DeJa-Vu all over again! Like much of life things repeat themselves, and even a few times we learn the lessons not learned when they do. Remember going down this same road some forty years back, and similar reports about, but then we had an innovative and in most area's highly experienced workforce with a still expanding economy that was envied by many others on this planet. We allowed the brakes to be locked, by the special interests that didn't want to move forward but maintain their control and their wealth on the old fossil fuels used, on a growing industrial industry of alternative clean energy. We also started shipping, about the same time, those experienced trades to those that envied that now have that innovative work force, though at lower, but slowly growing, wage and benefit and virtually unregulated manufacturing and installation but are advancing the technologies in. We need, right here, more investments in R&D and developing and building the products and advancements in, along with finding other sources. And build another workforce, virtually from scratch, of innovative experianced labor who take pride in doing the best and better then anyone else, like we once had.
2 March 2013 - Solar manufacturing jobs increased by more than 14 percent last year. According to one U.S. solar manufacturer, this may just be the beginning. Jim Axelrod reports.
Mar. 1, 2013 — President Obama in this year's State of the Union address talked about the future of energy and mentioned "self-healing power grids" -- a grid that is able to keep itself stable during normal conditions and also to self-recover in the event of a disturbance caused, for example, by severe weather.
But as the national power-grid network becomes larger and more complex achieving reliability across the network is increasingly difficult. Now Northwestern University scientists have identified conditions and properties that power companies can consider using to keep power generators in the desired synchronized state and help make a self-healing power grid a reality. read more>>>
February 26, 2013 - Holding the ranking as the best city for green jobs by Forbes, San Francisco has a booming green economy. SF Environment’s green job training program, Environment Now, works to keep this momentum going by ensuring that San Francisco residents have the skills to access these green jobs.
Environment Now: The “Feet on the Street” of SF Environment
Since 2009, Environment Now has helped prepare workers for jobs in the green economy. The team is comprised of San Franciscans from diverse backgrounds with a broad range of experiences and skills, all sharing a passion for protecting the environment. read more>>>
March 01, 2013 - Green building is a nice thing. It might even be the right thing for developers. But is it profitable?
A new report says that it’s getting there.
United Technologies — the company that makes Carrier air conditioners and Otis elevators — teamed with McGraw Hill Construction to release their latest green building report, “World Green Building Trends.” The Feb. 28 report, which includes responses from more than 800 architects, engineers, building owners and contractors, says that green building is steadily becoming more profitable.
Here’s the key finding: 76 percent of respondents said that green building lowers the operating costs of buildings. That can benefit the bottom line of building owners concerned with how much energy their buildings consume. read more>>>
February 28, 2013 - Whether tied to the larger utility grid or islanded from it, microgrids are becoming an increasingly common way for campuses, communities, and other large power users to harness the benefits of distributed power generation. Many of these systems are deployed by end-use customers who are not getting the quality of energy services they desire from their host distribution utilities. According to a recent report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant’s Energy Practice, annual revenues from distributed generation microgrids will reach $12.7 billion in 2018.
“Microgrids represent a fundamental building block of the ultimate smart grid, designed to serve the needs of energy producers, consumers, and distribution utilities,” says senior research analyst Peter Asmus. “Perhaps most importantly, microgrids are an important accelerator for various kinds of distributed power generation, particularly from renewable sources.” read more>>>
March 01, 2013 - KB Home and SunPower Corp. came together today for a special event in Lancaster, Calif. In a little over a year and a half, KB Home has built more than 1,000 new homes powered by SunPower’s high efficiency solar power systems. More than 200 of these homes are in Lancaster, a city focused on advancing the use of solar power.
During an event at KB Home’s Dorado Skies community, KB Home and SunPower surprised new homeowners Joe and Brittaney Ellison with a free upgrade to their standard-size solar power system. Dorado Skies is one of KB Home’s newest communities in Southern California where SunPower solar systems are included as a standard feature of every home built. KB Home estimates that the standard 1.8-kilowatt (kW) system provides up to 40 percent in energy cost savings per year when compared to a typical resale home. The Ellisons’ home was built with a 3.2 kW system, which means they could enjoy up to 80 percent in energy cost savings per year, according to the homebuilder. read more>>>
February 28, 2013 - In recent years, wind turbine technology has advanced considerably, with many onshore industrial-scale wind turbines in the U.S. now standing at 100 meters and capable of powering more than 1,000 households.
February 28, 2013 - The New Year extension of the Production Tax Credit has made wind energy attractive to electric utilities and customers alike. Utilities are locking in fixed-price contracts for wind power and holding down rates for consumers.
Microgrids provide an opportunity to enhance the way consumers and utilities use energy. In the right applications microgrids can increase the use of renewable energy, reduce costs, and improve reliability. Microgrids use is beginning to increase across the United States to achieve these benefits. Examples include installations by the military, businesses, universities, and utilities. The challenges and opportunities are plentiful and will be discussed on this panel.
March 1, 2013 - Here’s a question for you: when was the last time you paid cash for a home or new car? If you’re like 99% of us, then the answer is “never.” Some purchases simply require too large of a capital outlay for most people to complete without some sort of financing arrangement.
February 25th, 2013 - As we begin to move away from fossil fuels, it is important to recognize that those fuels provided two functions in one. They were both energy sources and energy storage systems. In the new world of renewables, those two functions will have to be provided separately.
The Clean Energy Solutions Center, in partnership with the United Nations Foundation and HOMER Energy, invites you to join a free online training webinar on hybrid renewable energy grids. These mini-grids have great potential for improving sustainable and affordable energy access, yet support for these new technologies requires a different set of policies from traditional electrification programs. This webinar will explain these differences and describe the requirements of sustainable mini-grid electrification programs.
Feb. 28, 2013 - Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said developing a clean energy economy is good insurance against financial turmoil.