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Recovery Act Will Have Doubled American Renewable Power by 2012

According to a study unveiled today by Energy Secretary Chu and VP Joe Biden, the US is on-track to achieve the three major renewable energy goals that the Energy Department set out to achieve with the $90 billion in Recovery Act investments in science, technology and innovation projects across the country.

1. Make solar power as cheap as dirty energy by 2015
2. Make electric vehicles as cheap as gas ones by 2015
3. Double US renewable energy generation and manufacturing by 2012

All three goals are on track.

The Recovery Act funding for renewable energy will probably go down in history as truly changing America. Only three Senate Republicans crossed the line to vote with the Democrats to pass it. Collins and Snowe survived the wrath of Republican voters – in 55% renewably powered Maine. Arlen Specter didn’t. He will be gone in January, but he has a lot to be proud of in standing up to the Party of No on renewable energy.

1. Cheap solar. The goal was to bring down the cost of solar power to become competitive with dirty energy prices. As a result of Recovery Act investments, the cost of solar energy is forecast to drop by half between 2009 and 2015, through implementation of the latest solar technologies.

The cost of power from rooftop solar panels is expected to drop from $0.21 per kWh in 2009 to $0.10 per kWh in 2015, about the nationwide average for household electricity rates.

As a result of investments made in the Recovery Act, by 2015, utility-scale solar, currently $0.13 per kWh is also expected to be on a par with wholesale prices of $0.06 a kWh

2. Cheap electric vehicles. The lifetime cost of electric vehicles will be on-par with that of its non-electric counterpart, by cutting the cost of batteries for electric vehicles by 70 percent between 2009 and 2015.

This means that the cost of batteries for the typical all-electric vehicle will fall from $33,000 to $10,000, and the cost of typical plug-in hybrid batteries will drop from $13,000 to $4,000. At those battery costs, electric-drive cars actually will actually be less expensive over the life of the car (beyond 2015) than similar non-electric vehicles.

The innovations funded will reduce battery weights 33% by 2015 to 222 kilograms, so that less energy is wasted in moving an electric vehicle with the old heavier battery. Battery lifetimes are being lengthened, to last 14 years, instead of today’s 4 years.

3. Doubling renewable energy. US renewable energy generation is on target to double by 2012, with over $23 billion in ARRA funds installing generation capacity from renewables like wind, solar, and geothermal. The US is on track to get 58 Gigawatts of its electricity from renewable energy by 2012; double what it had installed until the passage of the Recovery Act. As much renewable power is being installed in these 3 years as over the previous 30 years.

Until now, the US only manufactured a paltry 8% of global renewable energy needs such as turbines, batteries, solar panels and inverters. The Recovery Act investments have doubled renewable energy manufacturing to 14%, probably the easiest of these lofty goals to achieve.

The Department of Energy investments are going to a variety of science, technology and innovation projects across the country, ranging from building a nationwide smart energy grid, to investments in innovations in cutting edge solar technologies, batteries for electric vehicles and new techniques for renewable energy storage that we’ve covered here.

Rotating Solar Home Generates More Power Than It Uses

German architect Rolf Disch has created a solar powered home that not only doesn’t waste energy, but actually produces more than it uses. Dubbed the Heliotrope, the home actually rotates along with the sun in order to gather as much solar energy as possible.

The cylindrical Heliotrope features triple-paned thermal insulated glass on one side to allow the maximum amount of light inside the house, as well as a large solar panel on the roof and vacuum-solar thermal collectors along the balcony railings. The large roof panel, called the Sun Sail, is able to track the movement of the sun and turn and pivot automatically in order to be in the best possible position at all times. This movement is independent from the rotation of the house and allows for 30-40% higher energy gain compared to static solar panels.

There are plenty of other eco-friendly features built in to the house as well, including a water purification system for waste water and a basin on the roof for collecting rain water. Three different Heliotropes have been built to date, including the prototype, which is the current home of creator Disch himself.

The 411 on 25 years of Minnesota energy policy…and what we need to do now

Over the last two decades, Minnesota has experienced a dramatic change in our energy use and energy policies. We are closer than ever to achieving a new energy economy using homegrown resources that create jobs, protect our air and water, and strengthen our state’s economy and communities. However, there is still much that needs to be accomplished to reach our state, regional, and national clean energy and global warming pollution reduction goals. Looking back, what are some of the biggest energy changes and successes for Minnesota over the past 25 years, and more importantly, what steps need to be taken to continue to improve the way we use energy and our energy policies?

Twenty-five years ago, the energy landscape of Minnesota and the United States looked much different than it does today. Despite tangible examples of the results of our nation’s fossil fuel addiction, such as the oil crises of 1973 and 1979, the country seemed to be stalled – or even moving backwards – on the path to a new energy economy. As a significant sign of the times, Ronald Reagan famously removed President Carter’s solar panels from the White House. And while the first commercial-scale wind farms were built about 25 years ago, the technology was written off as unreliable and expensive. Massive investments in coal plants to meet electricity needs were the norm, and utilities were far more concerned about finding customers for a glut of coal-fired power than developing energy efficiency measures or renewable energy. Our country was at a crossroads on energy. With rising oil, natural gas, and electrical prices, it was clear that the American economy was going to feel the energy squeeze if real leadership wasn’t shown. Minnesota’s brutal winters meant that our state would be among those that bore the brunt of these increasing costs.

Over the next 25 years, Minnesota gradually turned its attention to new energy and conservation. Landmark change came in 2007 when the legislature and Governor Pawlenty agreed on sweeping clean energy, energy efficiency, and global warming policies. Approved overwhelmingly by a bipartisan Minnesota legislature, this legislation guarantees that 25 percent of our state’s electricity will be generated from renewable energy by 2020. At the same time, all electric and gas utilities will invest in energy-efficiency measures to achieve a 1.5 percent annual energy savings. The new laws in 2007 also established global warming pollution reduction goals for 2015 and 2025, culminating with an 80 percent reduction in 2050. This legislation also instituted a state-wide moratorium on new coal-fired electricity for Minnesota consumers, preventing new construction of coal-fired power plants to serve Minnesota-or new coal power contracts from existing plants.

Today, Minnesota is among the nation’s leaders in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and as a state we have many victories to celebrate. Minnesota has over 1,800 megawatts of installed wind power-currently generating nearly 10 percent of all our electricity. We also import wind energy from North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa, each of which receives 10 to 20 percent of its state’s electricity generation from wind. Additionally, as the energy landscape rapidly changed, investors in 2009 withdrew support from a $1.6 billion coal-fired power plant after protracted delays and organized opposition; while the Upper Midwest’s largest solar farm was recently built near St. Cloud at St. John’s University.

As Minnesota aggressively pursues our statewide energy efficiency and clean energy goals, the cleantech industries have become the one bright spot in a troubling economic landscape. Clean energy developers, installers, component manufactures, and agricultural landowners with renewable generation on their land are all growing Minnesota’s economy and creating sustainable, local jobs. Two Minnesota construction companies – Blattner and Mortenson – are top players in a multibillion dollar wind farm industry, a competitive edge they gained building wind farms in Minnesota in the 1990s.

Minnesota has also seen many advances in how we use energy in transportation and transit. Just this year, the legislature and governor agreed on a new policy called Minnesota Complete Streets. It directs the Minnesota Department of Transportation that when it builds or rebuilds roads, it must to make them safe and accessible for all users, including those traveling on foot, bike, bus, or wheelchair. Minnesotans can expect more focus on providing sidewalks, crosswalks, safe wheelchair ramps, bike lanes and paths, safe bus stops, and other road designs that improve safety and use less energy.

While Minnesota has many successes to celebrate, there is still much to be accomplished. Today, as 25 years ago, our country is at another crossroads on energy. Sixty percent of Minnesota’s electricity still comes from coal-fired power plants that deposit mercury and global warming pollution into Minnesota’s water and air. Worldwide, and right here in Minnesota, we are already starting to see and feel the effects of climate change. Our addiction to oil has only grown, despite record gas prices, and we are now forced to drill the most inaccessible oil in some of the world’s most fragile areas. The Midwest is growing its dependence on the oil from Alberta’s tar sands, some of the most polluting oil left on earth.

During the summer of 2010, with shocking signs of weather havoc all around the world and with oil spewing from a broken deepwater drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, our U.S. Senate was unable to take action on energy – and even chose to skip the debate. Without a clearly defined and stable path set forth by federal legislation, clean energy development on the state level is put in jeopardy. Without federal action, states and industries cannot have the clarity that clean energy is the foundation of our nation’s future economic health. With such uncertainty and additional barriers imposed by fossil fuel interests, Minnesota cannot reach its full clean energy and efficiency potential.

If we are to meet our clean energy and carbon reduction goals, Minnesota needs to continue to lead on smart energy policy and build on our previous success. Continued progress towards our already-established state goals, pursuing increased and better forms of transit and transportation, developing advanced biofuels and support for electric cars, leadership on Midwest-wide and federal carbon reduction legislation, and a federal Renewable Energy Standard and Energy Efficiency Standard are just some of the ways that Minnesota can continue to lead the region and nation.

The level of energy innovation and energy policy progress that has been made in the past 25 years is monumental. But now we need to build on and accelerate our past progress to ensure that in the next 25 years we’ll be nearing the finish line and realizing a modern energy system, powered by renewables and efficiency.

Why Investors Like Solar

In a recent Renewable Energy World podcast, Steven Lasey, Editor, put together a panel of Solar PV experts who discussed the reasons investors turn to Solar PV for their portfolio builders. Lets examine some of the concerns and barriers investors and developers are facing in this growing industry.

Solar PV has proven to be a low risk, high return investment for many, but the lack of education for big investors has made it somewhat difficult to get the funding. Investors are looking for as much information up front in order to hand over the dough. The red tape involved with large scale solar projects can be both a financial and time burden. Without some capital upfront these projects tend to fall through the cracks. If investors were more educated they would be less likely to hold onto the funds and more likely to cough up the dough and get the projects moving forward.

Some of the headaches that developers face in the industry involve finding secure and reliable financing and establishing the right financial model.This will reduce the hesitancy of investors who are concerned with where the incentives are coming from and if the cash will be available when the project is finished and finally ready to receive those incentives.

The renewable energy sector tends to have a cash flow issue due to the lack of upfront incentives. The projects approved for incentives can still take 6 months to a year before completion and it takes several months afterwards to receive the incentive pay. It can be difficult for a developer to float such costs over such long periods of time. With the help of investor money projects can be completed faster and incentive pay can be issued more timely.

As the credit market continues to loosen its lending requirements and more loans are issued to well qualified customers, more projects will be getting off the ground. The more projects we have in the works the more educated the investors will become, and the cycle continues.

Solar Power Takes Over NASCAR track

Racing relies on tens of thousands of gallons of fuel each year to power cars, but when Pocono Raceway flipped the switch on its 25-acre solar farm last week for the Pennsylvania 500, a NASCAR track became the world’s largest solar-powered sports facility.

“Hopefully we can be the catalyst for something big in American sports,” said track president Brandon Igdalsky. “We can show this is the right way to do it, and is a good thing to do.”

Sports teams have been pursuing more environmental initiatives in recent years as “going green” becomes a marketing catchphrase — and a way to save on utility bills.

“Sports have a tremendous opportunity to create both action on the ground with environmental footprint changes … and a real opportunity to help educate people on renewable energy options,” said Darby Hoover, a San Francisco-based senior resource specialist with the National Resources Defense Council. The environmental group advises Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NHL, the NBA and MLS.

While NRDC does not advise NASCAR, Hoover praised Pocono’s solar installation “as a way where fans can see genuine effort by the league.” She commended sports leagues in general for efforts in promoting environmentally friendly messages.

The Staples Center in Los Angeles, home to the NHL’s Kings and the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers, has more than 1,700 solar panels on its roof in a system expected to provide environmental offsets over the next 25 years.

In baseball, the Rockies, Indians, Red Sox and Giants use solar power in some capacity at their stadiums. The Giants’ AT&T Park in San Francisco this year became the first major league park to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, silver certification from the U.S. Green Council.

In each case, teams have taken the initiative, without league mandates — though most sports leagues now also have green programs promoting or encouraging recycling, alternative energy or other environmentally friendly ideas.

“We understand each club has its own challenges,” said Sarah Leer, a spokeswoman for Major League Baseball. “We sort of realize each club is going to have different abilities in as much of what they can do.”

That includes money — small-market teams struggling to keep payroll, for instance, may be less apt to invest in solar power. Pocono’s installation cost about $16 million.

Other teams may be constrained from installing panels because of stadium geography or construction.

That wasn’t an issue at Pocono Raceway, where track owners installed its solar farm on a converted parking lot across the street from the 2.5-mile tri-oval track. The 40,000 solar panels are arranged in groups in parallel rows, barely visible beyond fencing and a tree line from a road next to the track.

After Pocono’s 3 megawatt system, the next-biggest solar installation at a stadium is the 1.4 megawatt roof at Kaohsiung Stadium in Taiwan, according to Seth Masia, deputy editor of Solar Today, the magazine of the American Solar Energy Society.

By comparison, AT&T Park has a smaller, 120-kilowatt array, and Coors Field has a 10-kilowatt system, enough to run the scoreboard, Masia said.

NASCAR says the Pocono project is so big it’s visible from space.

Saving money was the initial reason behind the installation, Igdalsky said. Price caps will soon be lifted on electric rates in Pennsylvania, and bills are expected to skyrocket. Windmills had been ruled out because of a lack of sustained winds in the area and the presence nearby of eagle and osprey nests.

The installation went partially online in time for Sunday’s race, won by Greg Biffle, and was expected to be completed within the week. When finished, it would provide enough energy to power the track along with 1,000 homes. The track would save between $300,000 and $500,000 in electrical costs each year, Igdalsky said.

NASCAR hopes other tracks — and fans — take notice. Mike Lynch, head of NASCAR’s Green Innovation program, realizes there is a perception among some in the public that the racing series is not environmentally friendly because of its reliance on fuel.

NASCAR says roughly 135,000 gallons of fuel are used per Sprint Cup season. That pales in comparison to a U.S. government estimate that American motorists consume nearly 9 million barrels per day of gasoline.

“It strikes a lot of people as surprising since our sport is [seen as] the stereotypical fuel-burning sport. … It’s really not,” driver Brian Vickers said in a phone interview about the environmental initiatives. He’s known as one of the Sprint Cup series’ strongest environmental advocates.

“Most important is that yes, NASCAR is going to do a lot more … such as what Pocono is doing on the solar farm, but a lot of times people forget what they’ve already done,” Vickers said.

NASCAR touts that it’s had green practices in place for years, some for two decades, including shredding and recycling used tires; capturing and recycling oils, fluids and batteries; and planting 10 trees for every Sprint Cup series race. NASCAR says such plantings mitigate 100 percent of the carbon produced from the race cars.

Instead of promoting goals, Lynch said the focus is showing fans results.

“One thing about a NASCAR fan at its very core is being genuine is absolutely critical to them. It has to be real,” Lynch said. “Symbolism is great. But real results, real projects … that’s what our fans are looking for.”

Solar Power Transforms Parking Your Car

While fossil fuel companies in the U.S. are busily wrecking vast sections of the country’s natural heritage, a new energy resource has been quietly emerging from an unlikely source: parking lots. More parking lots are being converted into solar energy farms that create clean, renewable power while also creating more green jobs in solar cell manufacturing, installation, and sales.

One relatively new player in the U.S. solar parking lot field is EEPro, an offshoot of the German company EEPro GmbH, which started up operations in North Carolina last year. Its main product consists of photovoltaic units mounted on steel frames, which dovetails neatly with support for renewable energy by the United Steelworkers and other labor groups that see a rich trove of new green jobs in the emerging green economy.

The basic idea behind a solar parking lot is simply to incorporate solar panels into a carport, which is basically an open-sided shed with a roof. Solar carports can be small enough to fit a single car at a residence, or scaled up for commercial and institutional purposes. The main benefit, of course, is to generate renewable energy that can be used to lower utility costs on site, for example at a mall or office complex. Depending on the scale, the installation could also yield excess energy in the form of electricity for sale. A solar carport can also help reduce the “heat island” effect of parking lots and contribute to a cooler community, and by providing protection from the elements it can help enhance vehicle lifespan.

The solar parking lot phenomenon also dovetails with a major ramping up of the EPA’s efforts to reclaim brownfields for alternative energy and green jobs. Like parking lots, brownfields are large patches of land (former industrial sites with varying degrees of contamination) that have already been paved over or otherwise altered by human activity, so it makes sense to put them to work at generating clean energy. It’s a safer, less riskier alternative to harvesting fuel from productive land or marine ecosystems that could be used for other purposes such as food supply, recreation, and nature conservation.

Solar Lilies

Aesthetic. Original. Functional. Who knew solar panels could make a statement?

Apparently Peter Richardson knew when he submitted a winning solar design to the International Design Awards. His idea is to turn disused water ways into functional space by populating them with solar panels shaped like water lilies. Aiming to increase quality of life, while generating energy, the lilies so impressed the Glasgow City Council that they expressed interest in developing a pilot project.

In cities all over the world there are disused water ways, canals and rivers.Often they become the focus for regeneration and for most people offer an improved quality of life and environment. Our project proposes to stimulate river activity and change by proposing that the surface is used to harness the power of Solar energy on a large scale. The energy created can be easily transformed and exported to the grid and will reduce the carbon footprint of the city. The idea references large lilypads that are optimised for efficient photosynthesis, so the design is inspired by nature. They can be moved and dismantled and are simply tethered to the river bed, integrated motors can rotate the discs so their orientation to the sun is maximised throughout the day.

In other words, no new technology required, just some clever design. My concern would be recreational or commercial river traffic (how “disused”must the waterway be?). Would waves from wake disrupt the solar lilies? What about an impact on wildlife or wildlife’s impact on the panels? What if the river ices over in the winter? One hopes a pilot project would figure out the kinks.

What do readers think – would a product like this in your local water way make an impact on your community?

What R U Doing to be Green?

Every day, we at All Energy Solar ask ourselves what we should do today to add to our GREEN initiatives. We recycle, we use less paper, we unplug our laptops when we know the battery is full. Each one of these little things add up, and our goal is to come up with as many ways we can to be greener. Thats why we are reaching out to you to see if you have any suggestions. Let us know what you do to be a little greener.

Minneapolis Solar

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