Wells Fargo offers new solar incentive

Posted on October 6, 2010 by quest

Financial services company Wells Fargo today announced a new incentive solar program to make it easier for home owners to go solar. As you begin to stack on the federal, state and local incentives adding this additional plan makes installing a system even more attractive. As for Wells Fargo this latest initiative is aimed at helping its customers and the nation take advantage of clean renewable solar energy.

Mary Wetzel Wells Fargo Director of Environmental Affairs said, “As a community-based financial institution, one of the ways we can help is by offering financial solutions that help our customers save not only time and money, but also protect our environment.”“Through everyday actions and being aware of the ways our decisions affect the environment, we can all contribute to environmental protection and regeneration,”

The promotion is for qualified Southern California customers who advance $15,000 or more from a home equity line or line of credit to finance a solar energy system for their home will receive up to $1,000 in incentives. Three solar companies are participating in the incentive – Acro Energy, REC Solar and Verengo Solar. Complete details of the California promotion are available at all Southern California Wells Fargo stores. Working with Colorado solar installers, the company is also presenting its Colorado customers with the $1,000 incentive through the end of the year.

Wells Fargo also provided more than $2 billion in tax equity financing projects around the country. It has installed solar panels in 10 Well Fargo Stores in Denver and supports the Environmental Finance Group, National Cleantech Commercial Banking Group, Clean Technology Investment Banking Group and the Sustainable Public Infrastructure Group; who are dedicated to developing opportunities and supporting businesses and municipalities in the growing clean technology sector.

The White House will go Solar

Posted on October 5, 2010 by quest

Maybe the White House was listening after all. It was just a few weeks ago that member students from 350.org went on a solar mission along with environmentalist Bill Mckibben to ask the White House to reinstall solar panels that Jimmy Carter had installed in the 70′s and that were later removed by Ronald Reagan. Just announced today Steven Chu US Secretary of Energy said, “As you know, President Obama (Weekly Address) has a strong commitment to American leadership in solar technologies and the jobs they will create. Through the Recovery Act, we’re supporting the deployment of today’s solar technologies. And we will double our renewable energy generation capacity by 2012. We’re also investing in the next generation of solar power through the R&D programs at the Department of Energy.

Today, we’re taking an important next step. As we move toward a clean energy economy, the White House will lead by example. I’m pleased to announce that, by the end of this spring, there will be solar panels and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House.These two solar installations will be part of a Department of Energy demonstration project. The project will show that American solar technology is available, reliable, and ready to install in homes throughout the country. Around the world, the White House is a symbol of freedom and democracy. It should also be a symbol of America’s commitment to a clean energy future.”

On 10/10/10, 350.org will be holding a Global Work Party to celebrate climate solutions and send our politicians a clear message: “We’re getting to work—what about you?

Green Pioneers Use Solar To Empower Community

Posted on October 5, 2010 by quest

We’re starting to see all kinds of very, very interesting ideas, inventions and solutions come into play as people, businesses and social enterprises from across the country begin to turn their green dreams into reality.

Global powerhouse IBM just launched CityOne an interactive game designed to spark innovation, conversation and communication with city planners, business leaders and urban inhabitants to create the cities of the future now. I haven’t played it yet but it looks like fun. But the new developments aren’t coming from just the likes ofIBM and bay area solar leader SunPower. Tony Coiro a Purdue student has just created a solar powered motorcycle. And proving there’s a way for solar challenged houses, condos and apartment dwellers to get a stake in green energy, David Brosch and some of his neighbors formed a company called University Park Community Solar, The Maryland based operation has jumped through alot of red tape to get to where they are now. David Brosch had a

Obama on solar and wind energy

Posted on October 4, 2010 by quest

Audio: Over the past twenty months, we’ve been fighting not just to create more jobs today, but to rebuild our economy on a stronger foundation. Our future as a nation depends on making sure that the jobs and industries of the 21st century take root here in America. And there is perhaps no industry with more potential to create jobs now – and growth in the coming years – than clean energy.
For decades, we’ve talked about the importance of ending our dependence on foreign oil and pursuing new kinds of energy, like wind and solar power. But for just as long, progress had been prevented at every turn by the special interests and their allies in Washington.
So, year after year, our dependence on foreign oil grew. Families have been held hostage to spikes in gas prices. Good manufacturing jobs have gone overseas. And we’ve seen companies produce new energy technologies and high-skilled jobs not in America, but in countries like China, India and Germany. It was essential

Solar races in South Africa

Posted on October 3, 2010 by quest

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The runaway winner of the South African 2010 Solar Challenge was the world’s fastest solar car – the “Tokai Challenger” from Japan – which can cruise at up to 160km/h using nothing but sunlight.The event was organized by the Advanced Energy Foundation and the Innovation Hub, and supported by the Department of Science and Technology, and was designed to “demonstrate the potential of renewable energy sources” in Southern Africa. The second Solar Challenge Race came to Pretoria with numerous records by vehicles powered by alternative energy having been broken. This race has been described as the one of the world’s toughest alternative energy races.
It saw heads turn in Cape Town, Richards Bay and dozens of small towns across South Africa. One South African team had gadgets explode on their home-made vehicle, while another “race car” had the indignity of watching a cyclist overtake them on a national highway. One of the space-age vehicle, which uses solar cells normally found on space satellites, was twice pulled over by startled traffic cops near East London in the Eastern Cape. Three locally made cars had successfully used alternative energy to make it all the way around the country in 10 days – and managed to capture the imagination of hundreds of would-be engineers along the way.

Race Director Winstone Jordaan said he would like to see the 2012 event attract more entrants, especially from other South African universities researching alternative energy sources. The vehicles travelled to Cape Town, stopping in Bloemfontein and Beaufort West during stage one. Stage two saw the teams travel from Stellenbosch to Pretoria,

A lifetime of solar green discoveries

Posted on October 3, 2010 by quest

Karl Wolfgang Boer stumbled upon a few little yellow crystals in a drawer of a German physics lab. The accidental discovery would turn out to change his life and the future of green energy.
The crystals were cadmium sulfide (CdS) platelets. The scientist investigated both the electrical properties of the crystals, and his long-term research would lay the groundwork for CdS-based solar cells.
Boer recently published a memoir, “The Life of the Solar Pioneer Karl Wolfgang Boer” (iUniverse, 2010). Written in conjunction with a foreign-languages professor, the book documents Boer’s life journey –including growing up in Berlin, his personal family trials, immigrating to the United States, and chiefly his scientific discoveries that helped to shape solar power.

From a young boy fascinated by physics, setting up little chemistry labs in his parents’ basement, Boer became a trailblazer for alternative energies technology.
In 1973, Boer created the Solar One house, the first house to convert sunlight into electricity and heat. He also helped to develop the American Solar Energy Society, has written numerous books on solar energyand has explained why CdS improves solar energy conversion. He recently spoke