THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Archive for December, 2009

Could President Obama do an end run round the very high bar of persuading 67 Senators (only 60 of whom are Democrats) to ratify a Copenhagen agreement? The Constitutional requirement to “make Treaties” only with the “Advice and Consent” only when “two thirds of the Senators present concur, ” is a higher bar than almost any other nation has saddled itself with. Is there any alternative?

An interesting idea proposed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Yale 360 suggests that President Obama might be able to avoid the 67 vote problem and thus get real reductions at Copenhagen, by using a “legislative-executive” agreement; like that used to sign NAFTA and the WTO.

Of course this would be political suicide. (Although that might be a secondary consideration for this President; given the ginning-up of murderous threats upon his life by a homicidal opposition). Such an agreement would need only a 51 vote majority in both houses of Congress, instead of 67 Senate votes.

President Obama’s recent use of the Executive Order to compel Federal Agencies to get a 30% reduction by 2020 shows that he is not afraid of this kind of end-run around congress.

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The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) just released a comprehensive global report, and the first country by country ranking, of clean energy technology sales.

The clean energy sector is on the verge of becoming the third largest sector in the world now. The report — Clean Economy, Living Planet - Building Strong Clean Energy Technology Industries — finds that Denmark is currently the leading country in clean energy sales (relative to GDP), Brazil is second and Germany is third (the top three in absolute terms are Germany, the US and Japan).

With the sector booming, there is much opportunity for growth in these countries and others now. The report delves into how the countries currently leading the world got to the top and makes a short list of best practices.

Clean energy technology sales were about $921 billion in 2007 (€630 billion), but are expected to become about $2339 billion per year (€1600 billion) in 2020. At that volume, the sector is expected to only be behind automobiles and electronics in global sales. This is even without a strong, binding deal in Copenhagen.

Kim Carstensen, leader of WWF’s global climate initiative, says: “This is the clean economy growth happening now with only a partial Kyoto protocol international framework supporting clean energy development, patchy national support for green energy and huge subsidies to fossil fuel use.”

I think the growth in the future is liable to skyrocket with more and more countries getting serious about stopping human-induced catastrophic climate change. Plus, clean energy is an economic benefit for countries as it creates more jobs for the countries’ citizens.

Donald Pols, Head of the Climate Programme at WWF-Netherlands, says: “Clearly, from a national perspective there is much to gain and nothing to lose from investing in clean energy.”

Where do the US and the UK fit into this matter? And what are their and other countries’ best chances for becoming industry leaders?

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It’s official. The Acid Rain Cap and Trade program worked. The EPA has just released its report. Electric utilities in the US are already below the 2010 emission cap of 8.95 million tons of sulfur dioxide SOx and nitrogen oxides NO_x.

The Acid Rain Program established under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments required major emission reductions of  SO₂ and NO_x, using Cap and Trade.

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A new comprehensive study of the PV market in each US state and the US as a whole comes to some interesting and hopeful conclusions. One finding is that the US might surpass Germany as the leading PV market in the world within the next few years.

The report finds that, over the next four years, the US PV market will see growth in demand increase more than any other nation. The research company, Greentech Media (GTM) Research, expects an annual growth of about 48% (on average) in the base case scenario, totalling 1,515 MW in 2012.

In an “upside” economic scenario, the US will reach 2,022 MW in 2012 and pass up Spain and possibly Germany to become the leading PV market in the world.

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Moving on from the problems encountered in the Northern California wave energy tests off Mendocino and Humboldt Counties; PG&E has just filed a new preliminary permit application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for another three-year study of a potential wave power site.

Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Santa Barbara County coast is the new host. Like every Federal Agency, the Air Force is now under Executive Order to cut transport carbon emissions 30% and to power buildings with renewable energy, possibly making this location more amenable to tests of a renewable energy source that has the potential to do that.

The WaveConnect permits applied for are just the first step; allowing PG&E to put in the needed infrastructure to conduct tests. A grid extension to the ocean that brings an undersea cable 5 to 10 miles offshore to several WaveConnect “sockets” to plug the tested wave energy devices into, so that PG&E can monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the various wave energy devices they want to test.

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