US Military Becoming a Leading User of Green Technology

I found this article on CNN and it is very interesting and makes a lot of sense. The short story is that a lot of the attacks that the USA military faces is on oil convoys. The reason for this is that most of the bases in the theater of way are being run off generators so they are constantly needing oil deliveries all over Iraq and Afghanistan. This has led to a high percentage of fatalities guarding these convoys. This has led to the USA military paying about $40 a gallon for fuel. This explains why the USA military is investing in some green technologies to power their forward bases.

Recent Advances Move Solar Closer to Equaling Coal Costs

Mother Nature Network has a good blog article reviewing some recent improvements in Solar Panels that will help bring them closer to parity with coal costs. I don’t fully agree with the tone of the full article blaming recent cuts in government subsidies sounds more like sour grapes. I know in politics, especially in the USA, it has become increasingly popular to completely bemoan every decision politicians make. More of this is because of our over the top polarization currently at every level of government. Sorry for getting a little off topic but I always felt the best way to convince someone of your point of view is to make compelling arguments, not to belittle the other option. All it does in this case is give the other side reason to believe that without subsidies solar panels would not have made the advances they have over the past decade. It is like when I tell people I am vegetarian and they ask why and if I respond that eating meat is stupid I stand no chance to think about their the consequences of their actions.

Solar Stock Review – First Solar

Any news about the environment or environmental issues are always good to see in more mainstream publications. Today there is an article about First Solar and how two analysts think the stock will fair. I will start out by saying that I am not a financial expert, though I do follow the markets and understand what they are talking about, none of this is an endorsement to buy or sell any stock. I just think that looking at the long term analysis by investors of renewable energy sources help determine perception. If the large investors are all against a stock or sector in general they may have a lot of pull with government officials as to what companies or industries deserve subsidies.

Local Solar Power for Farming

In rural parts of the world where the power grid may be many miles away there is still a need for electricity.  These areas sometimes are more agricultural and rely on heavy machinery to do the work.  A great example of limiting the use of a diesel generator for a tracking solar array can be found here in German or reprinted here in English. The brilliance of this is in areas with lots of steady sunlight like the example in Egypt the use Solar panels without battery backups.  The power generated is then used to pump water from a well and fill the irrigation reservoir.  The reservoir is then controlled to irrigate the fields as needed.  This is all controlled by tracking system which also controls the measuring sensors for the system.  Only a small battery is used to align the solar panel early in the morning.  This system provides for the farmers needs while helping reduce overall emissions from diesel generators.  The initial startup cost would be

Renewable to Potentially Benefit from FERC Ruling

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recent changed rules to further deregulate transmissions lines. This will allow the cost of transmitting the power from one area to another to be shared more equally between the rural regions where these renewable will be installed and urban areas where the power will be used. With this ruling the amount of transmission lines in the USA will potentially increase 9%. The Solar Energy Industries of America (SEIA) see this as alleviating some roadblocks in the development of large scale Solar power stations.

Solar Rulings in Missouri

In Missouri some good news came in over the last week for the solar industry. A lawsuit against rebates for solar installations was rejected. The judge whose ruling was that solar rebates were unconstitutional undid his earlier ruling. This will keep in place a $2 per watt rebate that was at the heart of the lawsuit. The Missouri Retail Accociation (MRA) filed the lawsuit on Ameren’s behalf. Their argument seemed to be that by providing incentives to customers to install solar power locally it was taking money away from Ameren. Read more about the initial lawsuit here.

Solar California

There is a great new website for California residents to make it easier to make decisions on solar installation.  California has long been ahead of the rest of the country on solar installations and with current rebates available that will only continue.  This new site should hopefully streamline the process of getting information into consumers’ hands.  This site will also provide contacts to local installers that have been verified to protect consumers from less than honest businesses.  The one thing that would really make this site shine would be an online estimate to potential costs and savings.  I realize they are dealing with lots of companies but getting a rough estimate on the site could help convince more people to look further into it before having to deal with an installation company. 

Micro Solar Cells

This is good story worth watching.  A North Carolina company Semprius is making a great deal on miniature solar cell with lots of potential.  They are currently planning to build a manufacturing facility that would eventually employ 250 workers.  It’s good to see companies like this growing and getting funding especially in the USA where we seem to have let the rest of the world take the lead in this technology.  Semprius has received grants of nearly $8 million to build this production facility.  According to this site  the developments made at Semprius are due to federal funding of renewable energies.