By Max Lindberg •
July 2, 2008
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The Bureau of Land Management has reversed it’s 22 month moratorium on new applications for solar power development on public lands.
In a statement issued today, the BLM said it will continue to process the applications while, “continuing to identify issues during public scoping underway for the programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS).
In the statement, BLM Director James Caswell said:
“We heard the concerns expressed during the scoping period about waiting to consider new applications, and we are taking action. By continuing to accept and process new applications for solar energy projects, we will aggressively help meet growing interest in renewable energy sources, while ensuring environmental protections.”
Several months ago we told you that the Argentinean government was helping the rural zones with their power problems by installing solar energy. That time we are talking about solar energy kitchens for schools in Jujuy. Currently the government is installing solar cells in the province of Catamarca to empower schools, homes and public dependences.
By Rod Adams •
June 19, 2008
I am a frustrating individual who likes to delve deeply into decision making computations and hates easy answers that sound like sales pitches. One of the best compliments I ever received came from one of my division officers when I was serving as the Engineer Officer on a submarine - he told me “Eng, you ask hard questions.”
As vocal advocate for nuclear fission power I recognize that it has many associated questions, but I after 30 years of study, I have determined to my own satisfaction that most of the important questions have reasonably good answers. In contrast, I have not yet found reasonable answers for many of my questions related to other renewable energy sources. (Yes, I - perhaps controversially - classify fission as renewable, but that is a discussion for a different post.)
Solar photovoltaic (PV) cells are a popular and often discussed (see, for example Atlantic City Convention Center Plans Largest Solar Roof in U.S., 10% of U.S. Electricity From Solar by 2025, SF Passes Largest City Solar Program in U.S. (Finally), all of which were published within the past week) form of “renewable” or “green” energy, but a casual scratching of the surface knowledge that many people have about the technology reveals some troubling details.
How does driving an unsustainable fuel hog around contribute to the adoption of solar power? While some purists might point out that RVs are great fuel hogs and a waste of energy, nevertheless, they do offer an educational opportunity to help spread the acceptance and familiarity with solar power.
By Eva Pratesi •
May 22, 2008
Europe is pushing to help solar power spread and Italy is reacting by going forward quickly. The country’s demand is rising even if a large part of Italians are quite doubtful about the advantages of installing solar panels on their homes. The lack of a national strategy, together with an insufficient information, is impeding the use of alternative energy and producing confusion about prices, productivity and maintenance costs.
Despite that, is very surprising what can be done locally. I recently learned about an ecological cemetery in a small town near Milan, in the north of Italy.
Despite all the talk about solar energy, it only generates a measly .1% of electricity in the US. Meanwhile, national demand for electricity is growing by 2% annually. Considering that solar technology has been in use for decades, why is it not more widespread?
Cheap Fossil Fuels
Even though sunlight is free, fossil fuels in the US have been widely available at a very low cost. There are extensive coal fields all across the country. Nationally, coal produces about 50% of our electricity, with a majority of it being used for base load. That means that coal plants produce a steady stream of electricity a majority of the time.
Natural gas however has skyrocketed in price over the last 6 years. It is widely used to generate electricity during peak times, typically on warmer days when we are cranking up the air conditioning. Natural gas plants can start up quickly and come to the rescue when needed, but the cost of fuel has gotten quite high recently.
Solar energy is very capable of producing peak electricity and is ideally suited for for it. Solar radiation is what causes us to need air conditioning in the first place. The utility companies have started taking notice of solar energy’s potential to generate electricity during peak demand.
New solar technology based on organic photoelectrochemical, dye-sensitized cells, is being implemented in hundreds of every day use consumer products ranging from clothing, smart cards, gadgets, lighting to windows and building facades.
Konarka, a Lowell, MS, company pioneering the technology, says it’s ready to market the products in which the solar dye has been implemented after the summer. The technology has a light to energy conversion rate of of 7.2 percent. This compares to 16 to 20 percent of regular, photovoltaic, solar technology.
The advantages of dye solar technology include flexible implementation options. Dye-based solar technology also converts low light and light rays at obscure angles. Plus the electricity generated can be applied to specific current wavelengths.
Plaintiff: a Sunnyvale, California, man with solar panels on his roof; defendants: his environmentalist neighbors and their redwood trees. Verdict: a judge finds the couple in violation of California’s Solar Shade Control Act and orders them to cut down two trees that are keeping the solar panels shaded.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
By Philip Proefrock •
January 15, 2008
I’ve been away a bit the last couple of weeks which is why you haven’t heard as much from me as usual. I’ve been learning some new things about cars and automotive technology and seeing the latest models being unveiled. I had an opportunity to find out about the new ethanol process and partnership between General Motors and Coskata Inc. that may prove to be a significant milestone in energy production, and signal a reduction in the use of fossil based materials as fuels.
I also attended the North American International Auto Show (more commonly known around here as the Detroit Auto Show) to see what is new in the automotive world. Over at our sister website, Gas 2.0, I’ve written more about Coskata’s technological development in ethanol production, a next generation process for producing ethanol without using corn or other food as feedstock for the process. Even if you hate cars and never drive one, the Coskata process is interesting because, by using different microbes in the bioreactors, other useful alcohols can be produced, including some that are used in the production of plastics (which have applications in buildings and other products). The front end gasification technologies also can be used to deal with municipal waste streams, in some implementations.
There’s good news for the future of green-collar employment, but it comes with a caveat: maximizing job growth in green industries will require the right public policy support. That means law-makers need to approve measures such as a renewable portfolio standard, incentives for renewable energy, public education programs and adequate funding for research and development.
If such measures are put in place, the U.S. could see as many as one out of every four [...]
The demand for solar energy is expanding rapidly, but one of the industry’s obstacles to even faster growth has always been the difficulty of getting enough silicon to make photovoltaic cells for solar panels.
This week, though, IBM announced a new potential source for much-needed silicon: waste silicon wafers used to make semiconductor chips for computers,
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