(vid) Turkey Hill Wind Turbines
News story ( October 2010 ) about american wind & solar projects. Yes they got federal stimulus funding, but so does the fossil fuel industry. We need to take that funding from fossil fuels and put it all into wind & solar power.
China’s Wind Power to Equal 13 Three Gorges Dams by 2020
China Wind Energy
China Wind Energy Outlook 2010
China’s wind power can reach 230 GW of installed capacity by 2020, which is equal to 13 times the current capacity of the Three Gorges Dam; its annual electricity output of 464.9 TWh could replace 200 coal fire power plants, according to China Wind Power Outlook 2010, a new report jointly released by Greenpeace, the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA), and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
In 2009, China led the world in newly installed wind-energy devices, reaching a capacity of 13.8 GW (10,129 turbines) – a rate of one new turbine every hour. In terms of overall capacity, China ranks second, at 25.8 GW.
The report projects that by 2020, China’s total wind power capacity will reach at least 150GW, possibly up to 230GW, which, if realized, could cut 410 million tons of CO2 emission, or 150 million tons of coal consumption.
Compared to multinationals, many Chinese companies are young and lack a strong basis for research and development. Despite a renewable energy policy requiring grid companies to purchase all electricity from wind farms, access to wind power for the grid is frequently lagging behind an unstable, out-dated grid infrastructure. There is also the problem of a lack of incentives and penalties for grid companies, and slow progress in more wind energy technologies.
China's Wind Power Capacity Could Replace 2,600 Coal Fired Plants. If They Can Do That, Why Can't The U.S. Do It ?
Wind Power Kills ........ Massey, Duke, Nukes, BP & Piedmont can relax. They are not the only bad guys to blame the end of the Empire on! ... Or we can build a lot of EV farm equipment right now!!
Pete Whipple
Hey there,.... it's actually bats who are at the most risk to wind power because insects are attracted to the heat from the generator at the top of the post. A gear housing at the top of the post and a generator at ground level would solve... the problem.
There is also a cylindrical wind technology called the mag lev turbine which uses magnetic bearings (identical to hi-speed mag lift trains) with zero friction, allowing the turbine to be the size of an office building on less than 5 acres and producing the equivilent of 1,500 bladed turbines. think of a giant bird/bat safe coffee can combined with the rotating space needle restaraunt.
I hope you noticed my mention of pebble reactors from the page http://theenergycollective
It is painfull to learn of any fatality or injury, especially in the workplace and at home. I am sorry to hear about the 4 farmers in the story you shared. I did not klnow about it. I was pre occupied with the news of the deaths of 50 or so coal miners in two separate accidents in coal mines owned by the same company (Massey Energy) since April of last year. There have been 437 coal mining fatalities between 1996 and 2009. (so the tally is about 487 souls lost in 15 years.)
I don't deny that electrical fires, and transformer explosions occur. My adult carreer has been aboard ships that generate enough electrical energy to power 10 city blocks. I have had the unfortunate experience of having to arrest one of those fires aboard a ship I once served.
Most of our countries electric utilities happen to be cooperatively owned. It is very unfortunate that "communism" is such a dirty word, because these co-op utilities have been operating in america since Edison invented the lightbulb. Your own power most likely comes from one of these publicly owned utilities, even if it is coal or nuclear sourced. These utilities are generally publicly owned and nearly all, if not all offer a renewable energy choice as part of your service. contact your local utiltity to find out more.
These utilities are what make up our "grid" or "transmission" system. They have little or no say where the source power comes from ie. coal, hydro, nuclear, wind etc. unless you, the customer demand it. It is not the source that makes the transmission lines dangerous. Transmission lines will always demand a healthy respect for safety. It is the source itself that could be dangerous in many other ways.
Ironically with the "real Tesla" not the EV automobile company, the world once had the chance of going DC rather than AC which would have required "micro" transmission stations in every neighborhood, butalso not likely to kill anybody (instead it would have the same effect as in a shock from your gasoline lawnmower or car battery.)
Wind and solar begins as a safer DC current. To be compatible with the existing grid system which was designed for electricity that was created by the burning of fossil fuels, and then "pushed" long distances through transmissioin lines, wind and solar needs to be "stepped up" to a deadly voltage or localized so that the "high voltage push" is not needed.
Since thousands of miles of transmission lines are already in place at enormous expense, and "off grid" private residential systems are difficult or impossible to tax, grid ready renewable sources make the most sense. Fortunately, or unfortunately, fatalities attributed to the grid cannot be blamed on the source, at least as long as the sources are mixed. Just to be a smartass, I can't resist adding that nuclear energy never has been and never will be the safer DC current.
Incidentally, I have no idea how many diesel powered truckloads are used in the life of a coal mine, but I do know that each natural gas fracking opoeration uses 1,150 trucks per well, and there are about 10,000 gas wells in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area alone. Dick Cheney leased millions of acres of "public land" to be fracked by natural gas companies in an area called, The Jonah Fields, adjacent to the Grand Canyon.
All this doesn't sound very cost or safety effective, or at all fair to the american public, especially if you take into consideration that there is no freakin' way it takes any where near that many truckloads to build and service a solar or wind farm.
One of my opponents claimed that wind power will never work because enough wind turbines to power the country would take up the whole state of Montana. I maintain that if you put all of the coal mines and all of the gas wells that presently power our country in one place, that you would never find Montana again.
I think it is absolutely shamefull and un-christian for anybody, especially politicians and employers to tell employees of coal mines and other fossil fuel industries that the feds, EPA, and the general public doesn't care about them and want to take their jobs and livelyhoods away. These workers don't deserve to be made the scapegoats in the climate change debate. Nobody is trying to take their jobs away.
In the past, people have given their lives for their values. Today, in spite of, or combined with, a serious global economic crisis, some would wish that miners and roughnecks would cvall a general strike and just walk away from their jobs and find something else to pay the bills, like the iceman who saw the refridgerator coming.
1. I think the U.S. needs to get tougher on environmental protection everywhere that U.S. companies operate.
2. That the U.S. spearhead widespread development of EV farm equipment as an insurance policy against the "peak oil" crisis and then vulnerability of our agriculture industry and our ability to keep food affordable to all americans.
3. Last, but not least, non-management fossil fuel employees and thier families should have genuine incentives and exclusive opportunities to re-employ in the green energy sector, much in the same way a vet gets extra points over a civilian with the same qualifications.See More
There is also a cylindrical wind technology called the mag lev turbine which uses magnetic bearings (identical to hi-speed mag lift trains) with zero friction, allowing the turbine to be the size of an office building on less than 5 acres and producing the equivilent of 1,500 bladed turbines. think of a giant bird/bat safe coffee can combined with the rotating space needle restaraunt.
I hope you noticed my mention of pebble reactors from the page http://theenergycollective
It is painfull to learn of any fatality or injury, especially in the workplace and at home. I am sorry to hear about the 4 farmers in the story you shared. I did not klnow about it. I was pre occupied with the news of the deaths of 50 or so coal miners in two separate accidents in coal mines owned by the same company (Massey Energy) since April of last year. There have been 437 coal mining fatalities between 1996 and 2009. (so the tally is about 487 souls lost in 15 years.)
I don't deny that electrical fires, and transformer explosions occur. My adult carreer has been aboard ships that generate enough electrical energy to power 10 city blocks. I have had the unfortunate experience of having to arrest one of those fires aboard a ship I once served.
Most of our countries electric utilities happen to be cooperatively owned. It is very unfortunate that "communism" is such a dirty word, because these co-op utilities have been operating in america since Edison invented the lightbulb. Your own power most likely comes from one of these publicly owned utilities, even if it is coal or nuclear sourced. These utilities are generally publicly owned and nearly all, if not all offer a renewable energy choice as part of your service. contact your local utiltity to find out more.
These utilities are what make up our "grid" or "transmission" system. They have little or no say where the source power comes from ie. coal, hydro, nuclear, wind etc. unless you, the customer demand it. It is not the source that makes the transmission lines dangerous. Transmission lines will always demand a healthy respect for safety. It is the source itself that could be dangerous in many other ways.
Ironically with the "real Tesla" not the EV automobile company, the world once had the chance of going DC rather than AC which would have required "micro" transmission stations in every neighborhood, butalso not likely to kill anybody (instead it would have the same effect as in a shock from your gasoline lawnmower or car battery.)
Wind and solar begins as a safer DC current. To be compatible with the existing grid system which was designed for electricity that was created by the burning of fossil fuels, and then "pushed" long distances through transmissioin lines, wind and solar needs to be "stepped up" to a deadly voltage or localized so that the "high voltage push" is not needed.
Since thousands of miles of transmission lines are already in place at enormous expense, and "off grid" private residential systems are difficult or impossible to tax, grid ready renewable sources make the most sense. Fortunately, or unfortunately, fatalities attributed to the grid cannot be blamed on the source, at least as long as the sources are mixed. Just to be a smartass, I can't resist adding that nuclear energy never has been and never will be the safer DC current.
Incidentally, I have no idea how many diesel powered truckloads are used in the life of a coal mine, but I do know that each natural gas fracking opoeration uses 1,150 trucks per well, and there are about 10,000 gas wells in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area alone. Dick Cheney leased millions of acres of "public land" to be fracked by natural gas companies in an area called, The Jonah Fields, adjacent to the Grand Canyon.
All this doesn't sound very cost or safety effective, or at all fair to the american public, especially if you take into consideration that there is no freakin' way it takes any where near that many truckloads to build and service a solar or wind farm.
One of my opponents claimed that wind power will never work because enough wind turbines to power the country would take up the whole state of Montana. I maintain that if you put all of the coal mines and all of the gas wells that presently power our country in one place, that you would never find Montana again.
I think it is absolutely shamefull and un-christian for anybody, especially politicians and employers to tell employees of coal mines and other fossil fuel industries that the feds, EPA, and the general public doesn't care about them and want to take their jobs and livelyhoods away. These workers don't deserve to be made the scapegoats in the climate change debate. Nobody is trying to take their jobs away.
In the past, people have given their lives for their values. Today, in spite of, or combined with, a serious global economic crisis, some would wish that miners and roughnecks would cvall a general strike and just walk away from their jobs and find something else to pay the bills, like the iceman who saw the refridgerator coming.
1. I think the U.S. needs to get tougher on environmental protection everywhere that U.S. companies operate.
2. That the U.S. spearhead widespread development of EV farm equipment as an insurance policy against the "peak oil" crisis and then vulnerability of our agriculture industry and our ability to keep food affordable to all americans.
3. Last, but not least, non-management fossil fuel employees and thier families should have genuine incentives and exclusive opportunities to re-employ in the green energy sector, much in the same way a vet gets extra points over a civilian with the same qualifications.See More
about a minute ago ·
Mag Lev Wind Turbines: One utility scale vertical axis wind turbine can replace up to 1,000 standard wind turbines
A utility scale 1 Mega watt magnetic levitation vertcical axis wind turbine can be built on about 100 acres and replace up to 500 standard wind turbines. Each standard wind turbine can power 750,000 homes. Wind power combined with advanced flywheel energy storage and load leveling technology can provide electricity 24 hours per day. A 2 Gigawatt version can also be built on 100 acres and power 1.5 million homes. The advanced flywheel energy storage and load leveling technology also works well with photo voltaic solar.
There are 330 million households in the U.S. so it would only take 22,000 acres to supply all of americas current energy needs. To put that into perspective the state of Montana is 94,185,600 acres.
An important milestone in global wind energy is that the State of Texas is the worlds 4th largest producer of wind power (using standard bladed wind turbines behind Germany, Spain, and India. These countries and China all subsidize green renewable energy systems but the U.S. does not.
There are 330 million households in the U.S. so it would only take 22,000 acres to supply all of americas current energy needs. To put that into perspective the state of Montana is 94,185,600 acres.
An important milestone in global wind energy is that the State of Texas is the worlds 4th largest producer of wind power (using standard bladed wind turbines behind Germany, Spain, and India. These countries and China all subsidize green renewable energy systems but the U.S. does not.
An easy way to remember the capacities of electricity:
one megawatt = the usage of 750 to 1,000 homes.
(vid) 7KW Wind Turbine: Bat and Bird Safe
Two 3.5kwh wind turbines.
Start speed 2mph. Bat & Bird Safe.
Home Depot Starts Selling Personal Wind Turbines
Image via Wikipedia
Although I’m guessing that the only thing “personal” item flying off the shelves of Home Depot stores across the country right now are personal cooling units, the big box purveyor of paints, potted plants, and home improvement accoutrement is now also selling personal wind turbines at select stores in Idaho, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, and California.
Similar to Lowe’s teaming up with Sungevity to offer shoppers affordable, in-store solar leasing options, the Home Depot has partnered with Flagstaff, Ariz.-based company Southwest Windpower in an effort to bring clean, renewable wind-based power to the masses.
As reported by Preston over at Jetson Green, the particular product being offered by Home Depot is the sleek (read: quiet), grid-connected Skystream 3.7, a unit described by Southwest Windpower as “the first compact, all-inclusive personal wind generator (with controls and inverter built in) designed to work in very low winds.” Included with the actual turbine is Skyview monitoring software that allows homeowners to track the Skystream 3.7’s performance from the comfort of their PC. Weighing 205 pounds, the unit comes with a five-year warranty and is capable of producing up to 400 kilowatt hours of clean electricity per month (based on prelim data).
The total price for the Skystream 3.7, including installation costs, varies by location but from what I gather the units alone are in the ballpark of $6,000. Homeowners, if qualified, will be able to knock off a few bucks of the sticker price as the turbine is eligible for local, state, and federal incentives including a 30 percent federal tax credit. And although the turbines will only be available for purchase at select stores in the aforementioned states, the company plans to expand the program to “windy locations across the United States.”
Says Southwest Windpower CEO Dixon Thayer is an official release:
Similar to Lowe’s teaming up with Sungevity to offer shoppers affordable, in-store solar leasing options, the Home Depot has partnered with Flagstaff, Ariz.-based company Southwest Windpower in an effort to bring clean, renewable wind-based power to the masses.
As reported by Preston over at Jetson Green, the particular product being offered by Home Depot is the sleek (read: quiet), grid-connected Skystream 3.7, a unit described by Southwest Windpower as “the first compact, all-inclusive personal wind generator (with controls and inverter built in) designed to work in very low winds.” Included with the actual turbine is Skyview monitoring software that allows homeowners to track the Skystream 3.7’s performance from the comfort of their PC. Weighing 205 pounds, the unit comes with a five-year warranty and is capable of producing up to 400 kilowatt hours of clean electricity per month (based on prelim data).
The total price for the Skystream 3.7, including installation costs, varies by location but from what I gather the units alone are in the ballpark of $6,000. Homeowners, if qualified, will be able to knock off a few bucks of the sticker price as the turbine is eligible for local, state, and federal incentives including a 30 percent federal tax credit. And although the turbines will only be available for purchase at select stores in the aforementioned states, the company plans to expand the program to “windy locations across the United States.”
Says Southwest Windpower CEO Dixon Thayer is an official release:
The Skystream install program represents Southwest Windpower’s commitment to making renewable energy affordable and accessible to consumers everywhere. We are excited to help residential and commercial customers take advantage of their area’s exceptional wind resource by using Skystream 3.7 to produce clean, emissions-free energy.Home Depot shoppers in windy areas of Idaho, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, and California: Any interest? Anyone out there have experience with compact, grid-tied turbines including the Skystream 3.7? Has owning a compact wind turbine freed up time for you to toss a beach ball or play tug-a-war with your children?
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cleanelectric
A true Green Energy Future is a world wide: Industrial, Economic, Political, and Social (R)Evolution. We should be deploying wind and solar power along every freeway interstate, in every parking lot, on everylamp-post and building that already exists. The safest way to ensure the National Security of our agruculture system is with Electric farming Equipment. Now those are some smart things we can invest in.
Wind Power Will Destroy The World - Rush Limbaugh
Exclusive:
"Windmills may blow earth off orbit and crash us into the sun."
Just when I thought Rush couldn't get any stupider.DIRTY ENERGY WHORE LAMAR ALEXANDER SPEAKS AT A
HERITAGE FOUNDATION DISINFORMATION BANQUET.
http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/energy-and-environment
IS WIND POWER TO DANGEROUS FOR AMERICA?
WIND TURBINE NEWS 2012
We already know that utlity scale wind and solar power can achieve all of america's energy needs but suburban and urban green energy systems not only advance our total energy production, it also creates additional jobs in manufacturing, construction, and maintenance.
Both utility scale and suburban/urban green energy developement provides immediate jobs in the U.S. and world wide. It remains to be seen if green energy jobs absorb all of the jobs vacated by an archival and mothballing of fossil fuels, but it is likely that by harnessing abundant renewable energy that everyone would be able to work less and enjoy life more.
Investing in and developing green energy on a global scale is necessary and inevitable for survival, but the first step is changing the way we live. This can be best illustrated by the following poster. Please copy it and share it.
The land owner royalty payments for wind farms (currently ranging from $3500 to $5000 per installed megawatt per year.) A typical Texas ranch could have as many as 50 turbines on the propertry. This sure beats the heck out of leasing your land for oil and gas wells and all the risk that goes along with them.
Both utility scale and suburban/urban green energy developement provides immediate jobs in the U.S. and world wide. It remains to be seen if green energy jobs absorb all of the jobs vacated by an archival and mothballing of fossil fuels, but it is likely that by harnessing abundant renewable energy that everyone would be able to work less and enjoy life more.
Investing in and developing green energy on a global scale is necessary and inevitable for survival, but the first step is changing the way we live. This can be best illustrated by the following poster. Please copy it and share it.
It seems that virtually every U.S. politician is an oil and fossil fuel man or woman except (on the surface anyway) Barack Obama. Unfortunately Obama signed the NDAA which allows the U.S. to ignore the Constitution and arrest and detain indefinately anyone without trial, made it a felony to protests "too close" to politicians, and supports the illegal Bush/Cheney/Rice "Patriot Act." so he has lost all credibility as a proponent of societal advancement.
You may be wondering why politics is my introduction to modern wind turbine technology. The answer is in the State of Texas and Ron Paul. Texas was born as cattle country that resisted last centuries industrial revolution of oil invading it's soil. Today cattle graze under wind turbines and these turbines are resisted by some residents who grew up with texas oil. None the less, Texas is the world's 4th largest wind power energy producer in the world behind Germany, India, and China.
Each utility scale wind turbine averages 1.5 megawatts. This is enough to power 300 or more homes each, and there are tens of thousands in Texas, California, Wyoming, Washington and the world already.
Ron Paul who is from Texas, and who wants our troops off of foreign soil, and who is the only true Constitutionalist running for president, and the only candidate who doesn't say one thing and then do another, and who's actions actually back up his promises, must admit that a "green energy resolution" is a logical and necessary part of U.S. strength and societal advancement.
Here are a few links about the Texas Wind Industry:
Reuter News: Texas sets wind power records with new grid analysis
Utility Scale Magnetic Levitation (Mag Lev) Wind Turbines:
Suburban and Urban Vertical Axis (VAWT) Wind Turbines :
Lamp Post Highway and Parking Lot VAWT's
6 AND 5 kw Urban Designed VAWT's
Mag Lev and VAWT's are considered bird and bat safe as compared to "bladed" wind turbines which birds fly into and the bats radar are attracted to (mistaking heat from the turbine as body heat from insects which are bat food.)
Birds and bats may or may not adapt to the presence of wind turbines, trooth be told, nothing can adapt to toxins in our environment except cockroaches. If we use the immediate safety of birds and bats as an excuse not to utilize wind energy, we may as well make window glass illegal too.
I live in a coastal community and there is always wind here. I have been through Wyoming where wind farms are constructed in 100MPH winds. Even if you do not believe in Climate Change or Global Warming the wind always blows, often to hurricane and tornado force. If you do believe in climate change and global warming then the model predicts higher wind speeds more often.
I suggest that we shelve the terms "climate change and global warming" and get back to the basics we have all known since grade school, which is that the burning of fossil fuels ie. fire of any sort creates a by product called pollution and with 7 Billion people on the planet, the less we burn the better.
Article from: Bright Energy.org
Los Angeles reaches 20% renewable energy goal
Wind power comprised nearly 50% of all LADWP’s renewable energy in 2010
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has celebrated providing 20% of the city’s power using renewable energy sources.
The utility actually delivered 19.7% of power from renewable energy sources in 2010, as it will report to the California Energy Commission, which uses a standard process that rounds up the figure to the closest percentage.
The milestone was achieved through a combination of major projects and power agreements made in the last five years, the municipal utility said yesterday.
In 2005, the LADWP made a commitment to increase the utility’s use of clean, green renewable energy from 5% to 20% by the year 2010.
This amount of renewable power provided to customers — 4,500 gigawatt-hours (GWh) — is equivalent to annually removing 750,000 homes from the power grid, preventing 2.5 million metric tons of CO2 emissions, or removing nearly to 490,000 cars from the road.
In June 2009, LADWP began full operation of the Pine Tree Wind Power Plant — the nation’s largest wind farm owned by a municipal utility, in the Tehachapi Mountains. Wind power comprised nearly 50% of all LADWP’s renewable energy in 2010 with small hydro-electric contributing 30%, geothermal/biofuels, 22%, and solar, 1%.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said: “When I became Mayor, I set a goal to generate 20% of the City’s power from renewable energy sources by 2010 and I am proud to say that we have achieved that goal
“We went from worst to first and quadrupled our renewable energy portfolio in a few short years while also keeping our rates lower than other major utilities. Today’s announcement illustrates that the DWP is a national leader in cost-effective, environmentally responsible and reliable energy,” added the Mayor.
Emissions
As well as achieving 20% renewable energy in 2010, LADWP has reduced its carbon emissions to 22% below 1990 levels through a combination of expanding renewable energy; replacing old generators with efficient and ultra-clean power plants; and promoting energy efficiency among its customers.
Since 2006, LADWP customers have saved enough energy to remove 343,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions from our air each year. This equates to removing 66,000 cars from the road annually. Currently 3% of the City’s total power use is offset by energy efficiency, and LADWP expects to save an additional 7% through energy efficiency by 2020.
Meanwhile, LADWP is currently weaning itself off coal power, and in 2010 only 39% of its power portfolio came from the fossil fuel.
The utility is in the process of divesting of the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona by 2014, which will reduce carbon emissions by an additional 26%, it said.
Moving forward, LADWP said it will continue to develop new wind and solar projects close to existing transmission lines and other infrastructure. This includes local in-basin solar and a feed-in tariff program which would allow private parties to sell power to LADWP for distribution on the grid.
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Wind power comprised nearly 50% of all LADWP’s renewable energy in 2010
One Response to “Los Angeles reaches 20% renewable energy goal”
Molten Salt Solar - 24 hour per day electricity
Each molten salt solar plant of todays current technology can power 25,000 homes with each 4 square mile plant. To put that in perspective:
If all the plants where only built in one place for example Arizona and New Mexico they would generate enough electricity for 1.5 billion homes. There are 330 million households in america, this equates to nearly 5 times the power we currently use.
Solar Power Plants of 200 Megawatt plants producing enough electricity for 100,000 homes each would produce 5 times the power in my example above.
There is no air pollution and no toxic by products. Each plant takes approximately 30 months to build and provides 1,500 jobs. Imagine if every country in the world built molten salt solar. Australia already has plans for a network of 12 districts that will supply 100% of Australias energy needs, including transportation using electric vehicles.
If all the plants where only built in one place for example Arizona and New Mexico they would generate enough electricity for 1.5 billion homes. There are 330 million households in america, this equates to nearly 5 times the power we currently use.
Solar Power Plants of 200 Megawatt plants producing enough electricity for 100,000 homes each would produce 5 times the power in my example above.
There is no air pollution and no toxic by products. Each plant takes approximately 30 months to build and provides 1,500 jobs. Imagine if every country in the world built molten salt solar. Australia already has plans for a network of 12 districts that will supply 100% of Australias energy needs, including transportation using electric vehicles.
A quick fix to our energy problems really is true.
OCCUPY TOGETHER AND KICK THE FOSSIL FUEL HABIT.
Is The Lorax The Only Being On Earth Who Cares About The Trees?
In the Dr. Suess book, The Lorax was the only one who cared about the trees. The only one who spoke out about corporations cutting them all down. All we all ever needed to know we each learned in Kindergarten !!!
Break free of the indoctrination of consumerism, greed, and self gratification that you learned in college and remember what Aristotle and Socratese and all of those fine brothers and sisters from our glorious human history meant for "higher education" to become.
Break free of the indoctrination of consumerism, greed, and self gratification that you learned in college and remember what Aristotle and Socratese and all of those fine brothers and sisters from our glorious human history meant for "higher education" to become.
Solar Panels Going Vertical
Has the Solar Market Reached A Turning Point?
Last year most of the new solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the world was installed in Europe, accounting for roughly 4 out of every 5 Watts of global PV additions. That shouldn't have surprised anyone, because it fits a long-standing pattern. However, the European policies that made it possible for PV to compete, even in such un-sunny northern locations as Germany, have come under considerable pressure as governments have been forced to confront high debt levels and other priorities. Feed-in tariffs (FIT) that guaranteed above-market power prices for the life of a PV installation have been slashed across Europe, including in Germany, Italy and France, in a trend that has lately spread beyond Europe. This is beginning to translate into lower demand. The reason it hadn't already resulted in a big reduction in European PV installations is that the cost of PV was dropping rapidly, further justifying legislated cuts to generous FITs.
Here's where the narrative diverges from the storyline that advocates outside the solar industry have been touting for years. Although a substantial portion of those cost reductions is attributable to economies of scale and experience curve effects--manufacturers finding new ways to cut costs as output climbs--a large slice of the reduction in global PV prices has been due to increased competition from lower-cost producers entering the game. The largest PV manufacturers in the world are now mainly based in China, rather than Europe, and PV producers outside Asia have had to shift much of their manufacturing to lower-cost locations in response. So for the last couple of years we've seen a global PV market focused mainly on sales in Europe but increasingly dominated by export-driven manufacturing in Asia. That picture is now changing as domestic demand in Asia picks up, along with growing installations in the US.
China is rapidly becoming the key country for solar, from both a supply and demand perspective. In addition to hosting leading PV producers such as JA Solar, Suntech Power, Trina Solar and Yngli Green Energy, China's latest five-year plan increases the country's solar power target to 10,000 MW by 2015 and 50,000 MW by 2020. That compares to global solar capacity of around 37,000 MW at the end of 2010, nearly half of which is in Germany. Ramping up installations to meet its new goals, as ambitious as they are, is unlikely to turn China from a net solar exporter to a net importer, as happened earlier for oil. That's because China's PV manufacturers are still adding capacity at a rate that should allow them to satisfy domestic demand in China--where they face only modest competition from foreign firms--while remaining highly competitive elsewhere.
With these developments, policy makers in Europe and the US who have been as focused on the creation of national solar manufacturing industries as on the deployment of solar as an element of their broader renewable energy strategies must answer a crucial question: As the PV industry develops and matures, will it follow the path of wind turbine manufacturing, in which established US and EU firms have been able to remain globally competitive, similar to the aerospace industry, or is it likelier to emulate consumer electronics, for which manufacturing is now dominated by Asian producers? If it's the latter, then the whole system of solar incentives must be rethought.
In the meantime, the shift of the solar power center of gravity away from northern Europe should advance the prospects for grid parity, because low-cost solar power depends as much on high-quality solar resources as on cheap PV panels. Geography isn't always destiny, but in the case of solar power its full potential will only be achieved when its deployment aligns large power demand with high average annual solar irradiance. In the long run, that points to a global PV market focused squarely on the US and China.
Photo by dan.
This is the official SEPA sight:
SEPA Solar Electric Power Asssociation
http://www.solarelectricpower.org/sepa.aspx
The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) is your unbiased non-profit resource for information about solar technologies, policies, and programs. SEPA focuses on working with electric utilities, but provides value to all businesses that have an interest in solar electricity.
SEPA Solar Electric Power Asssociation
http://www.solarelectricpower.org/sepa.aspx
The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) is your unbiased non-profit resource for information about solar technologies, policies, and programs. SEPA focuses on working with electric utilities, but provides value to all businesses that have an interest in solar electricity.
Helping Utilities Make Smart Solar Decisions
National Solar Job Census, sponsored by SEPA, Points Toward a 20+ Percent Growth in Utility Solar Employment
The 2010 National Solar Job Census conducted by The Solar Foundation and released at Solar Power International is the first comprehensive study of solar labor market conditions. The study found that more than half of solar employers plan to increase their workforce in the next year and utilities expect a 20+ percent growth over the next 24 months.
(vid) Eco-Question: When will solar power become mainstream? Current Green
Bringing down the cost of solar power means building on a grand scale.
(vid) Ralph Nader : An Unreasonable Man
Ralph Nader took on General Motors over safety issues early in his career. We are all safer because of his efforts and concern. Before you start the video, here are two of my fvorite quotes from him:
"If we started talking about civic globalization instead of corporate globalization,
the world would move forward." "We don't have a government of, by, and for the people, we have a government of the Exxons, by the General Motors for the DuPonts."
"White House Joins Fight Against Electric Cars"
More proof that american politicians are in bed with the fossil fuel industries, and they really don't care about us, or the earth. ~ bad gas good wind
Read on.....
WASHINGTON, Oct. 9— The Bush administration went to court today to support the automobile industry's effort to eliminate requirements in California that auto manufacturers sell electric cars.
President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., was the chief lobbyist for General Motors, one of the plaintiffs in the case. Mr. Card was also head of an auto industry trade association when California proposed to require electric vehicles, and has publicly opposed such a requirement.
Under California clean air rules, 10 percent of the vehicles sold in the 2003 to 2008 model years must be electric or ''zero-emission vehicles.'' But the state, recognizing that the car companies were not ready to meet that goal, offered to let them sell hybrid vehicles, which run on gasoline and electricity, to satisfy part of the requirement.
Still, the industry wants to avoid having quotas at all and was not satisfied with that relaxation of the rules. It sued the state, arguing that the hybrid provision violated federal law.
Katherine Kennedy, a lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which supports the California rule, said that California ''attempted to make things more flexible for the car manufacturers, and cheaper, and this lawsuit is what they got as thanks.''
In a brief filed today with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, the Bush administration endorsed the industry's argument that this substitution was improper because it would, in effect, regulate fuel economy standards, over which the federal government holds exclusive jurisdiction. The car companies would get credit toward the electric-vehicle quota depending on the fuel economy of the hybrids.
The brief does not appear to raise any new substantive arguments, but it carries some political significance in that it appears to favor Detroit over Los Angeles. Mr. Bush lost Michigan in 2000 to Vice President Al Gore, and while Mr. Bush was defeated in California as well, the vote was far closer in Michigan. Mr. Bush has been reaching out to union voters and is hoping to capture the state in 2004 while the likelihood of California voting for him appears more remote.
''The major issue isn't the substance of the brief but the fact of the brief,'' said Daniel Becker, director of the global warming and energy program for the Sierra Club. ''The fact that the Bush administration, with the former chief lobbyist of G.M. as a chief of staff, is weighing in on the side of G.M. to overturn California's efforts to clean the air that Californians breathe is outrageous.''
Scott McLellan, a spokesman for the White House, dismissed the accusation that the administration was siding with General Motors because of Mr. Card's past connection.
''Congress long ago made clear there should be a uniform fuel economy standard,'' Mr. McLellan said. ''The American people would be best served if the leadership of special interest groups worked with us in our efforts to increase fuel efficiency, promote safety and improve air quality.''
Congress has long allowed California to set its own emission standards because smog there is so bad. As a result, the state has set emission requirements that have forced car companies to invent new technologies for pollution control.
Since 1990, California has been trying to incubate an electric car industry, putting it on the leading edge of battle between clean-air advocates and the automakers. What California does, states in the Northeast tend to adopt as well, another reason the car companies are trying to block the electric car, which they say is impractical in California and even worse in cold climates.
Environmentalists said that the auto industry initiated contact with the Bush administration to file the brief on the industry's behalf. Jon S. Coifman, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, ''It's our understanding that this whole thing is expressly at the behest of auto industry plaintiffs.''
The administration brief acknowledges that the hybrid option is one of several ways that the car companies could meet the requirements. But it noted that a lower court found that ''these other alternatives are in fact impractical, and that manufacturers seeking to minimize their costs will be forced to produce hybrid vehicles that meet the state's fuel efficiency standard.''
It also said that the state cannot list compliance options in matters -- like fuel economy -- where only the federal government is allowed to regulate.
In a statement tonight, Gov. Gray Davis said: ''Fuel cell and hybrid technology is a decade ahead of where it would have been in the absence of zero-emission vehicle regulations. I am disappointed that the federal government would intervene with our efforts to protect our air quality.''
Under California clean air rules, 10 percent of the vehicles sold in the 2003 to 2008 model years must be electric or ''zero-emission vehicles.'' But the state, recognizing that the car companies were not ready to meet that goal, offered to let them sell hybrid vehicles, which run on gasoline and electricity, to satisfy part of the requirement.
Still, the industry wants to avoid having quotas at all and was not satisfied with that relaxation of the rules. It sued the state, arguing that the hybrid provision violated federal law.
Katherine Kennedy, a lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which supports the California rule, said that California ''attempted to make things more flexible for the car manufacturers, and cheaper, and this lawsuit is what they got as thanks.''
In a brief filed today with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, the Bush administration endorsed the industry's argument that this substitution was improper because it would, in effect, regulate fuel economy standards, over which the federal government holds exclusive jurisdiction. The car companies would get credit toward the electric-vehicle quota depending on the fuel economy of the hybrids.
The brief does not appear to raise any new substantive arguments, but it carries some political significance in that it appears to favor Detroit over Los Angeles. Mr. Bush lost Michigan in 2000 to Vice President Al Gore, and while Mr. Bush was defeated in California as well, the vote was far closer in Michigan. Mr. Bush has been reaching out to union voters and is hoping to capture the state in 2004 while the likelihood of California voting for him appears more remote.
''The major issue isn't the substance of the brief but the fact of the brief,'' said Daniel Becker, director of the global warming and energy program for the Sierra Club. ''The fact that the Bush administration, with the former chief lobbyist of G.M. as a chief of staff, is weighing in on the side of G.M. to overturn California's efforts to clean the air that Californians breathe is outrageous.''
Scott McLellan, a spokesman for the White House, dismissed the accusation that the administration was siding with General Motors because of Mr. Card's past connection.
''Congress long ago made clear there should be a uniform fuel economy standard,'' Mr. McLellan said. ''The American people would be best served if the leadership of special interest groups worked with us in our efforts to increase fuel efficiency, promote safety and improve air quality.''
Congress has long allowed California to set its own emission standards because smog there is so bad. As a result, the state has set emission requirements that have forced car companies to invent new technologies for pollution control.
Since 1990, California has been trying to incubate an electric car industry, putting it on the leading edge of battle between clean-air advocates and the automakers. What California does, states in the Northeast tend to adopt as well, another reason the car companies are trying to block the electric car, which they say is impractical in California and even worse in cold climates.
Environmentalists said that the auto industry initiated contact with the Bush administration to file the brief on the industry's behalf. Jon S. Coifman, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, ''It's our understanding that this whole thing is expressly at the behest of auto industry plaintiffs.''
The administration brief acknowledges that the hybrid option is one of several ways that the car companies could meet the requirements. But it noted that a lower court found that ''these other alternatives are in fact impractical, and that manufacturers seeking to minimize their costs will be forced to produce hybrid vehicles that meet the state's fuel efficiency standard.''
It also said that the state cannot list compliance options in matters -- like fuel economy -- where only the federal government is allowed to regulate.
In a statement tonight, Gov. Gray Davis said: ''Fuel cell and hybrid technology is a decade ahead of where it would have been in the absence of zero-emission vehicle regulations. I am disappointed that the federal government would intervene with our efforts to protect our air quality.''
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This is the sort of good news that must be shouted from the mountaintops of Appalachia (while there are still mountaintops there)…and run head to head against other energy sector news stories that have come out in recent weeks such as these three stories:
Piedmont Energy’s announcement of investing $3 Billion for a new gas/coal plant, touted as being more efficient and cleaner than older powerplants, but also ignoring the gas fracking issues for gas, mountaintop removal, and the same old risks of mining that have always been part of the industry.
The recent tragedy of loss of life at a Massey Coal Mine, which is actually the second accident in a Massey Mine since April 2010 (in less than one year) resulting in a total loss of life of about 50 souls. This horrible news coming from a company that posted a 2007 report on Wikepedia praising themselves for their safety record by comparing their “non-fatal safety record” as nearly even to the workplace safety record of the “retail industry” in our country.
Also, in less than a year of prior bad news, BP was just granted within the last few days, “permitting to drill for oil offshore in the Arctic.”
The record of the fossil fuel sector in the last few weeks and months is status quo for these fuel sources for more than 100 years. Chevron is accused of massive pollution of the Amazon, Exxon had a really bad day at the office in Prince William Sound Alaska.
In the 1970′s coal miners went on strike for safer working conditions after a few dozen miners where killed in an explosion, and the mine owner, Duke Energy refused to negotiate for more than a year, and only came to the table after one of their thugs shot and killed a miner on the picket line.
Pete Seeger wrote a song about a similiar situation that occurred in the 1900′s when dozens of miners striking for safer working conditions were murdered and thrown into a hole.
It is the very definition of “irony” that the employers in the fossil fuel sector tell their employees that the EPA, the Dems, the liberals, and the commies don’t care about them. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality check is that the EPA, Dems, liberals, and commies care about everybody.
In fact, if you step back to see the whole picture, the Republicans, right wingers, and Libertarians (although some doubt the latter)also care about everybody. So why the impasse? Why make the employees and the families in the fossil fuel sector the scapegoats for the status quo? It’s not the economy, or climate change, however both are on our shoulders poised and ready to slash our throats…. it is our food supply, which at this moment depends on fossil fuels in order to be harvested, transported, and refridgerated.
The ugly truth is that our leaders are paralyzed with fear, of disrupting our food supply, their hands could be frozen on the steering wheel until we all crash and climate change does us all in. It is horribly unfair to tell coal miners, all other fossil fuel employees, and their families that their own brothers, sisters, and government don’t care about them. They deserve the best jobs in the green energy sector nationwide.
The news of the success of the LADWP of going from 5% to 20% renewable in 5 years must be shared. It will give people hope that this is not the end, rather that this is a whole new beginning for mankind. LADWP’s recent success is more than applaudable. If we all work together we can even do much better than that, and on a global scale. Other people in other countries want the same future and same survivability that we all do.