Solar Installs Push PG&E To Top Spot

Posted on April 18, 2012 by quest

“PG&E is pleased to support our customers’ choice to go solar so they can realize the benefits of solar energy for their homes and businesses,” said Helen Burt, Senior Vice President of Customer Care for PG&E. “We remain committed to providing our customers with clean, reliable, and affordable energy, including an increasing amount of power from large utility-driven solar projects.”A new survey by the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) ranks Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) as the nation’s top electric utility in the amount of solar power added to its system in 2011. PG&E is first in the Annual Solar Megawatts category of the more than 240 utilities that participated in SEPA’s 2011 Utility Solar Rankings survey.

“We congratulate PG&E for being a solar power leader in the electric utility sector,” said Julia Hamm, President and CEO of SEPA. “PG&E successfully adapted its business models and operations to allow for a significant amount of solar energy to be integrated into the grid last year, delivering the many benefits of clean solar energy to its customers. The impressive gains solar energy made in the U.S. in 2011 can be largely attributed to PG&E’s leadership.”

PG&E delivers some of the nation’s cleanest electric power to its customers, thanks in part to solar energy. On average, more than half the electricity the utility delivers comes from sources that are renewable and/or carbon free. PG&E helped more than 12,000 customers in Northern and Central California connect 162 megawatts (MW) of solar at their homes and business in 2011, bringing the total number of customer solar installations to more than 63,000. It also connected 135 MW of new large solar projects for the benefit of all customers. This includes PG&E’s own expanding solar facilities, which when completed will deliver 250 MW of clean energy — enough to power about 150,000 average customer homes.

Electric Vehicle Technology Driving Through

Cloud Over Apple Not So Green Says Greenpeace

Posted on April 17, 2012 by quest

The current explosion in cloud computing offered by major IT companies is driving significant new demand for dirty energy like coal and nuclear power, according to a new report from International.The report, “Greenpeace How Clean is Your Cloud?” shows a growing split within the tech industry between companies that are taking steps to power their clouds with clean energy, like Google, Yahoo and Facebook, and companies like Apple, Amazon and Microsoft who lag behind by choosing to build their growing fleets of data centers to be powered by coal and nuclear energy. The report evaluates 14 IT companies and their electricity supply chains of over 80 data centers based on key elements needed to build a clean cloud.

“When people around the world share their music or photos on the cloud, they want to know that the cloud is powered by clean, safe energy,” said Gary Cook, Greenpeace International Senior Policy Analyst. “Yet highly innovative and profitable companies like Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft are building data centers powered by coal and acting like their customers won’t know or won’t care. They’re wrong.”As more people around the world use the cloud to store and share photos, videos, and documents, IT companies have to build more data centers –buildings so large they are often visible from space – that house thousands of computers and consume tremendous amounts of electricity. Some data centers use as much electricity as 80,000 U.S. homes. The report research found that if the cloud were a country its electricity demand would currently rank 5th in the world, and is expected to triple by 2020.

Companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook are beginning to lead the sector down a clean energy pathway through innovations in energy efficiency, prioritizing renewable energy access when siting their data centers, and demanding better energy options from utilities and government decision-makers. Both Google and Yahoo are increasingly powering their facilities with renewable energy even as they continue to expand. Greenpeace International is calling on all IT companies with cloud services to: Invest in or directly purchase renewable energy; Be more transparent about their energy usage and carbon footprint, demand that governments and electric utilities increase the amount of renewable electricity available on the grid, and build data centers in areas where clean energy will power the facility.

Green Revolution – Solar Power – Video

Solar Power Has Ripple Effect On Job Creation

Posted on April 17, 2012 by quest

Four of the founding manufacturers of the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) purchased more than a combined $400 million in goods and services from other manufacturers and employers in 46 states in 2011, according to a CASM survey. This flow of business highlights just one dimension of solar manufacturing’s multiplier effect in supporting jobs and spurring activity across the U.S. economy, according to CASM. The coalition of about 190 U.S. employers of more than 16,000 American workers contends the nation cannot afford to lose its own industry, particularly in light of advanced manufacturing’s power to generate high-paying and stable jobs and beneficial ripple effects, including research and innovation. Instead, CASM seeks trade-law enforcement to restore legal international competition and domestic manufacturing growth.

CASM is backing an anti-subsidy and anti-dumping trade case against the Chinese industry. In March, the U.S. government issued a preliminary ruling that at least 10 categories of Chinese government programs illegally subsidize Chinese producers of solar cells and panels. China’s export drive has caused a dozen U.S. solar manufacturers to shut down, declare bankruptcy or lay off employees in all U.S. regions since 2010, CASM alleges, even though the National Renewable Energy Laboratory concluded Chinese producers face a cost disadvantage in producing and delivering solar into the U.S. market.

The survey tally excludes many economic inputs, such as interest and tax payments as well as payroll for employees, ranging from Ph.D. researchers to production workers. CASM leader SolarWorld, the largest U.S. solar manufacturer for more than 35 years, employs more than 1,100 workers in Oregon and California. Average annual compensation for permanent, full-time SolarWorld employees exceeds the national average of $45,230 provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In addition, the survey did not account for downstream support that employees of the four solar manufacturers and their vendors paid out to still other businesses – for day-care firms, supermarkets, and car and TV dealers – in their own lives, not to mention the personal interest and taxes they paid and the property they purchased.

One Day On Earth To Screen Worldwide On Earth Day

Solar Energy And The Eyes of Dragonflies

Posted on April 16, 2012 by quest

An unknown inventor, Jong-Eun Lee from Korea, obtained an extraordinary patent on an unusual solar energy system from the government in a surprisingly short time. It is very unusual because the Korean government, which is famous for its thoroughness to examine patent applications, processed this particular case very rapidly.”It is a simple structure but my invention is very convincing,” says Jong-Eun Lee confidently. He got the idea from the eyes of dragonflies. Almost all the existing solar energy systems in the world use panels, which take up a lot of space and expense, whereas Jong-Eun Lee’s system uses only relatively small ball-type lenses that will collect sun light easily from every angle, virtually 360 degrees.

It takes a fairly small space and its durability is extremely long due to its simple structure. The inventor is strongly confident that it will inevitably change the existing concept of solar energy and he hopes that it will replace the nuclear power plant, which is treated more as a necessary evil.

It was no wonder that the first launch of this invention to EXCO 2012, Daegu, Korea, quickly captivated the visitors of Lee’s booth. In fact, his booth was filled with so many people that no one could pass by without asking questions on how it could be possible. His explanation was rather straightforward. “We human beings have chased the sun from the very primitive age until now because we have been trained to think that way, but the sun has been always there waiting to provide us with infinite energy.”And it is a fact that we unconsciously perceived that there was infinite resource in it when we played house with a magnifying glass to burn objects and the problem was that we could not go just one step further because of our limited imaginative power,” says the inventor. “My patent will speak for itself and the Korean government, which examined and granted me this patent, will prove it,” added Lee.

Sunset Idea Open House

Electric Vehicle Technology Driving Through

Posted on April 15, 2012 by quest

Its got to be considered good news for the electric vehicle industry which according to the Boston Globe,”Americans are buying record numbers of hybrid and electric cars as gas prices climb and new models arrive in showrooms, giving the vehicles their greatest share yet of the U.S. auto market. Consumers bought a record 52,000 gas-electric hybrids and all-electric cars in March, up from 34,000 during the same month last year.” Now with the rising cost of gasoline and the fact that solar energy is available, affordable and abundant it is starting to make sense for people to buy electric cars.

Imagine being able to charge an electric vehicle – on the go or at home – without ever having to plug in. The Energy Department announced up to $4 million to develop wireless chargers for electric vehicles. A new funding opportunity from the Energy Department seeks to develop wireless chargers for electric vehicles (EVs). This funding opportunity is made available through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy ‘s Vehicle Technologies Program.

EV wireless charging has the potential to accelerate the adoption of EVs – by making them more convenient for consumers to charge, whether they’re at home or away, and to reduce the total energy storage requirements of EVs, unlocking the benefits of lighter and smaller battery packs, lighter vehicles, higher efficiency and longer ranges.

AC Transit Fueling Buses with Hydrogen Made From Solar Electricity

Look This Way For Green Jobs

Solar Power Landing At Edwards Air Force Base

Posted on April 12, 2012 by quest

Suntech Power the world’s largest producer of solar panels, recently supplied 3.4 megawatts (MW) of solar panels for a solar installation at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California. The solar installation at Edwards Air Force Base was designed, financed, and installed by Borrego Solar, a leading national solar solutions provider, at no upfront cost to Edwards Air Force Base.The more than 12,000 solar panels provided for the project, which started generating power in February 2012, were made at Suntech’s manufacturing facility in Goodyear, Arizona. Solar panels produced at Suntech’s Goodyear facility are compliant for procurement in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and Buy American Act projects.

“This project was a big milestone for Borrego Solar and the military, as it demonstrates how public-private partnerships can succeed and provide the most effective means to drive large-scale solar energy systems on government property,” said Mike Hall, CEO of Borrego Solar. “Looking ahead, we are excited to work with more military and federal facility managers to help them take full advantage of the financial benefits that come from using solar to generate clean sustainable energy, and local jobs.”

Suntech’s Goodyear, Arizona, manufacturing facility was opened in October 2010. The Goodyear operation has steadily increased its workforce, adding a second shift in January 2011 and a third shift in May 2011. The state-of-the-art module manufacturing facility now runs twenty-four hours per day with more than 100 highly-skilled employees. The facility’s annualized production throughput is nearly 50MW, representing about 15,000 high-quality solar panels per month, or enough to power about 10,000 homes. In December 2011, Suntech Arizona was recognized by the Phoenix Business Journal as one of the best places to work in Arizona.