At the beginning of 2009, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar initiated the Draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to find pieces of public land in six Western states that could be used for environmentally friendly utility-scale commercial solar panel energy arrays. Chu and Salazar want to find solar sites that won’t impact native species, tribal affiliation or public recreation areas. They are operating under a banner dubbed “Smart from the Start,” and that’s how they want the results to be viewed as pre-assessed environmentally-safe development areas that allow commercial solar installers to apply for projects without fearing rejection later, after thousands of dollars and months of research. Read the rest of this entry »

Australian researchers are developing commercial solar panels that could totally transform skyscrapers and cityscapes around the globe. The new generation of solar panels will be thinner than a sheet of paper, about 1/20th as thick to be exact. The thin solar panels could then be placed on glass structures transforming them into solar power stations.” Ultimately, you have got structural building materials which can also generate electricity, so it offers very large potential,” the executive director of the Australian Solar Institute, Mark Twidell, said.” The other possibility is to create multiple layers of the material so you can capture extra elements of the light spectrum and generate more electricity than most current photovoltaic panels.”

The panels are much thinner than the traditional photovoltaic panels seen on roofs today. The silicon layer that collects sunlight is overlaid on glass and approximately two microns thick. Silicon gas is crystallized onto a plate of glass and ink-jet printers are used to lay the electrical circuits to convey electricity to the battery instead of the conventional wafer of silicon.” It can essentially be turned into a design feature of the building,” Renate Egan, the chief technology officer of CSG Solar, the company developing the panels, said.” We think it will be no more than three years before it’s economically viable on a large scale.”

Today, panels are made by the square meter, and the lack of large factories makes the panels very expensive. The glass panels are made for commercial solar installers to use on the exterior of the building but are not transparent.

“The reality is that if you want to allow in a lot of light, you are not capturing as many photons, and you are sacrificing some power generation,” Dr Egan said. “But most buildings still have large surfaces. The problem we have found in Australia is that feed-in tariff systems are aimed at small-scale systems, whereas this can take advantage of large commercial spaces.” Read the rest of this entry »

On November 12, 2008 former Governor Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order No. S1408 which puts pressure on California to meet a renewable energy goal of 30% by 2020. This order increased the energy goal by 10% from the original 20%. As a result, public utility companies such as Cerritos have a responsibility to work towards this goal by advancing renewable energy projects whenever possible. In 2009 Congresswoman Linda Sanchez worked with Cerritos in gathering funds for the building and installation of a proposed commercial solar panel photovoltaic system to be incorporated into the Affordable Senior Housing Project in Costa Villas. Read the rest of this entry »

SAN LORENZO — The Sanitary District located in Oro Loma is attempting to become more energy self-sufficient by implementing several power supplies, some conventional and some not-so-conventional.

Recently the sanitary district cut the ribbon on a new commercial solar panel energy system, which is expected to produce 822,000 kilowatt-hours of energy a year — enough to power around 46 dwellings. With the existing power plant and this new solar array, the district will receive all of its electrical needs entirely from green energy sources. General manager Jason Warner said officials decided to run an energy audit and an evaluation of the power usage around four years ago. The purpose of the audit was to look at how they could become more self-sufficient. “We wanted to look at our overall energy management and use of green energy, while also making sure our ratepayers were getting the best deal,” Warner said. Read the rest of this entry »

AUGUSTA – A study by University of Southern Maine Economist Charles Colgan, is the first study ever to measure the economic impact of wind power projects using post-construction data , Colgan said. The results of the study were announced Thursday at the State House during Maine’s second annual Wind Day, an event organized to inform the public about the benefits of wind energy and hopefully influence lawmakers including the LePage administration. The study showed that Maine’s economy is picking up due to the development of three major wind energy projects. The projects have created an average of 240 jobs per year since 2003, and resulted in nearly $223 million in local spending, a new report done for the industry concludes. Read the rest of this entry »

Farms across America that were on the brink of financial devastation just a few short years ago are coming back to life with the addition of commercial solar panels and wind turbines. Those once-empty and withering fields are now producing a different kind of harvest – renewable energy. The output from solar arrays and wind turbines is putting dollars and cents into the pockets of farmers and producing clean energy that is fueling America without polluting the environment. Read the rest of this entry »

SAN DIEGO — As gas prices continue to skyrocket, several car dealerships in San Diego are busy keeping up with hybrid and electric vehicle orders. Randy Schimka bought his electric vehicle last January. He purchased the Nissan Leaf for approximately $25,000 once he received his tax credits. Randy enjoys being able to drive by the gas stations in San Diego and never have to pay for gas again. “It’s a great feeling to be able to just coast by,” said Schimka. “I was spending about $50 a month for gasoline. Now, I spend around $6.83, the amount for the electricity it takes to charge. I’m feeling good. I have the electric vehicle grin, as they say.” Read the rest of this entry »

On March 2, 2011 in ROCKLIN, Calif. SMA America released its newest product that will harness the energy of the sun like no other solar inverter. The Sunny Tripower released its 8000TL, 10000TL, 12000TL, 15000TL and 17000TL inverters for applications requiring PV array voltages up to 1,000 VDC. The three-phase, transformer-less Sunny Tripower is a much simpler design and perfect for the large-scale array with modular plant topology. Read the rest of this entry »

Solar Energy International will host their fourth annual PV Instructor Training course in Paonia, Colorado in 2011. Solar Energy International’s leading-edge PV Facility is located here as well. There will be 26 solar training instructors attending the event. The instructors are from all over the U.S. from Vermont to Washington State. Read the rest of this entry »

The Frontier Fertilizer site was developed in the 1950s to store agricultural equipment. In the 1970s and 1980s the plant was used to store, mix and deliver pesticides and herbicides. Every since then, these toxins have been leaking into the soil and groundwater, which is the main source of drinking water for the community. For this reason cleanup is a necessity. Read the rest of this entry »