California’s Renewable Energy Goals Feasible
February 18, 2009 by editor
Filed under Eco News, Technology
California’s goal of getting 33 percent of its electricity from the sun, the wind and other renewable sources by 2020 might be more feasible than previously thought, according to a new government report.
If all the renewable power projects proposed in the state last year were built, California would easily surpass that goal, according to a report issued Wednesday by the California Public Utilities Commission. All told, those projects would generate 24,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for 18 million homes.
That’s on top of the renewable power already flowing in California. According to the report, solar plants and wind farms built in California during 2008 can generate 516 megawatts of electricity, roughly as much as a midsize, fossil-fuel power plant. The previous year, the state only added 113 megawatts of renewable power.
Obama Signs Stimulus Packed With Clean Energy Provisions
February 18, 2009 by editor
Filed under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Featured, Research, Videos
President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus package today, and the clean energy industry - among the biggest winners - is celebrating.
The signing ceremony was heavily loaded with solar symbolism: Mr. Obama signed the bill after touring the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, which has solar panels on its roof. He was also introduced by Blake Jones, head of Namaste Solar Electric, a Colorado company that installed solar panels on the governor’s mansion there.
President Barack Obama (right) and Vice President Joe Biden (center) tour the roof of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with Blake Jones (left), president of Namaste Solar Electric, a Colorado solar company, ahead of signing an economic stimulus package loaded with clean-energy incentives.
“It’s an investment that will double the amount of renewable energy produced over the next three years,” said Mr. Obama, who also promised that the bill would help “transform the way we use energy.”
The text of the bill is posted by the House Appropriations Committee here. This detailed summary is particularly helpful.
The provisions include:
* A large sum for energy efficiency, including $5 billion for low-income weatherization programs; over $6 billion in grants for state and local governments; and several billion to modernize federal buildings, with a particular emphasis on energy efficiency.
* $11 billion for “smart grid” investments.
* $3.4 billion for carbon capture and sequestration demonstration projects (otherwise known as “clean coal”).
* $2 billion for research into batteries for electric cars.
* $500 million to help workers train for “green jobs.”
* A three-year extension of the “production tax credit” for wind energy (as well as a tax credit extension for biomass, geothermal, landfill gas and some hydropower projects).
* The option, available to many developers, of turning their tax credits into direct cash, with the government underwriting 30 percent of a project’s cost.
Kate Galbraith
The New York Times
Want Green Jobs For The Nation? Look to California
Instead of waffling on green energy, the US must offer consistent support
The last time the federal government tried to play a large role in stimulating the development of renewable-energy projects, it failed miserably. Instead, states such as California were the ones that ended up jump-starting today’s wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass industries. As President-elect Barack Obama and Congress craft a federal stimulus program package designed to add 2.5 million jobs, many of them green, across the country, they should remember some important lessons from the past.
Federal investments in wind power after the energy crisis of 1973 failed to produce a single commercial wind turbine. It took the political leadership of people such as California Gov. Jerry Brown to put in place state incentives to grow the wind industry from the ground up, instead of from the top down.
Now that Mr. Obama has picked his new energy and environment cabinet appointments, there is hope among many that the US can move forward with a clean power agenda. Given the lack of leadership from the White House over the past eight years, it is refreshing for renewable- energy advocates to hear that Obama doesn’t buy the argument that what’s good for the environment is bad for the economy.
Northern California Geothermal Plant Taps Solar Power
December 30, 2008 by editor
Filed under Large Solar Installations, Technology
Map of The Geysers in Northern California ~ Click image to enlarge
The Northern California Power Agency has completed a solar energy system to generate electricity for a pump station supplying water to one of its geothermal plants at The Geysers.
The $8.2 million solar array taps the sun for power PG&E previously provided to the pump station. The 2.2 million kilowatt hours of electricity generated annually is equivalent to the power needed for 300 homes.
The pump station supplies recycled wastewater from Lake County to a geothermal plant near the City of Clearlake. The NCPA injects the wastewater into the ground to help replenish geothermal steam fields while also providing a disposal solution for Clearlake.
A second, similar solar project under construction near Middletown will power a second NCPA geothermal plant at The Geysers. For more than 25 years NCPA has operated four geothermal power plants at The Geysers.
Based in Roseville, the power agency serves 17 cities and special districts in central and northern California including Ukiah and Healdsburg.
Michael Coit
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Solar Energy Remains a Hot Idea in Los Angeles, Despite Flap
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks at a news conference for the installation the last of 1,727 solar panels on the rooftop of the Staples Center sports complex on October 28, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. The off-grid 345 kilowatt photovoltaic solar system, which covers 24,196 square feet, will provide power to Staples Center and the new Nokia Theatre L.A. Live sports and entertainment venues.
The flap over the city’s March 3 solar energy ballot measure, Measure B, while unfortunate and avoidable, should not obscure the merits of the proposal. After all, solar energy should not be a partisan issue since harnessing the sun’s power is in everyone’s best interest.
What is needed is more of a realistic view of this energy source that has bedeviled mankind for centuries. First, it isn’t “free.” Second, it will always cost a little more, but it carries broader economic and environmental advantages.
With that understanding, voters can better deal with the political follies surrounding Measure B. As usual, the political insider games at City Hall once they became public have tainted a worthwhile initiative involving the city utility, the Department of Water and Power, which through a combination of local leadership and statewide pressure from Gov. Schwarzenegger’s administration has caught the renewable energy bug.
A New Use for Solar Energy - Highway Right of Way
December 13, 2008 by admin
Filed under Solar News
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main Interstate highway on the West Coast of the United States, paralleling the Pacific Ocean, starting from the California border with Mexico through Washington to the Canadian border.
Recent pushes for renewable energy in the western US has major wildlife and environmental implications.
The main issues of public land managers and wildlife stakeholders are the new roads and infrastructure placed on previously undisturbed public lands. The western US has huge potential for renewables such as solar, wind, and geothermal. Just like the fossil fuel energy booms of the past, the rush to build these renewable power plants on public lands would adversely affect wildlife corridors and ecosystems.
There are many economic and environmental benefits for the distributed nature of solar technology. Wind and geothermal power only work in particular areas of the US, in most cases far away from the end electric user. Also, the wind and geothermal resources are mainly on public lands.
Solar, on the other hand, can work anywhere. Some solar application works best in high hot light areas like the desert southwest, whereas other solar applications work best in cooler defused light areas of the country. Land masses in the US that are already disturbed or used could be levered as solar energy resources.
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.
California Strategies To Meet Climate Goals
Solar photovoltaic pumping installation on a California roof.
California air regulators this week are poised to adopt a global warming plan outlining how the state will cut its greenhouse gas emissions over the next 12 years. The Air Resources Board says emissions must be cut by nearly a third to meet the targets mandated in a 2006 law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
If the plan is adopted, it will provide a broad outline for specific rules that state air regulators will consider in the coming years. The first requirements will take effect in 2012.
Here are some of the strategies for how California plans to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, or roughly a third of current levels:
