Ohio SolarVision Taking Solar Mainstream

Posted on August 15, 2011 by quest

Just two years after SolarVision solar arrays began harnessing the sun’s power in Ohio, the company finds itself at the cusp of revolutionizing the way Ohioans—and Americans view and use renewable energy on a daily basis. What began with a couple hundred solar panels on the roof of an elementary school is quickly becoming a collection of tens of thousands of solar panels totaling more than 20 megawatts of power. With $70 million in projects under contract and an additional $15 million pending, SolarVision has experienced astounding growth since its inception. “We’re on the verge of taking this energy model to scale, where electricity made from the sun will be considered mainstream,” Kuss said. “And with the rate SolarVision is progressing now, we plan to be a big part of making than happen.”

“We have been amazed at the amount of demand for solar power we have encountered in the last two years,” said SolarVision president Greg Kuss. “Government and business leaders are realizing that not only is solar power infinitely cleaner and better for the environment than traditional power generation processes, but with today’s technology it can also be more cost-effective.”This summer SolarVision broke ground on its biggest project yet—the first phase of what will become a 5 megawatt solar array in Celina, OH, encompassing more than 12,000 solar panels on city-owned land. According to Celina planning and community development director Kent Bryan, PE, partnering with SolarVision “is an economic and environmental win-win” for cities seeking to make a positive impact in their communities.
“What attracts municipalities and private industry to SolarVision is the fact that they can enjoy all the benefits of solar-generated electricity—clean power at competitive prices—without having to own or maintain the solar equipment,” added Mike Dickman, SolarVision vice president over construction operations and sales. SolarVision™ has partnered with municipalities and other institutions to build solar power systems in Washington Court House, Worthington, Newcomerstown, Athens, OH, with projects in the works in several other locations.

Intersolar Innovators Shaping Solar Industry

Solar Stage and Eco Village At Philly Folk Festival

Posted on August 12, 2011 by quest

Local artists The Great Unknown, Hoots and Hellmouth, Dr. Dog, Birdie Busch, and the Spinning Leaves are helping raise awareness and funding for new green programs at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Todd Henkin from The Great Unknown posited, “This year, the Festival will be introducing a compost program, bringing in local foods, hosting the Sustainability Living Roadshow in its first East Coast tour, and presenting a host of eco-programs!” A solar stage and eco-village will be headquartered just inside the main gate of the Festival. We are overwhelmed with the participation from the local community of musicians, organizations and activists at this year’s Folk Festival from August 18th to the 21st,” says Levi Landis, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Folksong Society, the nonprofit organization that presents the seminal event. “The local involvement comes in the form of a regional performer focus on Friday of the festival, a sustainability initiative led by the biggest area artists, and advanced participation by Black Walnut Winery and Yards Brewing Company,” Landis added.

Friday at the Folk Festival will be a truly special Philadelphia-focused celebration. For the 50th commemoration, Yards Brewing Company has brewed its first ever lager—the Folk Fest Lager—and joins new event partners Black Walnut Winery to host a special VIP meet and greet with Friday headliner performers. “As a local Pennsylvania winery, we were thrilled to be invited to join The Philadelphia Folk Festival for their 50th anniversary,” beamed Black Walnut winemaker Lance Castle. “It will be a great experience to share our wines, which we make using locally-grown grapes, with such an incredible local tradition like the Folk Festival.” Tickets are on sale for the VIP event, which is $125 and will feature these local crafted beverages along with farm fresh foods to taste while patrons meet and greet with Roy Book Binder, Tempest, US Rails, Birdie Busch, Hoots and Hellmouth, and Alexis P. Suter!

Friday will also feature winners of the Unsung Heroes campground band competition, the Philadelphia Jug Band and HogMaw. They beat out over 5 dozen artists to present the Folk Festival campground experience on the Martin Main Stage. Returning this year, XPN’s Helen Leicht will be hosting the Philly Local showcase on Saturday afternoon with Suzie Brown and Jim Boggia. The Philadelphia Music Co-op is a Folksong Society sponsored program to develop local artists. The co-op brings Suzie Brown, as well as a showcase of co-op artists Wes Mattheau and the New Way Down, The Berrys, Brad Hinton, and Burning Bridget Cleary on the Lobby Stage Friday afternoon. Co-op artist James McCarthy will bring special kids programs and performances throughout the weekend. An All Festival ticket is just $124

Transform The White House

SunPower and Ford Offer ‘Drive Green for Life’

Posted on August 10, 2011 by quest

Ford and SunPower have teamed up to offer customers a rooftop solar system that will allow Focus Electric owners to “Drive Green for Life” by providing customers with enough clean, renewable energy to offset the electricity used to charge the vehicle. “SunPower‘s innovative partnership with Ford is a win-win for customers, providing a comprehensive sustainability program,” said Tom Werner, SunPower president and CEO. “By taking advantage of this program, Focus Electric customers can receive the added benefit of installing a SunPower solar system, the highest-efficiency, most reliable on the market today, generating the electricity needed to charge their vehicles.” The 2.5 kilowatt rooftop solar system is comprised of the SunPower E18 Series solar panels that produce an average of 3,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. These high-efficiency solar panels generate approximately 50 percent more electricity than conventional panels and utilize a smaller footprint on the roof. The system was sized to accommodate a customer who drives about 1,000 miles per month.

“Under the ‘Drive Green for Life’ program, Focus Electric owners can reduce their total cost of ownership by generating enough energy from their high efficiency SunPower rooftop solar system to offset the electricity required to charge the vehicle at night,” said Mike Tinskey, Ford director of Global Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure. “It’s an eco-friendly solution that perfectly complements our plug-in products and other green initiatives.”

The complete SunPower solar system is offered at a base price of less than $10,000, after federal tax credits. Local and state rebates, along with other incentives, may drive the system cost down even more, depending on a customer’s location. Included in the purchase is a residential monitoring system, which includes the ability to track the performance of their solar system on the web or through an iPhone application. Affordable financing options for the solar system are available through SunPower. By partnering with SunPower, Ford now offers Focus Electric owners two complementary charging solutions to make the overall experience of owning an electric vehicle easier. In January, Ford announced an agreement with consumer electronics leader Best Buy to offer a 240-volt home charging station for the Focus Electric and future electric vehicle owners.

Rainwater A Source of Residential Drinking Water

Solar Energy Flare Ups in Santa Rosa California

Posted on August 7, 2011 by quest

Santa Rosa is one of 25 cities in the nation recognized for its strong support of the solar energy industry. Plentiful sunshine, environmentally conscious residents and innovative public financing options have contributed to the city outshining others when it comes to installation of photovoltaic systems. But that success is being threatened, some in the solar industry say, by burdensome fire regulations that reduce the size of many residential solar systems, increase their cost and in some cases may be unnecessary. Since January, the Santa Rosa Fire Department has been requiring that solar panels on homes be set back 3 feet from the eaves and ridgelines of roofs to give firefighters safe pathways during a fire. These and other rules regarding solar installations, which have been recommended by the California Fire Marshal’s Office since 2008, were adopted by Santa Rosa and many other cities as part of their fire codes last year.

But solar installers say Santa Rosa stands out from other jurisdictions for its rigid implementation of the rules and an infuriating permit process.“They have created a whole different layer of bureaucracy that nowhere else has,” said Jeff Mathias, co-owner of Synergy Solar & Electrical Systems of Sebastopol. Since the Fire Department began enforcing the new rules in January, solar installations now require separate plan reviews and field inspections by fire inspectors. Those are in addition to plan reviews and site inspections conducted by city building officials. The extra layer of review strikes Mathias as a “completely and totally unneeded redundancy” that adds time, costs and complexity to jobs in Santa Rosa. “System sales in the city are down, systems we are installing are smaller and the installations are costing more,” Mathias said. “Nobody is a winner here.”

The Solar Generation

Santa Rosa fire officials say the roof setbacks are critical for firefighter safety and are being enforced fairly and consistently, and that projects that comply with the code receive speedy review at a reasonable cost. “While people may not like the rules, we’ve been fair and consistent in our enforcement of them,” said Mark Pedroia, senior fire inspector responsible for most solar-plan reviews. Fire officials say the new fee of $270 for each residential installation should generate about $60,000 annually at the current rate. The fees are designed to recover the cost of administering the program, although the work is being handled by existing staff in the city fire marshal’s

Green Planet 21 Chosen as P&G Sole Recycler

A Sustainable Culver City Moving Ahead

Posted on August 7, 2011 by quest

The start of the Downtown Connector at the intersection of National Blvd. and Wesley St. The bicycle friendly street contains Sharrows, signage, narrow roads, and some traffic calming.

Following the decline of the studios in the 1960′s and 1970′s, Culver City had to reinvent itself. In the 1990′s, the city once commonly referred to as “The Heart of Screenland” undertook an aggressive campaign to revitalize their Downtown area that was mostly successful in attracting businesses and tourists to bolster the city’s economy. Today, nearly 40,000 people call Culver City home, and it’s widely thought of as a safe place to live and a good place to raise children.

Despite its reputation for embracing New Urbanism (in 2007 the New York Times called the city a “nascent Chelsea”), Culver City had never embraced transportation planning for cyclists and pedestrian. In fact, when the City approached the L.A. County Public Health Department about a PLACE Grant, it had never had either a bicycling or pedestrian element in its Master Plan. While critics of the plan, including some of the people that helped create it, complain that the plan isn’t as progressive or specific as it should be, for a city that was literally starting with no foundation or advocacy community, to create change this is a crucial first

Habitat for Humanity and PG&E Build Solar Homes

Intersolar Innovators Shaping Solar Industry

Posted on August 4, 2011 by quest

For the fourth year in a row, solar industry innovators and dealmakers met in San Francisco to discuss the trends shaping the industry and view the latest in solar technology firsthand. Networking events, both at the exhibition and conference and during evening receptions, provided the many forums to lay the foundation for the solar industry’s next major deal. Over the course of the three-day exhibition close to 20,000 registered visitors representing about 80 countries packed the Moscone Center’s West and North Halls. The number of new announcements at this year’s show grew more than 50 percent over last year. One of the many products introduced at the event came from San Francisco-based SolFocus, a leading supplier of concentrating solar photovoltaic systems that has been an exhibitor at Intersolar North America since its inauguration in 2008.

“Once again, the Intersolar North America exhibition hall proved to be a hotbed of valuable networking opportunities for our product development and sales teams,” said Troy Dalbey, Managing Director of North America for global module supplier Upsolar. “This year our booth was busier than ever, a sure sign of major growth on the horizon for Upsolar and the industry as a whole.”

While it is too soon to tell what the next major solar deal, innovation or partnership started with a conversation on the floor at Intersolar North America will be, many companies left the show with promising leads and an expanded customer network. Zep Solar, manufacturer of the first comprehensive platform for module-integrated installation hardware, had its rail-free, Zep System represented in the booths of six of its partners at the show, including Trina, Yingli, Canadian Solar, Centrosolar, Upsolar and Eco-Kinetics—generating considerable buzz, and multiple megawatts-worth of deals. “We consider this event the ideal backdrop for making solar deals. In fact, we inked several major deals on the show floor this year, toting up to over 100 megawatts of future purchases,” said Mike Miskovsky, CEO of Zep Solar.