Green Options

Governor Schwarzenegger just gave solar power a boost in California, especially for relatively small-scale solar generators.

Taking notes from Europe, perhaps, Schwarzenegger signed legislation for a “feed-in tariff” earlier this week that requires Calfornia utilities buy solar power from relatively small generators and at higher than market-value prices.

The California Public Utilities Commission has approved the largest energy efficiency program in U.S. history, authorizing $3.1 billion in consumer rebates and efficiency programs over the next three years. This brings the state a giant step closer to implementing AB32, according to Lara Ettenson, director of California Energy Efficiency Policy at the NRDC.

Ettenson told me that the funding comes from the part of the budget that California’s regulated utilities may use to invest in conventional electricity. This may include “negawatts” [...]

Californians installed 158 megawatts of solar power capacity in 2008, according to a state report released Wednesday. That’s double the amount installed in 2007.

California now has a total of 441 MW of solar power, the highest level of solar installations in the country, the California Public Utilities Commission reported.

OK, that headline is a bold statement, but that was certainly my take-away from an event last night organized by the California Cleantech Open business plan competition.  The event was called a “Green Building Symposium“, and while there were booths manned by winners in this year’s competition who won for building materials and renewable energy solutions (including Bottlestone, S3 (smart shower system) and Red Solar), the topic of the speakers and a panel discussion was energy efficiency.

You can see and hear the presentations for yourself via an archived video. (Hint: You will need the RealPlayer. Click on “Part 1″ on that page under the title for the December 9th Green Buildings event, and you’ll want to fast-forward through the video of people filing into the room.)

The first keynote address was given by Gil Sperling, from the Federal Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy, who announced the signing of a memo of understanding with the California PUC to align programs in support of energy efficiency programs.

The second keynote address was given by Dian Gruenich, Commissioner, California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), who described a year-long process that resulted in a strategy plan, which you can download here (all 110 pages of it) or read an executive summary or fact sheet.  The plan’s goals include requiring all new residential construction in California to be zero net energy efficient by 2020 and for all new commercial construction to be zero net energy efficient by 2030. Read that, opportunities for green building materials, smart meters and efficient cooling systems, better windows and insulation, etc.