Other times have not changed. I mean we are still burning coal to fuel electric generators, 30 years after we should have. We still flirt with the idea of Nuclear Powered power plants. But here is part of the Georgia Code, a State not known for anything progressive.

http://www.southface.org/learning-center/library/res-code-faq#24

22.    What is the difference between a mass wall and a basement wall, and what are the insulation requirements for both?

A mass wall is a heavy wall that is more than half above grade wall and is constructed of a fairly massive material (e.g., concrete, block, insulated concrete forms, masonry cavity, non-veneered brick , adobe, compressed block, rammed earth, and solid logs). A basement wall is a wall that is more than half below grade and encloses conditioned space. Insulation requirements for basement walls and mass walls depend on the location of the insulation and the type of insulation (whether it is continuous or insulation installed in a cavity). Requirements also vary by climate zone. Below is a table detailing the insulation requirements in the energy code.

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If you are a glutton for punishment, go there and read. More next week.

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I promised Emily Hois that I would link up with her organization, Solar Reviews, last week. Since I am only blogging once a week, it took awhile to honor her request.  So here it is. Great story about where the world is going.

http://www.solarreviews.com/blog/Report-Anticipates-220-Gigawatts-Distributed-Solar-by-2018-4-29-13/

A recent Navigant Research report anticipates that the world will add 220 new gigawatts of distributed solar photovoltaics by 2018 as solar comes into parity with other energy sources, creating $540.3 billion in revenue in the process. That’s a significant jump in the amount of solar that’s currently installed throughout world, which the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) said reached 100 gigawatts at the end of 2012.

In recent years, much of the growth in solar is attributable to the giant PV projects being installed to meet utility demand in certain markets. The Navigant report anticipates that just the distributed generation projects—or projects under 1 megawatt in

size—being installed over the next five years will more than double the world’s total solar capacity that’s now online. “Used in applications ranging from residential to small commercial

to industrial settings, distributed solar generation offers significant benefits to consumers while adding resiliency to an electric grid evolving beyond the traditional centralized model,” says Dexter Gauntlett, research analyst with Navigant Research. “Though this market is still primarily driven by government incentives, distributed solar PV will continue its steady march toward grid parity in major markets over the next few years.”

The report anticipates the solar market is transitioning from one that relies on a financial and engineering model based on the wants and needs of utilities to own or source electric generation from large projects to a more diverse model. Under the emerging model, both the sources of generation and the ownership of the generation assets will be more diverse, include third-party financing from companies like SolarCity and SunRun and other new financing mechanisms. These changes will partly be driven by some of distributed solar’s advantages, which include generating electricity onsite to offset the need to build new transmission capacity while avoiding line losses, according to Navigant.

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Go there and read. Plenty to see. More next week.

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I think that the Smart Grid is a 2 edged sword. On the one hand it makes integrating renewable energy sources into the grid much easier. On the other hand it could be a step towards big brother. Whatever the case it is coming no matter what.

http://gizmodo.com/5995249/how-nest-will-save-you-more-money-by-teaming-up-with-utility-suppliers

How Nest Will Save You More Money By Teaming Up With Utility Suppliers

Jamie Condliffe

The smart thermostat from Nest just got a little smarter: by teaming up with utility providers, the device can now predict when power will be in high demand and price, and tweak your heating accordingly.

The new system links the device to a collective, cloud-based knowledge of utility companies. If you’re with an Energy Services-aware power company, the thermostat will learn of upcoming peak energy periods—where power is in high demand and prices rocket as a result—which are sometimes known as rush hours. With that data, it will fine tune your heating, using less energy while it’s expensive.

The cloud will also feed the device data about seasonal discounts, allowing it to fine tune the heating to save you as much cash as possible over the longer term, too. Sadly, only Austin Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Reliant and Southern California Edison have joined forces to make the scheme happen so far. There are deals to be had with provides, though—customers of National Grid can get a $100 rebate through Nest, and Reliant offer a free thermostat with some plans—and it seems likely that other provides will join the fold soon.

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Go there and read. More later.

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This is so big that I just had to find the original source. Once I got to the source the article did not carry the same headline as the inflammatory piece from Washington Blog but in the last paragraph he does imply phasing out the nukes. He also points out that no upgrades have been ordered in response to Fukushima nor included in the new licenses issue. This IS the insanity of Nuclear Generation of electricity.

http://peakoil.com/alternative-energy/former-u-s-nuclear-chief-american-nuclear-plants-should-be-phased-out-cant-guarantee-against-accident-causing-widespread-land-contamination

But this is what the guy really said.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201303140050

March 14, 2013

By SHIRO NAMEKATA/ Correspondent

As it is poised to impose strict regulatory measures on the operation of nuclear power plants, the Nuclear Regulation Authority is increasingly met by opposition that it is making the resumption of plants that are currently offline virtually impossible.

In a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun in Washington, Gregory Jaczko, former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), said it is crucial for a nuclear watchdog to stay independent from the nuclear industry.

Jaczko, who, unlike his four colleagues, opposed the first new construction and operation of a nuclear plant in the United States since the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, also discussed the future of nuclear energy. Excerpts from the interview follow:

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Go there and read. More next time.

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It is sad but true that at roughly 3:00 pm Japanese time the world changed. While not one event starting with a powerful earthquake at 9 on the Richter scale that did not itself cause much damage and followed by a tsunami that washed 20,000 people out to sea. This then was followed the next day with with a nuclear meltdown. 4 of them to be exact that cast radiation into the air, probably to most areas of Japan. I am not trying to downplay the nuclear disaster but a woman on the radio said that it was clear where the Japanese had built in flood zones that could not readily be discerned before the flood because all of the clutter. I hope they do not rebuild there.

http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/03/every-day-is-a-fukushima-memorial/

Every Day Is a Fukushima Memorial’

TOKYO, Mar 10 2013 (IPS) – Japan prepares to mark the second anniversary of the Mar. 11 triple disaster – an earthquake, tsunami and a critical nuclear reactor accident – with much soul searching across the country.

For Yukiko Takada from Otsuki-cho, a scenic fishing town in Iwate prefecture that was turned into rubble in a few hours on that fateful day, the upcoming memorial Monday will simply be another day.

“For me, as it is like for the survivors who experienced the horrible tragedy, everyday remains a memorial, not just March 11, as we struggle to accept what happened and to get our lives back after the devastation,” she tells IPS.

The young woman represents one of the more poignant stories in lessons learnt following the disaster. Takada launched her own community newspaper last June. It was a project, she says, that was imperative to the recovery of the local community.

Otsuchi Shimbun, published weekly, provides up to date information on issues such as relocation of families, temporary housing, employment opportunities and local government decisions. It plays a crucial role in the rebuilding of people’s confidence.

Supported mainly with revenue from local ads, the newspaper, a one-woman show, carries diverse voices, and includes a focus on women. Takada says women have displayed mind-boggling will power to restart their lives for the sake of their families.

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Go there and read. More next time.

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Well to be fair, they actually think it is going to be natural gas, but at least they mention solar.

http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Shell-Predicts-that-Natural-Gas-or-Solar-will-Become-the-No.-1-Energy-Source.html

Shell Predicts that Natural Gas or Solar will Become the No. 1 Energy Source

By Charles Kennedy | Sun, 03 March 2013

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) has just released new forecasts for its ‘New Lens Scenarios’ program, which aims to predict how current business decision and policies may unfold over time and affect the markets in the future.

Peter Voser, the CEO of Shell, explained that the scenarios “highlight the need for business and government to find ways to collaborate, fostering policies that promote the development and use of cleaner energy and improve energy efficiency.”

The scenarios take two different approaches: one considers the world with a high level of government involvement, and the other looks at the markets when they are given more freedom to develop naturally.

With high government involvement in dictating energy and policies, Shell believes that natural gas will flourish to become the number one energy source in the world over the next couple of decades, overtaking coal and helping to reduce carbon emissions.

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Go there and read. More later.

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It is true. Not in my backyard is a syndrome that can be defused but you have to start early and you have to speak often and sincerely. Utility Executives just do not have the right touch and even when they care they hire bright shiny faces that lack any sense of truthfulness.

http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2013/02/26/new-england-offshore-wind-planning-offers-lessons-for-great-lakes/

New England offshore wind planning offers lessons for Great Lakes

Posted on 02/26/2013 by Dan Ferber

When Scandia, a Norwegian wind company, announced its plans to install 200 turbines in Lake Michigan four miles from the tourist town of Ludington, Michigan, in 2009, they likely didn’t anticipate the controversy that would erupt.

After all, the project would be delivering domestically produced renewable energy to replace planet-warming fossil fuels. It would create local jobs installing and operating the turbines. A nearby pumped-hydro facility for storing backup energy sat in the nearby dunes, complete with substations and high-voltage lines they could use to move electricity from their offshore turbines to the grid.

“The developer thought, We’ll build wind farms out in Lake Michigan, hook up in Ludington, and everyone will be delighted,” recalled Arn Boezaart, director of the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center at Grand Valley State University.

Instead, “they were basically run out of town,” Boezaart recalled.

Residents of this picturesque town were outraged about the prospects of scores of wind turbines ruining their view. Nobody had consulted them. And Michigan, like every other Great Lakes state, lacks even a rudimentary procedure for regulating offshore wind farms, without which there would be little opportunity for public hearings.

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Go there and read. More later.

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Yah it was pretty clear to me that they knew an earthquake would toast out the four reactors and the two spent fuel pools. How did I know this?  Not because of the electric generators in the basement. That was stupid, but you just create more damage. It was all the damage and the radioactivity that came immediately after the entire event. That was not caused by a tsunami. It had to be caused by the quake. There was a clear design flaw. The cooling units and the reactors were built on SEPARATE concrete pads which meant they could not SHAKE together and thus they shook in opposition to each other and snapped  the cooling pipes  at that point all of the shoddy construction techniques come back to bite their ass.

http://www.naturalnews.com/037583_TEPCO_Fukushima_catastrophe.html

TEPCO finally admits catastrophic Fukushima disaster was completely avoidable

Thursday, October 18, 2012 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) After repeatedly denying that it could not have done anything more to preventatively curtail the damage sustained at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11, 2011, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has finally come forward with an honest admission that its now-stricken facility had preexisting structural and safety problems that the company basically ignored.

TIME.com reports that TEPCO recently issued a statement explaining that prior to the three Fukushima meltdowns resulting from the catastrophic damage, company officials were already well aware of the fact that the facility was in dire need of serious renovations and retrofit. But because of various political, economic, and legal concerns, TEPCO deliberately delayed addressing these important issues, which is now coming back to haunt the company.

“Looking back on the accident, the problem was that preparations were not made in advance,” said a TEPCO investigatory task force, led by the company’s president, Naomi Hirose, in a recent statement. “Could necessary measures have been taken with previous tsunami evaluations? It was possible to take action.”

Go there and weep..I mean read. More later.

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This is actually happening all around the world. During one day last year the Germans got all the power they used from renewable. All the old bullshit it turning into compost and will be forgotten.

http://grist.org/climate-energy/renewables-cheaper-than-coal-in-australia-a-preview-of-things-to-come/

Renewables cheaper than coal in Australia — a preview of things to come

By:

David Roberts

Energy, politics, and more

I’m morbidly fascinated by the way conventional wisdom lags behind evidence, like the notion that renewable energy is expensive and fossil fuels cheap. In fact, there is a tectonic shift underway. Renewable energy prices are declining as technology improves, economies of scale kick in, financing mechanisms mature, and public policy begins to take some (inadequate) account of the negative externalities of fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, the cost of coal-fired electricity is heading up. It’s getting harder to finance coal plants in the face of competition from clean(er) energy, activist opposition, and the inevitability of some kind of carbon policy. Construction costs are rising. Transportation costs are rising. It’s getting harder to reach the coal that’s left in the ground. Etc.

The two lines — falling renewable energy costs and rising coal costs — are going to cross. It’ll happen everywhere eventually. According to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) analysis, it’s already happened down under: “Renewable energy now cheaper than new fossil fuels in Australia.”

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Go there and read. More later.

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I got my doubts that fusion will ever work. It is kinda like the God particle. If you do not build a machine big enough, you are never going to find it. The machine does not guarantee that you WILL find the god particle it just gives you a chance. The fusion machine is the same sort of thing. Will it work and will it supply excess power. Stay tuned.

http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2013/01/17/fusion-electricity-to-become-part-of-european-grid-by-2050/#.UPmy2WejInd

Fusion Electricity to Become Part of European Grid by 2050

By: Mila on January 17, 2013

A road map that indicates how the energy of the stars , or fusion energy, can be added to the European grid by year 2050, was released by the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA).

Detaileded review of the current status of fusion research, identification of open issues and development of new programmes and research will be the most important factors leading to accomplishment of the goal.

Fusion energy has been long studied due to the fact that it is unlimited, safe and does not produce greenhouse gas emissions or radioactive waste. Current initiatives to produce fusion energy, however, have not been successful mainly because the amount of input energy has always been higher than the output.

In this respect, a new international experiment, ITER, is about to start operating in year 2020. It is funded by Europe and six other nations and it is expected to be the first project that will produce net surplus of fusion power.

Considering that China is already launching a programme that will supply fusion electricity by 2050, Europe will have to catch up by pursuing a pragmatic approach. According to Dr Francesco Romanelli, EFDA Leader, the road map indicates how this will happen at a reasonable cost

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Go there and read more. More later.

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