New York | Installing Solar Energy Systems Gets a Tax Break

“The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance said Friday, you could get a tax break when installing solar energy equipment in a commercial building.

Beginning Jan. 1, thanks to legislation and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s support, the state’s 4 percent sales tax won’t be charged on the sale or installation of commercial solar energy systems equipment.

The new law also allows cities and counties to provide a similar exemption from their local sales taxes.”

CNYNews.com

City of Sebastopol Now Requires Solar Installations on All New Business and Residential Construction or Major Remodeling

"The Sebastopol City Council, with the controversial CVS Pharmacy project still casting a shadow over downtown, is adding a chain store ban and solar energy requirements as possible ways to preserve the community’s identity and shape new development."

Watch Sonoma County

The Swanson Effect | Pricing Sunshine

“Solar energy currently provides only a quarter of a percent of the planet’s electricity supply, but the industry is growing at staggering speed. Underlying this growth is a phenomenon that solar’s supporters call Swanson’s law, in imitation of Moore’s law of transistor cost. Moore’s law suggests that the size of transistors (and also their cost) halves every 18 months or so. Swanson’s law, named after Richard Swanson, the founder of SunPower, a big American solar-cell manufacturer, suggests that the cost of the photovoltaic cells needed to generate solar power falls by 20% with each doubling of global manufacturing capacity. The upshot is that the modules used to make solar-power plants now cost less than a dollar per watt of capacity. This means that in sunny regions such as California, photovoltaic power could already compete without subsidy with the more expensive parts of the traditional power market. Moreover, technological developments that have been proved in the laboratory but have not yet moved into the factory mean Swanson’s law still has many years to run.”

The Economist

Solar Power: City of Lake Havasu Takes Control of Electricity Costs for Next 20 Years -- With the always-rising costs of monopolized fossil fuel resources, will traditional utilities ever be in the position to offer the same?

Sunrise at Lake Havasu 

“In mid-December, the solar panels in the City Hall parking lot and the city’s Public Works parking lot began generating energy, said Jae Choe, manager for the new business development team at LG International (America). At the end of December, the work at the city’s Police Facility and Aquatic Center was completed and those panels began generating power.

The project, including the solar energy panels and metal beams on the city property, is not owned by the city. It’s owned by Lake Havasu City Solar, LLC, which was set up by and financially backed by LG International.

The city will be buying energy from Lake Havasu City Solar, LLC at a fixed cost which is under the cost of what the city pays UniSource and the rate will increase no more than two percent each year for 20 years, city officials have said.

City officials anticipate UniSource rates increasing more than two percent each year and since they locked in the rate with Lake Havasu City Solar, they expect to experience significant savings.

Nexsen rattled off the benefits of the city’s involvement in the solar energy deal.

‘The utility cost savings are an improvement, there are no upfront costs to the taxpayer and local jobs were created,’ Nexsen said.”

Spend Less.  Create More...Jobs!

HavasuNews.com

Ford Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid Rated at 100 mpg

Ford Fusion Energi

“Remember when you needed to ride a scooter to get 100 mpg?

The Ford Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid has earned an EPA fuel economy rating equivalent to 100 mpg combined, according to Ford.

The four-door sedan shares a powertrain with the company’s C-Max Energi crossover, which went on sale earlier this year also with a 100 mpg-e rating. The mpg-e measurement was developed to compare the efficiency of vehicles that use different types of energy.”

FoxNews.com

Solar Energy on the Rise in Germany

“The recent solar boom means the alternative form of energy now reaches 8 million homes in Germany, a 45 percent increase compared to 2011, the German Solar Industry Association (BSW) said on Tuesday.

‘Germany is now reaping the fruits of its efforts in solar technology,’ said the BSW’s chief executive, Carsten Körnig.  ‘Its share of the power supply has quadrupled in just three years. At the same time, the price of a new solar power system installation has halved.’”

Energy Tribune

Warren Buffett | Wall Street's Golden Boy to Build World's Largest Solar Energy Project

“MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a subsidiary of Mr Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway investment company, has struck a deal with SunPower to acquire and build two projects in California’s Antelope Valley.

The deal, which will see MidAmerican pay between $2bn to $2.5bn, marks the third time in little over a year that Mr Buffett has ploughed cash into solar energy.

He last year created a unit within Mid American to support an increasing number of solar and wind investments.”

The Telegraph