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

California Sets Winter Record for Solar Energy Production

"California has set a new record for the amount of solar energy it generates during the winter season. According to data from CalSO, the state reported 1,029 megawatts of solar energy being introduce into the California power grid. Moreover, the state came close to generating more than 1 gigawatt of solar energy on the Winter Solstice, which is the day when the state receives its least amount of sunlight. While the new record pales in comparison to the sheer amount of energy that the state needs, it does show that California continues to make significant progress in its solar energy endeavors."

The Fuel of Tomorrow Reported Today

The Permanent Advantage of Solar Power Stations: Free Fuel

"Rebranding is always a tricky exercise, but for one field of technology 2013 will be the year when its proponents need to bite the bullet and do it. That field is alternative energy. The word “alternative”, with its connotations of hand-wringing greenery and a need for taxpayer subsidy, has to go. And in 2013 it will. “Renewable” power will start to be seen as normal."

The Economist

750MW of Solar Energy in Riverside County to Power 200,000 Homes

“The 750MW project will represent one of the largest PV projects on public lands in the Californian desert and will be developed, owned and operated by McCoy Solar, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, on 1,780 hectares of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Riverside County.

As part of the array, a 14.5-mile generation tie-in line and 2-acre switch yard connecting with Southern California Edison’s Colorado River Substation will be built. During peak construction, McCoy Solar believes that the project will hire 600 workers and up to 20 workers during operations.

Output from the proposed project is estimated to be enough to power around 200,000 Californian households.”

PVTECH

Watch the Cincinnati Zoo Generate Solar Power in Real Time

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden  

Coal Mining Museum Saves Money With Solar Energy

The Big Pit National Coal Mining Museum in Wales

“In an ironic twist a coal mining museum has opted to install solar panels as a green energy alternative. The Big Pit National Coal Mining Museum located in Wales has installed 200 solar panels on its roof. The reason the famous coal museum chose this action was because it wanted to save some money on its electricity bill.

‘Coal is such an important part of Wales’ heritage, and yet green energy will play a major part in its future.  A solar powered coal-mining museum is a fantastic way to celebrate this national journey.’” 

The Inquisitr

Off-Grid Solutions | Clean Energy for Un-Electrified People

Solar Panel Installation in Ecuador

“A few months back Nancy Wimmer told us about Bangladesh’s solar success.  In one of the poorest countries on earth, a renewable energy company, Grameen Shakti, is busy installing nearly 1,000 solar home systems each day.  It turns out all that small solar has achieved something quite big. In November Grameen Shakti hit one million Solar Home Systems installed. The company’s milestone reinforces a lesson that is increasingly clear: Whether it’s Germany, the U.S., or even China, distributed solar installations are driving the solar revolution.

The Bangladesh story is particularly exciting because Grameen has single handedly shattered the energy ‘axioms’ on which the international policy community has relied for decades: ‘Renewable energy is too expensive.’  Wrong!  ‘Even if solar makes sense, the poor can’t afford it or they won’t pay.’  Wrong.  ‘The grid will come regardless so off-grid, decentralized energy is a waste of time, money and effort.’   Wrong, wrong, wrong. What Bangladesh does prove is that Carl Pope is right: deploying solar makes the most sense for off-grid areas where the economics are compelling and the need is great.”

EcoWatch

GM Goes Solar Outside USA

"The solar power installation is expected to produce renewable energy equivalent to the energy required to power 1,200 homes in South Korea for a year.  It is the equivalent of providing electricity to 221 homes in the U.S. for a year. Rob Threlkeld, GM's manager of renewable energy, said: 'This array will be the fourth-largest in our solar energy portfolio, joining our plants in Germany and Spain that house large solar capacities on their rooftops.'"

Justmeans

Third Generation Sunkist Grower Goes Solar

“As a third generation Sunkist grower, Nick Bozick has always understood the value of sustainability and as President of Richard Bagdasarian Inc., he is expanding that commitment with the launch of a leading-edge solar technology system at the company’s packinghouse in Mecca, California. The 300kW photovoltaic solar energy system will generate electricity for the Bagdasarian plant with no air emissions, no waste production and no water use.”

PerishableNews.com

Solar Energy | Higher Education Turns to The Perfect Marriage

Environmental
Plus
Financial Conservation

"Colleges and universities across the United States are increasingly using solar energy to power buildings and facilities in an effort to "go green" and save green. Some public institutions are facing budget cuts, and solar installations have proven to be a smart investment that leads to lower electric bills.

Specifically in California, schools are looking to solar energy as a way to deal with smaller budgets while still being able to afford teacher salaries and attract top talent. A recent Forbes article reported that many schools throughout the state are turning to low-interest loans for renewable energy systems, as well as state rebates available for PV installations, to make the projects a smarter choice. Money saved from lower energy bills as a result of the solar installations are easily used to pay back those loans, one expert said in the article.

“In California especially, schools are having budgets cut for the third, fourth, fifth year in a row and are looking for ways to make up shortfalls in their general fund budgets by using capital dollars," the article stated.

For example, at Laney College in Oakland, California, school officials expect a recently installed solar project to save the college about $20,000 every month on electricity costs, according to Forbes."

GetSolar.com