By Jennifer Kho •
July 17, 2009
Arizona wants to be the “solar-energy hub of the world,” Kristin Mays, chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities in the state, said at the Intersolar North America conference in San Francisco this week.
The state last week enacted a law that offers new incentives, including a tax credit of up to 10 percent, for solar companies that set up shop there.
At the Intersolar North America conference in San Francisco this week, some state rivalry became apparent as Arizona leaders argued the state’s advantages compared to California. “We know the Mojave desert’s off limits. Well, the desert in Arizona is open for business,” said Barry Broome, CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, to laughter from the audience.
By Jennifer Kho •
June 26, 2009
The prospect of green jobs has proven very attractive to Californian job seekers. According to a survey released this week by the Vote Solar Initiative, a solar advocacy group, more than 5,400 people are participating in solar job training programs this year in the state.
“It is clear that Californians of different economic and educational backgrounds are all looking to solar to provide much-needed career opportunities, and the state’s training institutions have stepped up to meet that rising demand,” said Claudia Eyzaguirre, the author of the report, in a press release.
But it’s not clear whether the state will have enough jobs to support these trainees. Part of that will depend on the kinds of jobs they are training for.
Thinking about installing a wind energy system, but not sure if the payback period on your investment meets your financial needs? I began thinking about this question last week when our old friend (and my real old friend) bobbyb sent me an article about a couple who’d installed a wind turbine at their home in Great Britain. He noted that the numbers provided in the article (a £20,000 initial outlay for £500/year energy savings) didn’t make financial sense: “That’s a forty-year payback period!”
He’s right… that kind of cost-benefit analysis doesn’t really work. If you’re going to put up tens of thousands of dollars for a wind system (or a solar energy system), you probably want to see a return on that investment in years, rather than in decades. I got so interested in the topic that I wrote a post about things you should consider before putting your money down on a renewable energy system at SUNfiltered. Wind energy systems have their own requirements, so here are a few of the things you’ll want to take into consideration.
Will wind energy work on my property?
As with any renewable resource, some areas are better than others for home wind energy. Some of the questions you’ll need answers for include
By Nick Chambers •
July 24, 2008
In a slew of announcements this week, a picture of what the future of plug-in vehicle charging might look like is starting to emerge.
The Problem:
There are 54 million garages for the 247 million registered cars in the US, meaning that the majority of cars are parked overnight in parking structures, parking lots or curbside.
As a result, most potential plug-in vehicle consumers do not have an adequate place to charge their vehicles. This problem is even more pronounced in urban areas like San Francisco, where only about 16% of cars are parked in garages overnight and the rest end up curbside or in parking lots.
Also, although the US power grid probably has enough overall capacity to supply energy to a nation of plug-in vehicles, it may not have the ability to charge them when they all plug-in and demand energy at the same time — say 6 pm every weekday.
By Sarah Lozanova •
January 24, 2008
Venture capital investments in clean technology reached an impressive $5.18 billion last year in North America and Europe. North American-based companies received three times the investments of the European-based companies. Not surprisingly, energy generation was responsible for $2.75 billion in investments, with solar energy shining.
“In 2007, solar emerged as a significant investment theme, and it was notable to us that of the top five solar deals of the year, three of [...]
By Philip Proefrock •
October 10, 2007
Z-Squared is an example of an office building whose net energy consumption is zero. In addition to being a zero energy building, it is also a zero carbon building. "It’s one of the first commercial buildings in the United States to be designed to a ‘Z2′ energy efficiency goal; that is, net zero energy, zero carbon emissions."
The building owner, Integrated Design Associates, Inc. (IDeAs), is a San Jose CA based
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