New Solar Solutions Could Put Angelenos To Work

Posted on November 16, 2011 by quest

While Los Angeles is fast becoming a major player in the electric vehicle industry, a new jointly authored report by UCLA and USC research teams finds that Los Angeles is lagging behind on solar energy installation despite a significant trained workforce ready to perform clean-energy solar jobs. Further, the study finds that the areas in Los Angeles with the greatest potential for rooftop solar power – and thus the greatest capacity to support solar-related jobs – include many areas suffering from high unemployment and economic need.

The report urges officials to adopt a rooftop solar energy program known as a solar FiT (or feed-in tariff) that enables business owners and residents to install solar panels on their rooftops and sell surplus energy to the local utility. Such a program has been endorsed by a coalition of environmental groups, labor leaders, business organizations and other stakeholders. Thus far city leaders have failed to enact policies that would take advantage of this resource and put city residents to work.“Unless civic leaders ramp up efforts to expand solar programs, the city and region face the prospect of being left behind,” states the report, Empowering LA’s Solar Workforce: New Policies that Deliver Investments and Jobs.LABC_Solar_Workforce_Study_2011 “This report is, above all, a wake-up call to policymakers to make certain they are utilizing an important workforce segment – and creating policies that will put qualified people to work.”

While California has set a goal of generating 33 percent of its energy from renewable energy by 2020, the study reveals that the LA region lacks sound policies to meet these goals and employ ready green-economy workers. In fact, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has one of the weakest solar track records among major California utilities, generating less than one sixth as much solar power per customer as the state leader, Southern California Edison.The report, presented by the LABC Institute, will be formally released at the LA Business Council’s “Building LA’s Workforce” Summit at UCLA today, Nov. 16. It will be discussed at the event by a panel that includes three leading mayoral candidates– City Council President Eric Garcetti, Controller Wendy Greuel and Councilwoman Jan Perry.

Charging Up EV’s In Southern California

California One Gigawatts of Solar And Growing

Posted on November 11, 2011 by quest

Environment California Research & Policy Center released a new report documenting that California’s innovative Million Solar Roofs Initiative, halfway through its legislatively mandated timeline, is on pace to meet its goal of installing 3 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2016, is helping to reduce the cost of solar energy, and is creating thousands of jobs throughout the state. These findings come just as California hits the milestone of installing more than 1 gigawatt of rooftop solar power across the state—a milestone that only five other countries in the world have reached.

“California can become the Saudi Arabia of the sun if it continues to get behind big, successful solar programs,” said Michelle Kinman, Clean Energy Advocate with Environment California Research & Policy Center and co-author of the report, Building a Brighter Future: California’s Progress Toward a Million Solar Roofs. “All signs point to a bright future for solar power in California, meaning cleaner air, cleaner energy, and more jobs.”

The 2006 Million Solar Roofs Bill (SB 1 – Murray) was historic in both scope and scale, representing the first unified state effort to turn solar power into a commonplace and affordable energy resource for average citizens. The law established a 10-year, statewide interagency effort, now called the Go Solar California campaign, which includes programs that fund solar projects on homes, commercial businesses, farms, and government and non-profit buildings. Read the Full Report

Transforming Solar Sense

SRI Listening To Tech and Clean Energy Innovations

Posted on November 6, 2011 by quest

SRI International celebrates 65 years of transformational innovations on Nov. 7. Since 1946, when SRI (then named Stanford Research Institute) was established to conduct research and development and stimulate the post-World War II economy, SRI has been pioneering solutions that are part of our daily lives. From the introduction of interactive computing and the computer mouse in the 1960s to recent advances such as the Siri virtual personal assistant, minimally invasive telerobotic surgery, and electroactive polymer “artificial muscle,” SRI researchers and technologists continue to build on a rich legacy and push the boundaries of what is possible. Over the years, SRI’s innovations have been meeting important customer and market needs and have created new industries and billions of dollars in market value. To date, SRI has launched more than 40 new ventures. Four spin-offs are now publicly traded and have a combined market capitalization of more than $20 billion. SRI spun off Siri, Inc. in 2007 to bring the technology to consumers. In April 2010, Apple acquired Siri, and in October 2011, Siri was unveiled as an integrated feature of the Apple iPhone 4S.

When you talk Siri listens

“In today’s innovation-based economy, the world is limited only by people with the skills that allow development of the abundant opportunities before us,” said Curtis R. Carlson, Ph.D., SRI’s president and chief executive officer. “SRI’s many R&D successes are the result of terrific staff members with the passion to deliver on our founding mission: discovery and the application of science and technology for knowledge, commerce, prosperity, and peace. Our approach, which we call the Five Disciplines of Innovation, is designed to create high-value solutions for our clients and partners.”

Today, SRI’s 2,100-plus staff members in Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., Princeton, NJ, and around the world work in multidisciplinary teams to address some of the most challenging problems of our time such as the need for life-saving drugs and renewable clean energy, security of physical and Internet infrastructures, and new educational methods that will develop the next generation of scientists and engineers.

LED Street Greening

A Smart Way to Start Rebuilding America

Solar Gets Support Across Political Spectrum

Posted on November 1, 2011 by quest

Survey by Kelton Research finds continued widespread public support for development of solar energy, federal incentives for solar, across political spectrum. Americans overwhelmingly support the use and development of solar energy as well as federal investments for solar, according to a new national poll. These and other findings were reported today in the 2011 SCHOTT Solar Barometer, a nationally representative survey conducted annually by independent polling firm Kelton Research.
For the fourth consecutive year, the survey found that about nine out of 10 Americans think it is important for the United States to develop and use solar energy. Support for solar is strong across the political spectrum with 80 percent of Republicans, 90 percent of Independents and 94 percent of Democrats agreeing that it is important for the United States to develop and use solar.

The survey also found that Americans want federal incentives for solar. More than eight out of 10 Americans (82 percent) support federal tax credits and grants for the solar industry similar to those that traditional sources of energy like oil, natural gas and coal have received for decades. Seventy-one percent of Republicans agree, as well as 82 percent of Independents and 87 percent of Democrats. Furthermore, when asked to select an energy source they would financially support if they were in charge of U.S. energy policy, 39 percent of Americans chose solar over other sources such as natural gas (21 percent), wind (12 percent), nuclear (9 percent) and coal (3 percent). Read the full Report:New Poll- 9 out of 10 Americans Support Solar, Across Political Spectrum

Marin’s going even greener

Green Video Views

Tesla Founder Named Innovator of the Year by WSJ

Posted on October 31, 2011 by quest

Elon Musk, CEO and Co-founder of Tesla and CEO and CTO of SpaceX, was just recognized for Innovator of the Year in Technology by WSJ. Magazine. WSJ. Magazine’s first annual Innovator of the Year Awards honors the most creative, disruptive, and influential individuals in the world today. Musk was recognized for revolutionizing three of the biggest industries in the world — automobiles, energy and space exploration — simultaneously. Artist Tom Sachs, whose recent work is based on the imagery of space, presented the award to Musk.

In conjunction with the November issue of WSJ., the winners were honored on Thursday, October 27, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The November issue of WSJ. will hit newsstands on Saturday, October 29, as part of WSJ Weekend.
“It is an honor to be recognized by WSJ. Magazine, and to join these other visionaries here tonight,” said Elon Musk. “It is urgently important to apply innovation the areas that will most affect our future. I am committed to finding renewable energy solutions, accelerating the adoption of sustainable transportation, and revolutionizing space travel.”
The Innovator of the Year Awards were chosen by editors of WSJ. Magazine, with input from a select group of experts in each field.

Elon Musk Owes Customers 6,500 Cars

Elon Musk is also the primary investor and chairman of the board of photovoltaics company SolarCity, where Lyndon Rive his cousin is the CEO and co-founder. Just recently through his Musk Foundation, has donated $250,000 to build a solar power system in Soma City, in the Fukushima prefecture of Japan. Musk visited an area of Soma City that was devastated by a tsunami earlier this year, for a ceremony at the site where the project will be built. SolarCity is donating time and resources to manage the project, which will provide renewable electricity to a city facility located on reclaimed industrial land not suitable for agriculture.

SolarWorld Walks The Sustainability Talk

Organic Solar Cells Sparking Consumer Electronics

Posted on October 30, 2011 by quest

Molecular Solar Ltd, a spinout company from the University of Warwick, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells. They have achieved and demonstrated a record voltage for organic photovoltaic cells that means these highly flexible, low cost solar cells can now be devolved for commercial uses in a wide range of consumer electronics. The Company’s most recent advance in the development of its organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell technology is the realisation of cells with open-circuit voltages in excess of 4 volts for the first time. Molecular Solar’s research team believe this is a record for an OPV device. Dr Ross Hatton, Research Director of the company commented:
“This is an important advance. We are now very close to having highly flexible organic photovoltaic cells that will be capable of delivering electrical energy at a voltage suitable for recharging lithium ion batteries that are widely used in portable consumer electronics. Remarkably, this high voltage is achieved using a cell with only 4 junctions (sub-cells)’’.University of Warwick researcher Professor Tim Jones, who is Chief Technology Officer of Molecular Solar, added:

“The first generation of organic photovoltaics will be exceptionally well matched to consumer electronics applications. The advantage of Molecular Solar’s high voltage cells is that a single cell can be used with no requirement to connect multiple cells in series for these applications, saving manufacturing cost. ’’Andrew Oldfield, Head of Cleantech at Mercia Fund Management said, “We were attracted to Molecular Solar’s unique approach to realizing truly flexible, environmentally sustainable photovoltaics that are well matched to the burgeoning portable consumer electronics market.”

Bob Beaumont, Popularized Electric Cars

LED Streetlights Saving Stamford Green