BMW & Real Solar Team Up: 35% off Solar for Electronauts

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BMW and Real Goods Solar are the latest to team up and offer an EV-solar tag team. BMW announced yesterday that it and Real Goods Solar are offering BMW ActiveE drivers (aka Electronauts) a solar deal that’s hard to pass up — approximately 35% off a solar installation contract with Real Goods Solar (RGS).

“Lease and purchase options will be available to suit the residential energy and charging needs for BMW’s EV drivers. Real Goods Solar will provide a premium offer to design, install and monitor a turn-key solar solution to all ActiveE customers in California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York,” BMW writes. Read more

USC Researchers Develop Liquid Nanocrystal Solar Cells that Can Be Printed Onto Plastic

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Imagine a solar cell that comes in a jar instead of a big, clunky panel, and that could be painted on a piece of plastic. It might be closer than you think – scientists at the University of Southern California have developed a new type of solar cell made from nanocrystals that are so small that you could fit about 250 billion of them on the head of a pin. Due to their size, the nanocrystals can be made into an ink and painted or printed onto clear surfaces. The breakthrough could open the door to solar cells that can be printed onto plastic instead of glass, and then bent and shaped to fit anywhere.

Liquid nanocrystal solar cells are cheaper to produce than traditional single-crystal silicon wafer solar cells, but they don’t convert sunlight to electricity as efficiently. Previous attempts to develop liquid solar cells have used organic ligand molecules to to keep nanocrystals stable and to prevent them from sticking together. But the ligand molecules were poor conductors of electricity, and they hurt the efficiency of the solar cells. To overcome that problem, the USC scientists developed a synthetic ligand that builds tiny bridges connecting the nanocrystals to help transmit current. Read more

Canopy Gives Green Edge to New England Patriots

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The National Football League has been falling all over itself in a fierce competition to see which team can lay claim to the most sustainability cred, and it seems like this week’s winner is the New England Patriots. Not only is the team’s Gillette Stadium an early adopter of sustainability initiatives, but the adjacent Patriot Place retail destination is getting a solar makeover, too.
A solar shade canopy for Patriot Place

Patriot Place is touting a “futuristic” new solar canopy as the showpiece of the new installation. The canopy doubles as shade and weather protection for outdoor walkways, which anchors the whole complex to the concept of sustainable energy.

That just goes to show how much value today’s retail sector is putting on high-visibility alternative energy installations. Despite the best efforts of organizations like the Heartland Institute to frame climate awareness as the belief system of the criminally insane, savvy investors have found that mass market America finds the whole idea of clean, reliable, low risk energy to be rather appealing. Read more

Japan Is Nuclear Free, But Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Fossil Fuels Surge

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Tomorrow Japan will become completely nuclear free for the first time since 1970 as it shuts down the Tomari nuclear reactor on the island of Hokkaido. One by one the country’s 54 nuclear reactors have been shuttered for maintenance, but they have not reopened because of the public’s fears over their safety. Anti-nuclear demonstrators plan on celebrating Tomari’s shutdown, but one consequence Japan faces is a 15 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions because of its increased reliance on fossil fuels.

Nuclear power provided Japan with about 30 percent of its electricity needs before the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed over 16,000 people and damaged the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. As additional nuclear power plants were closed last year, Japan endured its hot and humid summer by running factories on nights and weekends while office workers relied on fans instead of air conditioning to keep cool. But despite nationwide conservation efforts, Japan still suffered from a massive shortage of electricity, so power plants running on oil and natural gas stepped in to meet the country’s energy needs.
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USDA Want Airports To Double as Renewable Energy Farms

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At airports, the usable space is limited to a few areas: runways, terminals and storage facilities. Much of the rest of the land is left fallow, requiring maintenance from airport operators (mowing the grass, keeping wildlife from interfering with planes, etc). But what if that land could be used to generate energy? US Department of Agriculture researchers have been exploring alternative uses for unused airport land with the goal of reducing wildlife hazards, and in a new study they’ve shown that much of this land could be converted for solar, wind or biofuel production.

Since 2009, USDA researcher Dr. Travis DeVault has been exploring potential uses for land at or near American airports. DeVault estimates that airport properties in the US contain about 1,276 square miles of idle grassland — an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. Adding wind and solar generation to airports would be a win-win, because it would both discourage wildlife from entering airport land and it would generate more revenue for airports. As the blog EarthTechling notes, airports in Indianapolis and Denver have already been experimenting with solar energy, demonstrating that major airports can easily double as solar farms. Read more

Tom Doyle: Reasons to Be Cheerful in Solar in 2012

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After the buzzkill that was Shyam Mehta, GTM Research Solar analyst’s market outlook, Tom Doyle, the President and CEO of NRG Solar presented at the GTM Solar Summit and provided a number of reasons to be cheerful if not downright enthusiastic about being in the solar industry in 2012.

Doyle remarked that Shyam Mehta’s solar presentation made it sound as if NRG is coming from an entirely separate industry.

From NRG’s perspective, what’s happening in the PV module industry is a positive thing, because “what we focus on is levelized cost of energy.”

In other words — things are fine if you’re not a solar module manufacturer.

Doyle reminded the solar crowd, “We are changing the energy industry — and we’re changing the world.” He repeated a Chinese proverb which states, “As long as the direction is correct — the goal doesn’t have to be specific,” and emphasized “We’re headed in the right direction.”

“The electric power industry is headed for some amazing changes,” according to Doyle, impacted by solar module pricing below $1.00 per watt from bankable suppliers. Soon, residential roofs will have recovery times of a few years. He added, “Every new home built will demand solar [and solar] will be as commonplace as a sink in a kitchen. Soon it won’t be driven by a desire to be green — it will just make sense.” More news

America’s clean energy policies need a reality check

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America’s approach to clean energy needs to be reformed if it is to meaningfully affect energy security or the environment, according to two new articles by Stanford writers.

The debate over how to fundamentally change the world’s massive energy system comes amid taxpayers’ $500 million tab for the bankruptcy of Fremont, Calif., solar company Solyndra, the global recession, government budget cuts and plunging U.S. prices for natural gas. Making the change cost-effectively will be crucial, write Jeffrey Ball and Kassia Yanosek, both based at Stanford University’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance.

Ball, scholar-in-residence at the Stanford center and former energy reporter and environment editor for the Wall Street Journal, writes in the current edition of Foreign Affairs that the world’s renewable-energy push has been sloppy so far. It can be fixed through a new approach that forces these technologies to become more economically efficient, he writes in the article, “Tough Love for Renewable Energy.”

“It is time to push harder for renewable power, but to push in a smarter way,” Ball writes.

Kassia Yanosek, entrepreneur-in-residence at the Stanford center and a private-equity investor, writes in Daedalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, that attempting to accelerate a transition to a low-carbon economy is expensive and risky. Policymakers, says Yanosek, need to realize that achieving a transition with government-aided commercialization programs will require putting billions of taxpayer dollars at risk, often in a high-profile way.

“If government officials wish to accelerate the next energy transition, they will need a different strategy to develop an industry that can survive without major subsidies, one that prioritizes funding to commercialize decarbonized energy technologies that can compete dollar-for-dollar against carbon-based energy,” Yanosek said.

With natural gas prices so low due to huge new supplies of shale gas, besting the current energy system has become tougher. Read more

Top 10 Highlights of Cleantech in San Antonio

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San Antonio is not new to clean technologies as Texas is one of the leaders in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. Not to be done under like other cities, including Houston and Austin, San Antonio has numerous projects, initiatives, and institutes in the city with two major goals in mind – promote clean technologies across the nation and make San Antonio one of the leading cities when it comes to clean technology.

1 ) Trinity University. In 2011, Trinity University in San Antonio received a Green Report Card grade of B from the Sustainable Endowments Institute. The university was recognized for reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 15 percent from 2005 levels and reduction in energy use through implementation of a variety of energy conservation technologies, including lighting sensors and LED lighting. The university is also dedicated to ensure all new construction as well as renovation projects meet LEED Silver Certification standards, and that the entire campus community is able to use alternative means of transportation, including discounted public transportation passes and carpooling.

2 ) Solar San Antonio. Solar San Antonio is a nonprofit organization that is looking to ensure that solar energy is a primary contributor to the establishment of a brand new clean energy economy. Solar San Antonio looks to connect the public and private sectors via innovative marketing, education, as well as creative financing programs. This organization looks to “actively encourage the widespread use of solar and other renewable and sustainable energy sources informing the community about benefits to the regional economy, environment, and human health, as well as supporting public policies that advance this possibility.” Read more

Planetsolar, Largest Solar-Powered Boat, to Complete Round-the-World Journey

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PlanetSolar, the world’s largest solar-powered boat, is scheduled to finish its first around-the-world journey this May 4th, 2012 in Monaco. Hercule harbor will welcome the boat, which has been travelling around the world to promote solar power since September 2010.

Rapha?l Domjan, the project founder, will tell stories about some of the highlights of the ship’s adventures during a weekend-long party in Monaco. “Part of the party, such as the ‘SolarLightShow’ or the concert of the Swiss band Sonalp, will be powered by the energy of the boat’s batteries collected during more than 19 months of sunny navigation,” the Planetsolar website states. Read more

Are Solar Subsidizers Make the Same Mistake as Oil Producers in the 30′s?

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Short-term thinking is the bane of the energy world. It has been so since the early days of the oil business, and it remains so with today’s market for solar photovoltaic power generation. In the former case, oil producers were guilty of the flawed thinking. In the latter, it is the producers of public energy policy.

An oil reservoir is typically found in a permeable stratum sandwiched between two impermeable ones. As the oil is extracted, the pressure it exerts on the layer above is reduced. As a result, the overburden subsides.

At some locations in the reservoir, the stratum between the two impermeable layers may be quite thin. The subsidence phenomenon may be pronounced enough that the impermeable layers squeeze off the flow of oil at some points. Entire sections of the reservoir may be cut off in this way, leaving pockets of oil that are too small to merit a dedicated well, but large enough that their loss is painful to the producer.

There is a solution, literally and figuratively. The producer can inject water into the reservoir some distance from the well. The injected water displaces the oil, forcing it toward the extraction borehole. It can also provide enough pressure to keep the adjacent strata separated, preventing portions of the reservoir from being choked off. This is called secondary recovery.

There are a few of reasons why secondary recovery hasn’t always been used. For one, the methods were only developed in the 1930’s, so any oil extraction prior to that was possible only while the reservoir pressure remained above a certain critical level. Even after secondary extraction techniques were developed, some oil production companies simply did not bother to invest – once the well stopped producing, they simply moved on.

Here’s the rub. If they didn’t use secondary extraction during production, there is often no going back – the oil is trapped irreversibly. For each barrel of oil extracted, one to six barrels were left in the ground, forever out of reach. Read more