Solar Gaining on Natural Gas

Suddenly solar seems to be as cheap as, or cheaper than, a lot of dirtier alternatives. That’s our reading of a handful of stories from around the nation lately.

You may remember us writing about the North Carolina study that showed that solar power would be cheaper than new nuclear construction. Six months on, it may now be nipping at the heels of natural gas in many parts of the country.

Large-scale…

The National Renewable Energy laboratory (NREL) of Golden, CO has teamed with solar company Amonix to develop a solar power concentrator that, according to its creators, can generate electricity at prices competitive with natural gas.

photo credit Dennis Schroeder

The NREL-Amonix partnership has resulted in the Amonix 7700 Concentrated Photovoltaic Solar Power Generator, which uses acrylic Fresnel lenses to magnify sunlight up to 500 times and concentrate it onto 7560 high-efficiency multijunction PV cells. (more…)

ASES National Solar Conference Heating Up

This year’s ASES National Solar Conference in Raleigh, NC in May is shaping up to be the busiest ever, with exhibitors overflowing the exhibit hall, technical sessions that anyone invested in renewable energy will want to attend, and plenary speakers well worth hearing.

It’s also an ideal time, if you aren’t already a member of the American Solar Energy Society, to join up and get more of what the country’s premier solar organization has to offer.

If you register for the full conference, for example, you’ll get a FREE professional ASES membership, worth $89.

Now in its 40th year, the Conference will include sessions on technology, buildings, policy, professional education, workforce development and consumer education.  Many sessions will offer continuing education credits for architects, installers, engineers and more.

Find out more here about the National Solar Conference, May 17-21, at the Raleigh Convention Center, Raleigh NC.

Homeowners Associations Stay out of the Sun

Most of us are aware of the phenomenon of the Homeowners’ Association (HOA) in the American real estate market.  It’s that animal that springs fully formed into life the moment a developer sells the first house in a new development.  And paradoxically, it is generally run by the developer, not the homeowner, until most or all the houses in the subdivision have been sold.

Dickens might well have used his classic opening ‘it was the best of times, it was the worst of times’ to describe life in an HOA.  Originally and ostensibly, the HOA was established to maintain the quality of the environment, and thus the value of the homes, in a development.  The HOA contract, binding upon all residents, provides for funds to be collected to maintain and beautify the development;  it will usually also prevent residents from taking actions or making changes to their homes that could be considered detrimental to that beauty.  The various downsides of this, as can be imagined, can include having to accept prohibitions on the slightest change in appearance in your own property, having to abide by the subjective judgments of the HOA board, and having to risk the board putting a lien on your property for alleged violations of the contract.  (more…)

New House Energy Committee: Don’t Hold Your Breath

In last month’s newsletter, we reported on what Washington Council Ernst & Young predicted the country could expect from the 112th Congress.

The Congressional experts used a rather somber palette to paint a picture of the Republican-dominated House agenda as it appears from a renewable energy viewpoint.  But this month, with the release of a document from the House Energy and Commerce Committee detailing that agenda, it appears that those darker tones are unpleasantly true to life.

The document, Backgrounders: Key Issues before the Committee on Energy and Commerce, characterizes the change in the committee’s complexion occasioned by last November’s Congressional elections.  As of this month, the chairmanship switches from Henry Waxman (D-CA) to Fred Upton (R-MI), and the committee’s published agenda switches away from working for the promotion of renewable energy and environmental protection.  Highlights (lowlights?) include:

EPA Regulatory Chokehold: Under this tendentious heading, the reshaped committee accuses the EPA of regulating “too much too fast” without fully analyzing the feasibility and economic and job impacts of the new (carbon emissions) rules. The backgrounder document gives notice that Congress will reassert its oversight function of the EPA to ensure that sufficient analysis supports the new rules, and that jobs and economic impacts are fully considered in the decision-making process.  It does not take much analysis of this language to understand that the actual implementation of EPA rules to protect the environment (as ordered by the Supreme Court) under this committee’s jurisdiction could be delayed until the next Administration. (more…)

Renewable Energy Head-to-Head with Nuclear

Last July we wrote about the North Carolina study that showed solar power to be cheaper than power promised by planned nuclear construction in that state.

It now seems that, on the national scale, renewable energy production has practically caught up with nuclear. The December 2010 Monthly Energy Review, published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, shows that each of these power sources was responsible for some 11% of primary energy production during the first nine months of 2010.  The Review also shows that, while nuclear output dropped during this period, non-hydro renewables increased their output by over 11%.

U.S. Primary Energy Production, Jan-Sep 2010

renewables*…..10.9%
nuclear……………11.4%
fossil fuels………77.7%

*biomass/biofuels, geothermal, solar, hydro and wind

Renewable Energy Production by Type, Jan-Sep 2010

biomass/biofuels….51.95%
hydro…………………….31.5  %
wind……………………..10.52%
geothermal…………….4.65%
solar……………………….1.38%

Change in Energy Production, Jan-Sep 2010 vs. Jan-Sep 2009

nuclear………………-0.5%
renewables………+5.7%
(non-hydro renewables +11.5%)
————–

wind………………………+26.7%
biomass/biofuels……..+10%
solar………………………..+2.4%
geothermal………………+1.8%
hydro………………………..-5.2%

In light of figures like these, it should be increasingly difficult for politicians tethered to the illusion of ‘nuclear renaissance’ to justify their position.  Renewables are marching ahead, attracting levels of private investment commensurate with the support provided by (mainly) local and state governments.  And the nuclear industry knows full well that it can only attract such investment by persuading the federal government to have taxpayers underwrite the massive loans it will need for any kind of growth.

Fool’s Gold catches eye of solar energy researchers

Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times
reprinted with permission

A UC Irvine team thinks iron pyrite could be a cheaper alternative to the materials now used in making solar panels.

Iron pyrite — also known as fool’s gold — may be worthless to treasure hunters, but it could become a bonanza to the solar industry.  Lead researcher Matt Law – seen here holding a solution of pyrite nanocrystals – and his colleagues believe that fool’s gold, which is composed of iron and sulphur, could be used to make solar cells in a major production process.

The mineral, among the most abundant in the Earth’s crust, is usually discarded by coal miners or sold as nuggets in novelty stores.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

What the 112th May Bring

The 111th Congress did so little to distinguish itself in preparing us for our energy future that it’s hard to imagine the 112th occupying a lower circle of Dante’s tropical vacation spot.  But the shift in the center of gravity of both Congressional chambers that was occasioned by the mid-term elections may consign renewable energy and climate change mitigation to the attic of our Government’s conscience for a couple of years more.  This is, in fine, the conclusion of 2010 Election Analysis, an appreciation prepared by Washington Council Ernst & Young for the Solar Energy Industries Association.

In Ernst & Young’s analysis, Republicans in the upcoming Congress are seen as pushing for more extraction of traditional fossil fuels, resisting regulation of carbon emissions, and replacing mandates with incentives.  The change in the character of Congress is also seen as forcing a realignment of the kinds of energy tax provisions and revenue offsets considered by House and Senate. (more…)

UN Climate Conference Makes Modest Progress

At Cancun, Mexico, this month, 193 countries made more progress toward addressing climate change mitigation than had been widely expected of them, and less than is widely considered necessary for effective mitigation.

The summit was the follow-up to the December 2009 UN ‘COP15′ conference in Copenhagen, which was largely conducted in a spirit of discord and ended, unsurprisingly, with little in the way of binding agreements.  The Cancun ‘COP16′ talks produced almost unanimous agreement on future steps and expectations, but not without reservations being expressed about the suitability of the UN process and the likely efficacy of the agreed steps.  And with what we know about the new U.S. Congress’ planned inaction on any truly productive climate legislation, we wonder how close a relationship the agreement bears to reality. (more…)

Solar is Hot Spot for U.S. Exports

Another study released this week shows that solar jobs in the U.S. are responsible for some very positive export news.

The report, U.S. Solar Energy Trade Assessment 2010, has been published by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research.  It finds that the U.S. is a major solar exporter, with net exports of solar energy products totaling $723 million in 2009.

Net exports of polysilicon for PV use came to $1.055 billion, of PV wafers $24 million, and of solar hot water products $5 million.  The U.S. was, however, a net importer in 2009 of PV modules ($232 million), PV cells ($4 million), PV inverters ($121 million), and concentrated solar products ($4 million).  The net effect was $723 million in the export column.

Rhone Resch, President and CEO of SEIA commented: “Solar is a global industry. The U.S. imports and exports products from every continent. But in addition to being a major net exporter of solar energy products, the industry is creating significant wealth in the United States and jobs in all 50 states.  We are seeing investments in U.S. manufacturing in areas of the country hit hard by the recession – Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio and others. But we’re concerned that there is a lack of stable, long-term federal policies in the U.S. amidst an increasingly competitive global marketplace. Even modest federal policies like expanding the Section 48c manufacturing tax credit can help the U.S. solar industry remain one of the few sectors of our economy that is a net exporter, while creating tens of thousands of jobs”.

You can read a fact sheet on the SEIA/GTM report here.

You can read the full report here.

Solar Heading for Grid Parity

Some forms of renewable energy are likely to become viable and competitive with existing, established sources much sooner than conventional wisdom has assumed until now, according to a new report from the Boston Consulting Group.

The report, What’s Next for Alternative Energy?, finds that Concentrated Solar Power, solar PV and advanced biofuels will see accelerating adoption in the near future, and are on track to become competitive with fossil fuels within the next five to ten years.

The impressive growth of alternative energies in most of the decade just ending was moderated by the economic malaise of the last two years.  And while wind and PV have recovered considerably in the last year, the report notes that continued recovery is very dependent on government regulatory support and, in particular, carbon pricing.  To quote the Executive Summary:

“The lack of progress on global climate policies has dimmed the near-term prospects for a policy-enabled price on carbon emissions, which could spur demand for alternative energy.  In short, alternative energy continues to suffer from uncertainties that muddy the waters for investors.” (more…)