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U.S. schools spend more on utilities than books and computers combined.

Public schools spent $8 billion on utilities in 2002, up by $2 billion from 2000. When taking diesel costs into account for school buses, the recent spike in energy costs is more daunting.

“Electricity is up approximate 12%, heating oil is up 65%, and natural gas is up 40%,” said Supt. Dr. Patricia Grenier of Barnstable School District. “This is nothing that anyone has done, but this is an impact that must be addressed.”

Some school districts are cutting staff or increasing taxes. Others are even considering a 4 day school week to save on fuel costs. No matter how the budgets are ultimately balanced, it is hard for anyone to get excited about paying more for energy. (more…)

Big money is backing wind power, and the number of investors ready to step up to the plate continues to grow. But according to an article in Renewable Energy World, that growth is hampered by a lack of a nationwide “electronic transmission superhighway”.

In the sixties America created the interstate superhighways that now crisscross our nation. Now, our country’s energy security depends on a new interstate initiative. Will the U.S. government step up to the plate?

“Across the country, hundreds of wind projects comprising tens of thousands of wind turbines are on hold because no one wants to step forward and pay for upgrades that will primarily benefit others. The obvious solution to this problem is a policy framework that will allow firms interested in building new transmission to collect the costs of the infrastructure investment from those who will benefit from it.”

Richard Sergel, president and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and Kevin Kolevar, DOE’s assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability, have pointed out in recent testimony before Congress that all low-carbon technologies, from large-scale wind projects to concentrated solar power, and even nuclear and “clean coal” technologies, require an updated electric grid because they are most often located in remote areas. The map above shows the Transmission Superhighway Vision put forth by the American Wind Energy Association and American Electric Power, an investor-owned utility that spans 11 states.

Photo Credit: AWEA

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As tech giants rush into the solar cell business, their competition promises to bring down the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels used to generate electricity. PV modules use silicon cells, which are also used in computer chips. But with the traditional chip business growing at only 5% annually, tech companies are looking for a new market niche to grow.

This is good news for the solar industry, where cost has been a barrier to wider acceptance. Thus far, technology improvements have lowered solar PV costs only marginally, with each improvement coming at a large research cost. Fierce competition on the part of the largest tech companies could change that. According to Paul Davidson in USA TODAY:

“Since May, computer powerhouses Intel (INTC), IBM (IBM) and National Semiconductor (NSM) have barreled into solar energy, joining hundreds of fellow technology mainstays. Virtually every chipmaker is weighing a solar play, says Rhone Resch, head of the Solar Energy Industries Association. ‘We have a classic Silicon Valley land rush,’ says T.J. Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor (CY), which owns 56% of SunPower. Drawing the stalwarts is solar’s 40% annual growth, says Gartner analyst Jim Hines.”

The savings will come largely in the area of automating manufacturing. How then, will the solar industry deal with the shortage of silicon? Semiconductor International rather mysteriously predicts that supplies of silicon will increase next year. Along with the shift to solar thin film technology, which uses little or no silicon, this may mean that mass-market adaptation is within reach.

Image Credit: Trend Labs Malware Blog

Related Stories on Green Options:

A Thin-Film Solar Installation

How To: Cheap or Free Solar Panels

Solar Panels and the Quest for $1/Watt Energy

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens has received a glut of media attention recently for his plan to develop the largest wind power project in the world. Now the New York Times suggests that Pickens might have a visionary counterpart in Shai Agassi, an Israeli software entrepreneur obsessed with making Israel the world leader in electric cars.

Agassi, along with his company Better Place, have an Israeli government-backed plan to create an electric car program that will give subscribers access to a car, a battery, and outlets across Israel. Subscribers will also be able to swap dead batteries for fresh ones in designated garages.

Better Place will run the smart grid that charges the electric cars. The company is also currently contracting for enough solar energy energy to power the whole fleet, which will roll out next year with 500 cars built by Renault.

But Agassi’s vision doesn’t end with Israeli electric cars.
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R&D magazine covers the newest, nerdiest gear from inventors and scientists. The R&D 100 awards are hailed as the “Oscars of Invention” by the Chicago Tribune. The prestigious award helps push the most promising inventions into the market. Other winners include specialized microscopes and super-hydrophobic coatings.

EMCORE is the proud producer of inverted metamorphic (IMM) solar cells, which are already used on land and in space. The IMM technology recently made an in-orbit efficiency record of 33%. EMCORE is a reputable and successful semiconductor company. Their solar technology has been on my radar for a while now.

Developed in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Vehicle Systems Directorate of the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the IMM design is comprised of a novel combination of compound semiconductors that enables a superior response to the solar spectrum as compared to conventional multi-junction architecture. Due to its unique design, the IMM cell is approximately one fifteenth the thickness of the conventional multi-junction solar cell and will enable a new class of extremely lightweight, high-efficiency, and flexible solar arrays for space applications. (via news release) (more…)

Samsø, a Danish island in the North Sea, has become entirely energy self-sufficient, by using wind energy, solar and other renewables. The community was puzzled when it was announced in 1997 that it had won a government prize awarded to a community who would create a renewable energy plan; an engineer had submitted the entry without telling anyone but Samsø’s mayor. Interest was high after the award, but then fell off. It was Soren Hermansen, a lifelong resident of the island, who took on the task of turning the plan into action. The story of how he did it is a blueprint for other communities around the world.

In the nineties, the island of 4,300 people imported all their energy, mostly in oil tankers, and paid little attention to where it came from. In a fascinating article in The New Yorker magazine, Elizabeth Kolbert reports that:

“Then, quite deliberately, the residents of the island set about changing this. They formed energy coöperatives and organized seminars on wind power. They removed their furnaces and replaced them with heat pumps. By 2001, fossil-fuel use on Samsø had been cut in half. By 2003, instead of importing electricity, the island was exporting it, and by 2005 it was producing from renewable sources more energy than it was using.”

Image Credit: Joachim Ladefoged, The New Yorker

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Last Friday Tim Hurst wrote an article entitled ‘Soaring Fuel Prices Spur Aviation Industry to Explore Alternatives’, wherein he focused our attention on Rolls-Royce and British Airways attempts to search for alternative fuels. Though probably not entirely humanitarian in nature, it is nice to see another industry getting in to the alternative fuel game.

With the start of a new week however, I get to bring to your attention the efforts of France’s LISA Airplanes and solar cell maker Trinia Solar Ltd.

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MIT has perfected a dye technology that could change the solar world as we know it.

The most efficient form of solar technology today is (arguably) extreme concentrated photovoltaics, essentially solar panels placed under a magnifying glass. But the problem with these systems is heat.

Concentrated sunlight can melt silicon solar panels unless you include specialized cooling systems. Cooling technology costs money, and the panels require expensive tracking mechanisms to follow the sun through the day. MIT’s new solar system bypasses the heat and tracking problems all together.

Thin coatings of organic dyes absorb sunlight and redirect favored wavelengths into a pane of glass. The light is aimed and concentrated towards the edge of the pane where small solar panels are located. The concentrated light allows the panels to produce the maximum possible amount of energy all day, every day without cooling systems or complex tracking mechanisms. (more…)

When you are a company who makes cars, unless you have the Toyota Prius underneath your brand name, life can sometimes get a little complex. Not surprisingly, many car manufacturers are making big steps to ensure that their products make as little impact upon the environment as possible. But General Motors have taken it a step further, to ensure that even their production plants make little environmental noise.

Currently with two of the largest solar power installations in the United States, GM have made a real effort to, as Gary Cowger, GM group vice president of Global Manufacturing and Labor Relations puts it, actively accelerate “…our efforts to be part of the solution to the environmental issues and challenges facing our world.”

Solar power installations line the roofs of GM’s Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana, California parts warehouses, with the former seeing about 50% of their electricity powered by their own installation. “We are proud to be a global leader in the usage of renewable energy,” said Cowger.

But GM has now taken it a step further in their attempt to be a “global leader,” announcing on Tuesday the plans to install the world’s largest rooftop solar photovoltaic power installation on its car assembly plant located in Figueruelas, Zaragoza, Spain. The project is set to install an installation that will cover some 2 million square foot of rooftop, comprised of approximately 85,000 solar panels.

“As we develop new solutions in vehicle propulsion to reduce carbon emissions, we are also making significant progress in reducing the impact our facilities have on the environment,” said Elizabeth A. Lowery, GM vice president, Environment, Energy and Safety Policy. “Our commitment to expanding the usage of renewable energy sources is part of our coordinated global effort to reduce energy, water consumption, waste and CO2 emissions.”

Partnering with Clairvoyant Energy, Veolia Environmental and the Government of Aragon to develop this project, United Solar Ovonic will provide their thin and flexible solar laminates for the project. A project which, by completion, will generate 12 megawatts of power at its highest output, equaling about 15.1 million kilowatts of power per year, the equivalent to some 4,575 households.

I’ve said it from the beginning of my tenure here at Green Options, and I will continue to say it along with many others: big business has to be the one to bring our planet in to an environmentally friendly age, whether it be politely or kicking and screaming. General Motors, in announcing this project, has shown just such an intention.

Source

Photo © GM Corp

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Last week I reported on a story that saw a new bill passed in Hawaii making it mandatory for every new home to have their hot water powered by solar panels. Signed in to law by Governor Linda Lingle, the bill will require all single-family homes built starting 2010 to have a solar panel powering the hot water system.

However Hawaii isn’t the trend setters we may have first thought them to be.

Over at MetaEfficient.com, they have an article pointing to the fact that 90% of Israeli homes already have solar water heaters. It began in the early 1950’s when the Israeli government encountered a fuel supply shortage, and restricted the times when water could be heated. In response, the people decided that they would start heating their own water using solar panels.

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