Solar Jobs Growing Faster Than Other Employment

Posted on October 17, 2011 by quest

As Solar Power International begins today in Dallas, TX the Solar Foundation released its second annual review of the U.S. solar workforce. The “National Solar Jobs Census 2011: A Review of the U.S. Solar Workforce” found that hiring in the solar workforce is on the rise. More than 100,000 Americans are now employed in the solar industry. “The solar industry has grown into a major economic force with more than 100,000 employees in the United States,” said Andrea Luecke, executive director of The Solar Foundation. “We expect even greater growth in the foreseeable future. But policymakers, workforce training providers, and the industry must work together to continue creating good jobs for skilled workers.” Solar Power International 2011, runs today until October 20, and is expected to attract 24,000 professionals from businesses spanning the entire spectrum of the industry.

California continued to be the national leader in solar employment, with 25,575 workers. Rounding out the top 10 states are Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Texas, Oregon, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Oregon, New Jersey and Massachusetts showed the strongest growth rates from August 2010.

The Census also found that solar employers expect to increase the number of solar workers by 24 percent, representing nearly 24,000 net new jobs by August 2012. Over the next 12 months, nearly half of solar firms expect to add jobs.”These survey responses merely reflect employers’ best estimates at expected new hiring, but it demonstrates a clear growth pattern for the industry and tremendous optimism by employers in the industry,” said Luecke. “Employers expressed similar optimism last year, but failed to meet their hiring expectations because of stalled legislative initiatives and continued policy uncertainty.”

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Green News Wall

Largest US Solar Factory Being Built In Colorado

Posted on October 16, 2011 by quest

GE has announced plans to build its new solar panel factory in Aurora, Colorado. When completed, the advanced manufacturing facility will create 355 jobs in Colorado and will be larger than any existing solar panel factory in the country today. GE anticipates the new factory will first start up earlier than expected with the first panels coming off the line in 2012 with commercial availability in 2013. “This is great news for Colorado and further proof that our state is emerging as a center of innovation. GE’s move to Aurora takes advantage of Colorado’s clean energy resources and a collaborative business environment that is committed to helping the company succeed,” said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. “We look forward to supporting GE as it fosters its technical innovation and research capabilities in Colorado.”

GE will locate the factory in an existing building in Aurora, just east of Denver. This location, which also is in proximity to GE’s existing solar center of excellence, enables an accelerated start-up schedule with production equipment installation beginning in January 2012. At capacity, the new factory will produce enough panels per year to power 80,000 homes and will be larger than 11 football fields. When complete, the new solar factory will highlight a $600 million investment in GE’s solar business. “I am so proud GE is building the largest solar panel factory in the nation right here in the 7th Congressional District of Colorado. This plant will create over 350 jobs and reinforces Colorado’s leading role in renewable energy. This solar technology was originally developed at NREL and further highlights how this world-class lab continues to partner with the private sector to create long-term jobs and bolster our nation’s energy security. Making things here in Colorado and America ensures we will make it in America,” stated U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter.

“Working with our Colorado-based solar team, we were able to achieve record efficiencies in our solar panels in record time,” said Victor Abate, vice president of GE’s Renewable Energy business. “The Colorado location will allow us to deliver our technology roadmap faster and commercialize industry-leading panel efficiencies sooner. We also look forward to continuing to build our relationships with Colorado’s local, state and federal officials who have been extremely helpful as we moved through the site selection process.” “This is terrific news for Aurora, for Colorado and for solar, and it shows the tremendous potential renewable energy holds to create jobs and power our economy,” said U.S. Sen. Mark Udall.

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Solar Energy Revolution Star Trek and The Wizard of Oz

Posted on October 13, 2011 by quest

Remember that Orwellian scene? A new female prototype…running from convention, past the drones of conformity on the sideline…and than tossing the hammer of change – shattering what appeared to be an invincible bigger than life, fire breathing and all knowing figure to bits. And with that the personal computer movement was off and running. Steve Jobs and the talented people within the service of that enterprise captured something that drew us and continues to draw us closer. Empowering us with technology that was once only available to the few…but is now available to the many. Like Star Trek, Apple projects a world where the question remains: Do the needs of the few out way the needs of the many? And look at the new IPhone. What’s next…Beam me up Scotty?

Technological advancements always seem to outpace human ability to adapt to change. The solar, renewable energy and green movement is set to usher in incredible developments in the economy, people and the environment. It is not without some irony that we find ourselves as a nation struggling with outdated political philosophies and business practices that simply are not as effective as they once were. The impact of the Occupy Wall Street and XL Pipeline protests are spelling out many of the broad political, business and environmental issues that America needs to address. Is it not apparent that solar and renewable energy is a solution?

Apple 1984 Ad

The legacy of Steve Jobs and the times we’re in now offer great possibilities. In simple terms look what they did, and continue to do they do extremely well. Apple constantly innovates, redesigns and reduces the size of its devices; while improving efficiency. Who knows one day the size of a rooftop solar panel system could be the size of IPhone or laptop. Could a solar energy system be portable enough to power your car?

One of Apple’s successful ad campaigns pronounced….“Think Different.” Yet in practice it appears Apple actually just doesn’t think different…they do different. Now as a new chapter in the life of America unfolds; we can all come to some understanding that in order to change the world, we must first change ourselves. By Richard Andrews

Electric Vehicle Home Solar Charging On The Move

Solar Energy Has Massive Potential In The Himalayas

Posted on October 12, 2011 by quest

Mention prime geography for generation of solar energy, and people tend to think of hot deserts. But a new study concludes that some of the world’s coldest landscapes — including the Himalaya Mountains, the Andes, and even Antarctica – could become Saudi Arabias of solar. The research appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Kotaro Kawajiri and colleagues explain that the potential for generating electricity with renewable solar energy depends heavily on geographic location. Arid and semi-arid areas with plenty of sunshine long have been recognized as good solar sites. However, the scientists point out that, as a result of the limited data available for critical weather-related conditions on a global scale, gaps still exist in knowledge about the best geographical locations for producing solar energy. To expand that knowledge, they used one established technique to estimate global solar energy potential using the data that are available. The technique takes into account the effects of temperature on the output of solar cells. Future work will consider other variables, such as transmission losses and snow fall.

The Himalaya

As expected, they found that many hot regions such as the U.S. desert southwest are ideal locations for solar arrays. However, they also found that many cold regions at high elevations receive a lot of sunlight — so much so that their potential for producing power from the sun is even higher than in some desert areas. Kawajiri and colleagues found, for instance, that the Himalayas, which include Mt. Everest, could be an ideal locale for solar fields that generate electricity for the fast-expanding economy of the People’s Republic of China.

Green Economy Losing Steam?! I’m Seeing Red!

Solar Solutions In Effect Where The Buffalo Roam

Posted on September 24, 2011 by quest

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar visited the Silver State North Solar Project, a renewable energy project under construction on U.S. public lands in southern Nevada. With an estimated completion date in December, First Solar Inc.’s 50-megawatt facility would be the first large-scale solar project on public lands to contribute power to the grid. “Our nation’s clean energy future is happening right now,” said Secretary Salazar, who approved the project for construction on public lands last October. “We are harnessing a vast, renewable energy source here in our own backyard with American know-how, equipment and workers. This is a model of industry and government working together to strengthen local economies by generating good jobs and reliable power as we strive to become energy independent.” The Silver State North Solar Project is one of several projects Interior has approved as part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to encourage a rapid and responsible move to large-scale production of renewable energy on public lands.

During the visit, Salazar met with First Solar officials, as well as representatives from NV Energy, which has contracted to purchase the project’s energy output. Salazar toured the construction site where approximately 200 workers are currently on the job installing photovoltaic panels. First Solar is estimated to create 300 full-time jobs over the course of construction. Located in the Ivanpah Valley, 40 miles south of Las Vegas, Silver State North was the first utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar project approved on U.S. public lands in Nevada. The 50-megawatt plant is being built on 618 acres near the town of Primm. When operational, the facility will generate enough energy to power 9,000-15,000 local homes.

In the past 18 months, Interior has approved 20 major renewable energy projects, including 13 commercial-scale solar energy facilities that combined will create about 8,600 construction and operational jobs and produce nearly 5,000 megawatts of energy, enough to power approximately 1.5 million American homes.First Solar has several other solar projects under development in Nevada and expects to invest more than $300 million into the state’s economy through wages, development costs, material purchases and taxes. A leading manufacturer of photovoltaic solar modules, the company is creating more than 6,500 jobs nationwide, including through its R&D and manufacturing facility in Ohio and another factory under construction in Arizona.

Congressman Jerry McNerney On Sea Change Radio

NASA Night Rover Challenge Seeks Solar Solutions

Posted on September 21, 2011 by quest

NASA has selected The Cleantech Open of Redwood, Calif., to manage the agency’s Night Rover Challenge that will culminate in a competition in fall 2012. The event is a new Centennial Challenges prize competition seeking revolutionary energy storage technologies for future space robotic rover missions. NASA is offering a prize purse of $1.5 million to challenge winners.The Night Rover Challenge is to demonstrate solar energy collection and storage systems suitable for rovers to operate through several cycles of daylight and darkness. During daylight, systems can collect photons or thermal energy from the sun. During darkness, the stored energy would be used to move the rover toward a destination and to continue its exploration work.

Mars Needs Moms

“The Cleantech Open runs the world’s largest clean technology business competition and is a proven leader in developing clean technology startup entrepreneurs,” said Larry Cooper, program executive for NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The team has significant experience in tech entrepreneurship and innovation, and access to expertise in aerospace, making them a great choice to manage the Night Rover challenge. We look forward to the competition and bringing together innovative teams with creative problem-solving ideas.” The objective of the competition is to encourage innovations in energy storage technology and system designs for space operations. In particular, NASA seeks solutions to meet the demands imposed by the daylight and darkness cycle on the moon. Energy innovations stemming from this challenge may be beneficial to broader terrestrial applications, including vehicles and renewable energy generation systems.

The Cleantech Open team is partnering with YouNoodle Inc., a San Francisco-based startup to manage the competition. The Cleantech Open and YouNoodle will begin preparations for the challenge, publishing rules and registering competitors for the competition. NASA’s Centennial Challenges seek unconventional solutions to problems of interest to the agency and the nation. NASA provides the prize purse, but the competitions are managed by non-profit organizations that cover the cost of operations through commercial or private sponsorships. Competitors have included private companies, student groups and independent inventors working outside the traditional aerospace industry. Unlike contracts or grants, prizes are awarded only after solutions are demonstrated successfully.