers across the country.
“The President’s budget makes a targeted investment in the Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program, adding $200 million to spur development of utility-scale solar and solar manufacturing facilities.

“The budget also extends the highly successful 1603 Treasury Program for one year. This program has been critical for solar power development, both large and small, while the financial markets have been slow to recover. After securing a hard-fought extension through 2011 during the lame duck session, we are pleased to see that the program remains a top priority for the President.

“Finally, the Administration’s budget includes smart investments in clean energy research – including a near doubling of solar energy technology funding – that will go a long way in achieving the new Sputnik moment President Obama envisioned in his State of the Union Address. “We applaud this bold investment in America’s future and urge Congress to swiftly pass this budget and keep solar working for America.”

DISCOVER ECOTOURISM

HyperSolar Designs Breakthrough Solar Concentrator

Posted on February 18, 2011 by quest

HyperSolar, Inc. the developer of a breakthrough technology that magnifies the power of the sun to significantly increase the power output of solar cells, today announced that it has successfully completed a prototype design of its innovative thin solar concentrator. Tim Young, CEO of HyperSolar, commented, “Our ultimate goal is to develop an inexpensive and thin solar concentrator for use in replacing expensive solar cells in conventional flat solar panels. After a year of intense research and development, we are excited to report that we have finally achieved a prototype design that we believe can be refined into a commercial product. While this initial prototype is designed to provide 300% light magnification, we are aiming for at least 400% in our final commercial product.”

The company anticipates the commercial version of the HyperSolar concentrator will be approximately 1 centimeter thick and will be applied as the top sheet on flat solar panels. The initial prototype will be a single micro-concentrator module fabricated at a larger size to facilitate testing and validation of its real-life performance. Once the photonic and optical characteristics of the micro-concentrator module are validated and refined, the design can be easily miniaturized for use in the mass production of the commercial version HyperSolar concentrator.

When successfully commercialized, a HyperSolar concentrator delivering 400% light magnification can reduce the number of solar cells in a solar panel by 75%, thereby dramatically reducing the cost per watt of solar electricity. “Unlike current concentrated photovoltaic solutions that require bulky mirrors or lenses and sun tracking mechanisms, the HyperSolar concentrator will be a thin and flat self-tracking solar concentrator that conventional solar manufacturers can use in conventional flat solar panels. A HyperSolar concentrator is a concentrator like no other with a multi-billion square feet opportunity. Every square foot of solar panel demand is an opportunity to reduce the number of expensive solar cells by incorporating a square foot of HyperSolar,” concluded Mr. Young.

VISIT THE SOLAR WALL

Glory Climate Satellite to Study Solar Energy

Posted on February 12, 2011 by quest

NASA’s Glory mission is scheduled to launch Wednesday, Feb. 23, from Space Launch Complex 576-E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Liftoff is targeted for 5:09 a.m. EST (2:09 a.m. PST) in the middle of a 48-second launch window.

Data from the Glory mission will allow scientists to better understand how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect Earth’s climate. Both aerosols and solar energy influence the planet’s energy budget – the amount of energy entering and exiting Earth’s atmosphere. An accurate measurement of these impacts is important to anticipate future changes to our climate.
The first of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, missions also will be launched on the Taurus XL rocket. These auxiliary payloads are three small satellites called CubeSats, each designed and created by university and college students.

NASA Television will carry prelaunch media briefings on the Glory and ELaNa missions on Monday, Feb. 21, starting at 4 p.m. EST (1 p.m. PST) from Vandenberg. Reporters who cannot attend the briefings can ask questions from NASA field centers.

On Feb. 23, NASA TV coverage of the countdown will begin at 3:30 a.m. EST (12:30 a.m. PST). Liftoff is targeted for 5:09:43 a.m. EST (2:09:43 a.m. PST). Spacecraft separation from the Taurus occurs 13 minutes after launch. The briefings and launch coverage also will be streamed online at:

Launch coverage of Glory countdown activities will appear on NASA’s launch blog starting at 3:30 a.m. EST (12:30 a.m. PST). Real-time updates of countdown milestones as well as streaming video clips highlighting launch preparations and liftoff will be available at: NASA GLORY

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the Glory project. Mission launch management is the responsibility of NASA’s Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., which built the Glory satellite, also is the launch service provider of the four-stage Taurus XL rocket.

EXPLORE CLIMATE CHANGE

SunShot to Reduce Solar Installation Cost

Posted on February 7, 2011 by quest

The U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative, working in collaboration with the solar industry, will dramatically decrease the cost of electricity from solar energy. The goal is to achieve price parity between solar electricity and fossil-based electricity by the end of the decade, without additional subsidies. Reaching this goal will re-establish American technological leadership, improve the nation’s energy security, and strengthen U.S. economic competitiveness in the global clean energy race.

The SunShot Initiative builds on the legacy of President Kennedy’s 1960s “moon shot” goal, which laid out a plan to regain the country’s lead in the space race and land a man on the moon. Similarly, the SunShot goal aims to restore America’s once-dominant position in the global market for solar photovoltaics (PV), which has dwindled from 43 percent in 1995 to only six percent today. To achieve the SunShot goal of reducing the total installed cost of solar electricity by about 75 percent, DOE will be working closely with partners in government, industry, research laboratories and academic institutions across the country. DOE estimates that if the installed costs for solar energy systems drop to $1 per watt — equivalent to a levelized cost of electricity of 5-6 cents per kilowatt hour — solar without subsidies would be competitive with the wholesale rate of electricity nearly everywhere in the U.S. These reductions in cost will lead to a dramatic increase in the market demand for solar energy technologies, enabling new domestic manufacturing.

A PERSPECTIVE

The SunShot initiative will continue to accelerate and advance the Department’s existing research efforts by refocusing the Department’s solar energy programs — valued at approximately $200 million per year — to support a targeted roadmap to meet the SunShot goal by the end of the decade. The program will emphasize collaboration between DOE offices, including: the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which focuses on deployment and applied research and development; the Office of Science, which advances early-stage scientific discoveries; and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which is investing in a range of transformative energy technologies and has related ongoing work on power electronics.

Historically, solar investments have focused on achieving incremental efficiency improvements to solar cells and arrays. SunShot takes a different approach. In addition to investing in improvements in cell technologies and manufacturing, the SunShot initiative will also focus on steps to reduce installation and permitting costs, which are significant contributors to the total installed system price of solar electricity. This includes efforts to streamline and digitize local permitting processes and to develop codes and standards that ensure high-performance over the approximately 20 year lifetime of residential solar products.

GREEN WEBINARS

Sony A Leading Green Power Player

Posted on February 5, 2011 by quest

Sony Electronics and Sony Pictures Entertainment in the U.S., under the umbrella of Sony Corporation of America, announced that they have come together to purchase more than 143 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually for 2011, which is enough green power to meet an estimated 49 percent of these entities’ electricity use. As a result of this purchase, Sony Corporation of America ranks No. 27 on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) National Top 50 list of the largest green power purchasers.

Sony is purchasing Green-e verified renewable energy certificates (RECs) through Renewable Choice Energy and 3Degrees. Additionally, Sony is using its own on-site solar installations, which produce more than 600,000 kWh/year. These activities demonstrate a proactive choice to switch away from traditional sources of electricity generation and support cleaner renewable energy alternatives.
Earlier this week, EPA updated each of its National Top Partner lists, highlighting some of America’s largest green power purchasers. Each list highlights EPA Green Power Partners that have contracted the largest annual voluntary purchases as of January 5, 2011. EPA updates its Top Partner Lists quarterly at www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists. Green power is electricity that is generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro.

According to EPA, Sony’s green power purchase of more than 143 million kWh is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of nearly 20,000 passenger vehicles per year, or the CO2 emissions from the electricity use of nearly 13,000 average American homes annually. This purchase also qualifies the Company for EPA’s Green Power Leadership Club, a distinction given to organizations that have significantly exceeded EPA’s minimum purchase requirements. Green Power Leadership Club members must purchase ten times the partnership’s minimum requirement organization-wide. Sony’s recent green power purchase and on-site solar generation initiatives are part of its ongoing support of renewable energy and its commitment to reducing its environmental impact globally under its “Road to Zero” environmental plan, through which the Company aims to achieve a zero environmental footprint by 2050.

EXPLAINING CLIMATE CHANGE

San Antonio Mayor joins SCHOTT Solar & BuiltSmart to Open Green Home

Posted on January 31, 2011 by quest

SCHOTT Solar and BuiltSmart Resources were joined by Mayor Julian Castro for the grand opening of San Antonio’s first Net Zero Green Home. The BuiltSmart Resource Center achieved a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) score of negative three, making it one of the most energy efficient homes in Texas.

“We are committed to making San Antonio a leader in solar and renewable energy and are proud that San Antonio is home to one of the most energy efficient homes in Texas,” said San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. “Companies like BuiltSmart Resources and Schott Solar are helping us build a strong clean energy economy in our city and creating good local jobs. We are also pleased to have Build San Antonio Green, the local residential green building program, which developed the criteria for the Level 3 Solar Home and certified this home as green-built.” MSA Architecture of San Antonio designed the Resource Center in a Contemporary Hill Country style that features an open floor plan. Lori Caldwell, award-winning Interior Designer, also collaborated on the project. The BuiltSmart Resource Center will feature an 11.28 KW photovoltaic (PV) solar system utilizing SCHOTT Solar’s panels and a 30,000-gallon rainwater catchment system for all domestic and landscape use.

“Through remodeling or new home construction, today’s homeowners have the ability to make a large impact on their future energy costs,” said Mike Scott, owner of BuiltSmart Resources. “Our partnership with SCHOTT Solar was underscored not only by high quality solar panels but their responsive to the needs of our project.” SCHOTT Solar, whose flagship manufacturing facility opened on the south side of Albuquerque, N.M. in 2009, employs more than 300 workers and is a leader in U.S. solar manufacturing. “SCHOTT Solar sees tremendous potential for our proven, high-quality modules in Texas,” said Tom Hecht, President and Chief Sales Officer of SCHOTT Solar PV, Inc. “We are fortunate to have BuiltSmart Resources as a partner and to work with them to give San Antonio homeowners the opportunity to own a green home and save money. We’re also proud that our efforts are creating jobs along the solar value chain in Texas and throughout the Southwest.”