Eight Energy Suggestions for Obama, From SunEdison’s Founder
December 12, 2008 by admin
Filed under Featured, Technology
SunEdison installs large scale solar arrays, such as this one on the roof of a Kohl’s department store. Ownership of the solar power systems is retained by SunEdison and the building owner purchases the solar electricity from SunEdison. SunEdison in turn profits from their investment by selling the electricity, collecting the rebates, tax credits and also selling the Renewable Energy Certificates generated along with the solar power.
This morning I spoke with Jigar Shah, the founder of SunEdison, whose innovative solar power financing model was described in a New York Times article from 2006.
Jigar Shah, the founder of the solar company SunEdison, has some thoughts on energy policy for the Obama administration.
Mr. Shah - who is no longer with SunEdison but remains a major shareholder - shared a number of interesting suggestions for transforming the nation’s energy profile. Eight of those ideas - which Mr. Shah says he has conveyed to the Obama team, though he does not officially advise them - are outlined below.
***
1) Spend $10 billion over the next few years to green the federal government. Put solar panels on rooftops, and introduce other types of alternative energy to power government buildings.
2) Make federal utilities take the lead on pushing renewable energy. The government owns a handful of hydropower utilities, like the Bonneville Power Administration, the Southwestern Power Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority. These utilities, Mr. Shah said, could invest in wind power.
3) Provide more federal assistance to make municipal buildings energy efficient, through the clean renewable energy bond program or other means.
4) Establish California’s energy-efficient building code, called Title 24, as a federal standard.
California Adopts Tough Climate Plan Despite Economic Downturn
Solar panels have been built by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) surrounding the Rancho Seco nuclear power station near Sacramento, California. Local voters in 1989 elected to close the nuclear plant as it was similar to the ill fated Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California on Thursday adopted the nation’s most sweeping plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, issuing rules that could transform everything from the way factories operate to the appliances people buy and the fuel they put in their cars.
The Air Resources Board unanimously approved the plan despite warnings it will put costly new burdens on businesses at a time when the economy is in extreme crisis, with California forecasting a staggering budget gap of $41.8 billion through mid-2010.
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he believes the regulations will spur the state’s economy and serve as a model for the rest of the country.
