Category Archives: solar power

Petersburg Is An Energy Producer – At the high school no less

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This story makes me so proud.

http://business-news.thestreet.com/sj-r/story/petersburg-school-nominated-solar-energy-program/1

Petersburg school nominated for solar energy program

Dan Petrella 06/18/2013 – 11:22 PM EDT

PETERSBURG — The PORTA School District could soon add more solar power to its alternative energy portfolio.

Thanks to a wind turbine, solar panels and geothermal heating installed in 2009 at PORTA High School, the district has been saving about $350,000 a year in energy costs, School Superintendent Matt Brue said.

Now, a former student who works for Joule Solar Energy in New Orleans has nominated PORTA Central School for a program that aims to bring solar panels to schools through crowdfunding

Oakland, Calif.-based Mosaic offers an online platform for individuals to invest in solar projects.

When Bob O’Hara received an email from Mosaic saying that the company was looking for schools to work with, he thought of PORTA Central.

O’Hara, 29, attended PORTA schools through eighth grade before enrolling at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School in Springfield. He moved to New Orleans after graduating in 2002 to attend Tulane University, but he still visits his parents in Petersburg regularly.

He likes to check out the wind turbine at the high school on his visits and thought PORTA Central would be a good candidate for solar panels because of its long, south-facing roofline.

O’Hara said he also knows the district has been facing budget cuts due to dwindling state funding.

“One way to be able to invest in a school is to help them with their energy costs,” he said.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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220 Megs Of Solar Power – The revolution gains speed

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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/

Report Anticipates 220 new Gigawatts of Distributed Solar Generation by 2018

by Chris Meehan on 04/29/2013 in Alternative Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar Cells, Solar Energy, Solar Panels, Solar Power, Solar Rebates

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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Fusion By 2050 – Probably not but these are good folks to link to

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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: 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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Humana Goes Green – Thank god they finally get it

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But this should have happened 30 years ago. Will we ever catch up to Germany.

http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/blog/morning_call/2013/01/humana-making-more-green-efforts.html

Humana making more ‘green’ efforts

Business First

Date: Wednesday, January 9, 2013, 6:53am EST – Last Modified: Wednesday, January 9, 2013, 7:02am EST

Corporate giant Humana Inc. is making more efforts to be environmentally friendly at its Louisville headquarters.

As WDRB-TV reported, the company has installed 30 solar panels on the roof of its 27-story Humana Building, at 500 W. Main St.

The panels produce only 2 percent of the electricity needed to power the building but are part of a larger corporate initiative to lower energy use, the report said. Panels also may be installed at other locations across the city and in other parts of the country where Louisville-based Humana (NYSE: HUM) has operations.

Related links:

Louisville

Industries:

Energy

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The Swedish continue to dominate in the housing industry – They put America to shame

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This house is air tight and over powered. These are 2 things that really turn me on. A night in that house would be a continous orgasm. Oh and did I mention that the house is in Sweden.

http://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/blogs/villa-%C3%A5karp-a-super-efficient-home-that-scores-an-a-in-surplus-ene

Villa Åkarp: A super-efficient home that scores an A+ in surplus energy production
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After construction wrapped up in 2009, Villa Åkarp’s energy-plus ambitions have come true: The super-insulated Swedish home’s rooftop solar system generates an excess of 600kWh annually.
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Tue, Sep 11 2012 at 5:36 PM
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Keeping up with today’s mini-trend of (shockingly) non-IKEA-related housing news coming out of Sweden, I thought I’d revisit a notable residential building project located outside of the city of Malmö that I first made mention of way back in November 2009.
When I intially caught wind of said project, Villa Åkarp, it was under construction with the lofty ambition of becoming an energy-plus (or positive) home. In other words, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home is not only influenced by stringent Passivhaus building standards that focus on energy recovery and conservation (high amounts of insulation, triple pane windows, thermal recovery, strategic building orientation, etc.), but energy generation as well. Thanks in part to a 32-square-meter rooftop photovoltaic array, the now-completed residence produces significantly more energy than it consumes. In all, the airtight home’s solar panels produce around 4,200 kilowatt hours (kWh) of juice per year (mainly during the summer months) with a surplus of around 600kWh annually that’s fed back into the grid in a partnership with local green utility provider E. ON. That’s enough energy to power another energy-efficient home for two months.

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Go there and then to the original to read. More tomorrow.

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Rockspan – A sustainable farm in Missouri

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Carol Kneedler, who runs CES’ website, forwarded this to me and I thought it was a good way to plug her business. Thanks Carol for all you do.
  • O3 Internet Consulting
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http://ksmu.org/article/small-ozarks-farm-provides-innovative-example-sustainable-living-50451#.UNoqJWCh7_Y.facebook

Small Ozarks Farm Provides Innovative Example For Sustainable Living

 Article | | By Shane Franklin

One farm in the Ozarks is the location of a series of unique experiments in sustainable living.  If these experiments prove successful, it would greatly affect the future of sustainable technologies and how people think about building their homes. KSMU’s Shane Franklin had the opportunity to tour the farm, and has this story.

Rockspan Farm, the home of Dan and Margy Chiles, is unique in so many ways. They wanted to build a farm that could be an example to others, and a test lab for experimental technologies they’ve been personally developing over the years.

“We are trying a number of new technologies here to make houses more efficient and to make a livable space without having to burn a lot of coal.

 

http://www.danchiles.macmate.me/rockspan/RockSpan/Home.html

RockSpan maps and overview

RockSpan is the name for our 12 acre farm and house in western Greene County, Missouri.

 

The project is the West end of Division street, 11 miles from Springfield, Missouri.   The colorful plan below shows the family farm: approximately 227 acres outlined in red with a possible land use plan.  Our 12 acres are inside the larger farm.

 

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Go there, read and see all the pretty pictures. More tomorrow.

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The Green Energy Council – Covering the world

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These guys cover the globe.

http://www.greenenergycouncil.com/

The International Green Energy Council is an educational and advocacy body. We pride ourselves on educating from kindergarten students all the way up to leaders of nations about energy efficiency, environmental stewardship and renewable energy. We also aid international leaders on creating sound policy and regulatory atmospheres in order to promote expeditious applications for renewable energy and green technologies.

Over the past six years we have worked with 22 Governors in regards to Renewable Portfolio Standards for their states. Furthermore, we are liaison and facilitators with several countries including but not limited to the following: Canada, South Africa, Greece, Senegal, Zambia, Nigeria, Philippines, Netherlands, Russia, Brazil, China, Morocco as well as a host of others. The IGEC is also working with many utility company’s around the Globe to meet their Renewable Energy Portfolio mandates. We have chartered chapters in 68 nations around the World.

The GEC is a professional association comprised of individuals and companies that promote sustainable forms of energy production, renewable energy sources, sustainable design practices and advanced thinking in utilizing education and information for the promotion of being better stewards of our environment while providing National Security Energy Plans to nations around the Globe.

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Some things in the solar world are shakey – Solar City pumping itself up.

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The solar industry has always been a dicey niche market. They are the ups and downs of a new market trying to find its place in the energy portfolio. Great article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/solarcity_n_2283374.html?utm_hp_ref=renewable-energy

SolarCity Delays IPO, Likely To Lower Price

San Jose Mercury News  |  By Dana Hull Posted: 12/12/2012 11:19 am EST  |  Updated: 12/12/2012 2:49 pm EST

SAN MATEO — In a worrisome sign for the cleantech sector, SolarCity postponed its IPO plans late Tuesday, perhaps to reduce the price of shares below its original range.

The delay came after SolarCity Chairman Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, made the unusual move of stepping in to buy $15 million worth of shares, or 12 percent of the total offering. Musk’s willingness to put more skin in the company he helped found was intended to boost investor interest.

It wasn’t clear Tuesday evening if the IPO is simply being delayed for a day or two or if there are more serious problems that could lead the company to shelve plans to go public. SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive could not immediately be reached for comment, and calls to the company’s press office were not returned.

Solar companies, particularly manufacturers, have been battered for months. The “solar curse” began with the bankruptcy of Fremont solar manufacturer Solyndra in 2011, which cast a long shadow over the industry. In April, Oakland-based BrightSource Energy canceled its IPO plans at the final hour.

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Green Energy For Illinois – These people can help

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No comment neccesary.

http://www.justenergy.com/?s_clid=7804bf19f3166eb04ed5c04eedc42a69&gclid=CJjW0qm1orQCFao7MgodOhAAdg

Learning Center

In many province and states across North America, you have the right to choose your natural gas and/or electricity supplier. Our Learning Center will help you make an informed decision by providing you with an overview of how energy markets work and your rights as a consumer.

Customer Care Center

At Just Energy, our customers are at the forefront of everything we do. Through our Customer Care Center, you will learn about the many convenient services available to Just Energy customers, our customer bill of rights and answers to some of our frequently asked questions.

Efficiency Center

Find ways to save money, energy and the environment through our Efficiency Centre. Take advantage of tips to cut your household, business and transportation costs. You can also save up to 30% on everyday items for your home and business through our SmartShop.

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How To Turn Illinois Into A Renewable State – I am not sure I agree

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But this guy is a good writer and the points are well thought out.

http://grist.org/climate-energy/how-to-make-illinois-into-a-clean-energy-leader/

David Roberts

Energy, politics, and more

How to make Illinois into a clean-energy leader

Illinois is a big deal where power is concerned: of U.S. states, it’s the sixth largest consumer of electricity and the fourth largest producer. It has more nuclear power plants than any other state and is unusually dense with underutilized transmission lines, which are at a premium these days. It has a thriving wind power industry (though it is a sad 18th in installed solar capacity), and a bustling, green-minded metropolis in Chicago, which boasts nearly 80,000 green jobs.

So it’s too bad the Illinois power system makes the Talmud look like The Da Vinci Code. I’ve been talking to people about it for a week and I feel like my brain got mugged in a back alley.

Nonetheless! States are where it’s at, in terms of clean-energy policy, and significant things are going on in Illinois. I shall attempt to make sense of them for you.

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Go there and read. More tomorrow.

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