By Karen E. Klein: As a former environmental activist, Danny Kennedy, 39, says he is “probably more missionary than mercenary” when it comes to clean energy. Still, the founder of Sungevity, a Berkeley (Calif.)-based company that sells solar power panels for homes, is “entirely comfortable with the fact that we’re going to make a killing in this industry.”

Coal, natural gas, and nuclear energy fuel the vast majority of America’s energy consumption. Solar energy and other renewable sources account for less than 3 percent of the total, although their share is growing. The residential solar market in the U.S. increased 101 percent during the 2009 recession, according to the Solar Energy Industries Assn. With the nation’s toughest environmental regulations, California made up the lion’s share of that growth, with 220 megawatts of new capacity installed in 2009.

Already in the top 5 in sales of U.S. residential solar companies, three-year-old Sungevity wants to dominate the Golden State market, and is just starting to sell in Arizona and Colorado. This year, thanks to a new customer lease option, Kennedy says revenue is on track to exceed $25 million, up from just under $3 million in 2009. Read On

LOS GATOS, CA. Akeena Solar, Inc. d/b/a Westinghouse Solar, today announced that it is expanding its distribution business to include sales in California, the largest solar market in the U.S. To implement this distribution expansion, the company will exit its solar panel installation business in the state, focusing exclusively on its manufacturing and distribution business.  This move will position the company to sell its award-winning Westinghouse Solar Power Systems directly to dealers in California for the first time.
“Expanding our channels to include authorized dealers in California will accelerate the growth of our distribution business,” said Barry Cinnamon, chief executive officer of Westinghouse Solar. “California is the largest state in the country for solar products, accounting for approximately 50 percent of the U.S. market. Westinghouse Solar panels are safer, more powerful, more reliable and easier to install than other products on the market today. Our outreach to qualified solar installers in California begins immediately, making our panels available to more consumers in the state. Read on

In a second round of funding by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), SunPower Corp. , will receive a grant of approximately $1.8 million from the California Solar Initiative Research, Development, Deployment and Demonstration (CSI RD&D) Program.  This grant will enable SunPower to research photovoltaic (PV) energy storage for large commercial applications.
SunPower will partner with three energy storage companies, Ice Energy, Xtreme Power and ZBB Energy (NYSE Amex: ZBB), to establish a pilot program for demonstrating the integration of advanced energy storage systems in combination with existing PV systems for commercial customers.  Working with a major retailer, SunPower plans to demonstrate the economic and operational benefits of combining PV with each of the partners’ storage devices.
“Rooftop solar is affordable today and growing rapidly in cities all across America,” said Jim Pape, SunPower president, residential and commercial.  “SunPower is excited to work with PG&E, KEMA, Sandia National Laboratories, and our storage partners to evaluate how to make solar power even more valuable during peak energy periods.”

The CPUC California Solar Initiative (CSI) has a goal to create 1,940 megawatts of new, solar-produced electricity by 2016, moving the state toward a cleaner energy future and helping to lower the cost of solar systems for consumers.  The CSI budget is $2.2 billion over 10 years, and has five distinct program components.  The RD&D program, one component of the CSI Program, has an overall budget of $50 million and aims to achieve California’s goal of creating a vibrant solar industry. This program provides grants to fund solar research and demonstration projects that will measurably reduce the cost and accelerate the installation of solar and other distributed technologies that could employ solar for generation, storage, or that could reduce the use of natural gas.

File this one under “holy crap,” but scientists at MIT have discovered molecules that spontaneously assemble themselves into a pattern that can turn light into electricity — essentially a self-creating solar panel. In a petri dish. The researchers set out to create a synthetic process that imitates photosynthesis. Certain molecules respond to light by releasing electrons; the trick was discovering a substance that sticks them together in a consistent structure. Phospholipids do just that, and they also attach themselves to carbon nanotubes, which conduct electricity. With the nanotubes holding the phospholipids in a uniform alignment, the photoreactive molecules are all exposed to light at once, and the tube acts as a wire that then collects the resulting electrical current.
The most interesting part is that the tiny solar array can be disassembled and reassembled just by adding chemicals. Spray on an additive and the molecular components break apart into a soup; remove it with a membrane, and the system spontaneously puts itself together.

After repeatedly having the system go through disassembly and reassembly, the scientists found the system had no loss in efficiency. That could prove to be the best development of all, since losing efficiency over time can be a big problem with some solar systems. It all makes sense: if you want to build better solar panels, why not look for inspiration from the most successful solar-energy generators of all: plants. MIT News.

Reminiscent of James Bond’s fold-away Acrostar mini-plane, the Cri-Cri is the world’s smallest electric plane and this week made its official maiden flight at Le Bourget airport near Paris. Jointly developed by EADS Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintonge and the Green Cri-Cri Association, the lillipution aircraft is the first-ever four-engined all-electric aerobatic plane. Designed with numerous innovative technologies, the Cri-Cri boasts a lightweight composite structure that reduces the weight of the entire plane, allowing for the additional weight of the necessary batteries and the four brushless electric motors and counter-rotating propellers. All this leads to zero CO2 emissions and less noise compared to thermal propulsion that also utilizes higher-energy density lithium batteries. With the batteries, the Cri-Cri is able to maintain 30 minutes of autonomous cruise flight at 110km/h or an alternative 15 minutes of autonomous aerobatics at speeds reaching up to 250 km/h. For the test flight, the plane remained airborne for 7 minutes before landing.

“The Cri-Cri is a low-cost test bed for system integration of electrical technologies in support of projects like our hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters,” stated Jean Botti, EADS’s Chief Technical Officer. “We hope to get a lot of useful information out of this project.” The Cri-Cri is not the only ‘environmental form of air travel’ that EADS is researching. Currently the company is also experimenting with algae based biofuel and a helicopter hybrid propulsion system combining electrical power with piston engines. With such technologies being enhanced, could it only be a matter of time before air travel is no longer one of the largest polluters on the planet, but one of the cleanest? Source:Inhabitant: by Timon Singh, 09/08/10

Watch a test flight

Congress, Don’t Send the U.S. Solar Industry on an Extended Vacation
by Rhone Resch
President & CEO, Solar Energy Industries Association

It’s that time of year when many Americans are just returning from a summer vacation.

During their travels, most of those vacationers probably passed by some of the many solar projects, large and small, being installed across the country. However, they probably didn’t know that while they were on holiday, smart policies were at work speeding up deployment of solar projects. From PV farms to solar water heating systems, solar is having a record growth year and is creating stable, well-paying American jobs.
One of the main drivers of solar’s robust growth has been the Treasury Grant Program (TGP), an initiative created in the Recovery Act which provides a cash grant in lieu of the 30 percent solar investment tax credit for companies that lack access to private tax equity financing due to the poor economy. Research by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found the TGP “has provided significant economic value” and more than 40 states have solar projects that were stimulated by the TGP.
Vacationers who hit the beaches of Southeast Florida were sunbathing near the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, a 25-megawatt solar power plant that is the largest photovoltaic plant in the country. It provides clean, safe, reliable electricity to about 3,000 homes and created around 400 construction jobs. Almost 900 other solar projects nationwide have been built because of the TGP.
Tourists sending postcards from the National Cherry Festival in Michigan may have noticed a revival in America’s manufacturing sector. The Upper Midwest is one of the regions hardest hit by the recession. In Michigan, where unemployment hovers around 10 percent, the TGP has supported thousands of jobs in the manufacturing plants producing solar products. American-made solar components from these plants will be sold across the U.S. and exported around the world.

Elvis fans making the pilgrimage to Graceland may have been all shook up to see how the TGP is creating jobs for local solar installers, contractors and distributors. Memphis, Tennessee-based Unistar-Sparco was able to cut their energy costs by one-third by going solar with the help of the TGP. Read on