On 12/7/10 Zhengrong Shi, the founder and CEO of Suntech, one of the largest PV manufacturers in the world spoke at MIT, which has about 45 faculty now involved in solar research. The event was a joint presentation of the MIT China Energy and Environment Research Group, MIT Energy Initiative, and MIT Energy Club.
My telegraphic notes follow.
You can count me among the millions not happy with the caving to give additional tax subsidies the unneedy rich. With this deal, however, unless blocked, the true pain is wondering what we could -- or should -- have gotten in return.
Why isn't there $200 billion (or, better yet, $500 billion) or so for stimulus in the coming 24 months. There won't be anything coming out of the R House that will stimulate job creation. The Administration should have gotten some on the table and in this deal.
Staying within tax cuts and policy, why not include in clean-energy tax credits. To provide one clear example, why not extend Section 1603 (action item)?
Cross posted from Scaling Green
Cancun - When I started working on solar energy issues several years ago, I heard it repeatedly: “Everyone loves solar.” Back then, many people in solar and other cleantech sectors saw long-term meritocracy in the energy business. Public demand, technological advances and an inevitable price on carbon were going to drive cleantech to dominance over time. “Renewable energy,” it was often said, “will soon become just plain ‘energy’.”
The current, popular narrative here at DailyKos seems to be that President Obama is weak and "capitulates" to Republicans more often than any of us can say capitulate between breakfast and lunch.
US and NATO forces have distributed more than 700,000 solar/dynamo am/fm/sw radios in Afghanistan since before our invasion of 2001 and that a simple modification to that solar/dynamo adds battery charging capabilities to each of them (circuit diagram at http://www.dailykos.com/... ).
US AID is distributing 250,000 solar/dynamo radios in Sudan over the next few years. Again, those solar/dynamos can not now charge extra AA or other size batteries although with a connection to a battery bay from the cell phone charger output they certainly could. The combination of a few square inches of solar electric, photovoltaic, PV power with a hand-crank or pedal power generator provides a modicum of electric power day or night, by sunlight or muscle power. It also allows battery switching, charging one set of batteries while using another. This is practical personal power production and the technology is deployed in the field in Afghanistan and Sudan or available off the shelf right now for $30 from LL Bean and many others, if you are willing to do a little tinkering.
The same technology is also a Solar Civil Defense.
All I know about simple solar at
http://solarray.blogspot.com/...
http://solarray.blogspot.com/...
Solar IS Civil Defense
http://solarray.blogspot.com/...
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Tonight's editor: LokiMom
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The choices facing us are stark. One option, the one I favor, is to free ourselves of both fossil fuels and the political influence bought with fossil fuel money.
We must invest in new technology and renewable energy because new American jobs depend on it. China has now jumped ahead to become the world's largest manufacturer of wind turbines and solar panels - they are adding 100,000 new jobs a year in renewable energy as a result.
We could have what China has, too, but not going at things the way we have been.
Did you know that now you can put solar on your roof in New Jersey, and earn actual cash for 15 years for doing so? Even though you'll also get to use that clean power you make - because you can stop paying electric utility bills (that average 17 cents a kWh in the state) yet simultaneously: your solar home actually earns money for producing electricity, too. You get to have your cake and eat it too.
The money you can earn comes through legislation akin to the remarkable Feed-in Tariffs that shot Germany and Spain to solar leadership. You earn the money for sending clean sunshine power to the grid with Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs)that utilities have to buy.
The money you can make can be staggering. As much as $100,000 over 15 years.
Jimmy Carter started it all by installing solar panels on the White House and pushing hard for renewables and energy independence.
Then came Reagan/Bush and 30 years of a Republican-driven agenda and the U.S. went from being on the forefront of the renewables industry to being a laggard.
One thing I did right, at the beginning of this year was to finally go solar with a residential solar PPA and to sign up to be in the ASES Nationwide Solar Tour which is tomorrow, Saturday Oct 2nd.
If you are in the SF Bay Area, come on by to my house and see how easy it is in California now to do the right thing and send clean power to green-up the grid for the next 30-40 years.
And if you are too far away to come by our house, find the American Solar Energy Association Solar Home Tourin your neighborhood!
In nine states now, solar in some utility districts is free or cheaper than utility energy, thanks to The Recovery Act, in combination with laws in some states that now allow solar companies that offer solar leases or solar PPAs that compete directly with utilities, by selling power by the kilowatt-hour.
EnergizeUS is all about local energy jobs and the manufacturing needed to support that. EnergizeUS coalition member and Arizona Senate candidate Rodney Glassman has a background in arid land management and he immediately keyed in on the water issues associated with energy production.
This isn’t well known yet, but it is a very serious concern, and one we’d do well to address sooner rather than later.
What we've seen since the 1973 oil crisis has been disgusting. Only lip service has been paid to solving the threat to our security that dependence on foreign sources of energy has become. Republicans in Congress, like Joe "BP, I apologize" Barton, John "Drill baby, Drill!" McCain, and Trent Franks(R-AZ), have made our country more dependent on foreign sources of oil than ever before.
The infamous Phoenix brown cloud, c/o Trent Franks (Source)
The simple fact is, we can't drill our way out of this problem. We need leaders who will fight for the future- help to establish an economy where American companies and American-made products provide jobs for us.
Great news from The Atlantic-
White House Agrees to Talk About Solar Panels on the Roof
Environmentalist Bill McKibben has been campaigning for the last few weeks to get solar panels put back on the roof of the White House.
...
From a press release this morning:
McKibben has been in back and forth negotiations with the White House for the last 48 hours to push for them to accept the panel and show they have a plan to get solar back on the White House roof -- a California solar company, Sungevity, has already offered to install a new set for free. As of Thursday morning the Administration has offered to meet with McKibben and his team and says they are discussing the proposal to put solar back on the White House roof.
Sometimes, your kids tell you great things.
We have the coolest house on the street.
Wow. We're cool -- according to the kids. Certainly isn't the non-existent slide for the pool that isn't there. Our lack of a huge media room and the glaring absence of a gym didn't contribute. And, while I've always thought it cool that we live on the white house of the street, that isn't it either. Why is it cool? According to my soon-to-be fourth-grader son:
There will be no recovery without jobs. It's just that simple. We've watched for thirty long years as the manufacturing jobs that made America strong were spirited away to countries with lax environmental regulations and little or no protection for their citizens. American workers were forced to compete with three hundred million underemployed Chinese who were willing to work for $132 a month.
We have to buy it here. We have to make it here. And unless those doing the making are themselves making it our downward spiral will continue.
We can make this change and local energy production is the first step we should take.
Put solar on what?
How about everything.
Yes, Put Solar on the White House. That is a great symbolic gesture to get the ball rolling.
This achievement will be an important symbol to the world that the United States is committed to realizing the environmental and economic benefits of clean energy.
(Click the pic) ============>
Sign the petition to pressure President Obama to replace the solar panels removed by Reagan 3 decades ago.
Get involved with the campaign to make our solar voices louder & brighter!
Like their Facebook page.
But that should be but the tip of the melting iceberg.
Since diving into the deep end when it comes to energy issues, almost every day sees new fascinating concepts, approaches, and technologies. Fascinating ... exciting ... even hope inspiring at times. And, as well, as the passion builds, so many of these are truly Energy COOL.
The concept of Silver Bullet solutions concerns me and the tendency to jump on lab announcements as 'the solution to all our problems' is a real one in the techno-optimist portion of those concerned about climate change and our energy challenges. These concerns lead to hesitation as to whether to report on developments or not, even as there are so many existing ideas filtering out from the labs. That hesitation, however, has likely led to under discussion of the power of ARPA-E and the U.S. government's (the U.S. taxpayers') targeted investments to leap frog the nation toward transformational energy opportunities.
One of our investments was made in the solar photovoltaic company 1366 Technologies.
"In the Solar Thermal Electrochemical Photo (STEP) carbon capture process, the sun’s visible light and heat are used to capture large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it to solid carbon for storage or carbon monoxide for fuel generation. Image copyright: Stuart Licht, et al. ©2010 American Chemical Society."
Potentially this is good news, but don't get too excited. It's not just about carbon dioxide. And even if it works, there are aspects to consider.
The biannual Solar Decathlon, sponsored by the US Department of Energy and bringing together 20 university teams from the United States and other countries, is an amazing event that merits far more attention than the hundred or so thousand visitors and the spotty news (and blog) coverage of the event. Truth be told, the Solar Decathlon is far from just a few week event on the Mall but encompasses years of effort from the multi-disciplinary teams developing a vision and making it a reality. As someone who has been to all of the (US) Decathlons and had the chance to visit most (sigh, not all) of the homes, there is something quite important to note: with each Decathlon, the overall quality of the homes has improved -- significantly. Every home had thing
Virginia Tech's Lumenhous' precision cut steel louvers made a statement on the Mall ... and, well, in Europe as well as it won Solar Decathlon Europe.
NOTE: Exhibit in DC for one more week on the 2011 competition ... beneath fold
