THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Archive for March, 2010

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seems to be making up for lost time when it comes to enforcing the Clean Water Act.  That includes closing the door on mountaintop coal mining, also known rather delicately as mountaintop removal.  In reality there is nothing delicate about it.  The practice involves blowing hundreds of mountains to smithereens in Appalachia, one of the richest ecosystems in North America, not to mention burying hundreds of miles of pristine streams and creating vast lagoons of toxic coal ash sludge.  Sort of gives the lie to that “clean coal” gimmick, right?

It is seriously hard to believe that 21st century America can’t think of a more sustainable way to harvest fuel, but there you have it – at least for now.  As reported by Ken Ward’s blog Coal Tattoo in the West Virginia Gazette (by way of Brad Johnson at Think Progress), the EPA is moving aggressively to veto the permit of Spruce No. 1 Mine, the largest mountaintop removal coal mine in West Virginia, finding “significant and irreversible damage” under the Clean Water Act.

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While much of the EnergyStar® program is sound, and has led to real quantifiable energy savings over time, over the last four years,  alarm bells have been sounding on the increasingly lax certification process. Just how lax?

A gasoline-powered alarm clock the size of a microwave was one of the more ridiculous items able to get an automated label in a year-long undercover sting operation by the General Accounting Office.

Alarms had been sounding for the last 4 years, leading up to a year long investigation that uncovered the flawed certification process.  So this month, the EPA and the DOE announced that it will begin a long overdue overhaul of certification processes to get the EnergyStar® program back on track.

For the first time, all products seeking the EnergyStar® label will be tested in approved labs and require manufacturers to participate in an ongoing verification testing program to will ensure continued compliance.
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NTPC Ltd., formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation, is planning to develop 500MW wind and solar energy projects in the Indian state of Orissa. NTPC is India’s largest power generation company and generates a big majority of power from coal-fired power plants. However, the company is now foraying into renewable energy and low carbon intensive generation technologies like hydro, nuclear and renewables.

The company recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Orissa government in order to obtain approva for setting up the power plant. Orissa is a coastal state located in the south-eastern part of India. In addition to significant offshore wind resources, Orissa also blessed with substantial solar energy resource. The company has signed similar MoUs with the government agencies in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, all highly potential areas on India’s energy map. (more…)

People in California’s hinterlands pay a very high price for electricity. They use three times more power than the average; trying to stay cool, and  they now pay more than four times the base rate for it. They think that’s not fair, and PG&E agrees with them. PG&E is applying for a rate change to reduce the top tier rate, and spread the cost of that higher energy use amongst the rest of their ratepayers.

But it’s no secret in solar circles that one reason for the boom in California solar has been those high rates paid by the most profligate energy consumers in the state. A “front-of-the-bay” Bay Area counterpart who (by not needing air conditioning or a swimming pool) pays about $100 for an average of just 550 kilowatt hours a month.

But someone with a swimming pool and air conditioning, in back of the Berkeley Hills, in the stifling cities of Concord, Walnut Creek, Pleasanton and Livermore – that see summer temperatures routinely over 95 degrees Fahrenheit – can easily spend up to $400 a month for 1,500 kilowatt hours a month of electricity.
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Ever wondered what percent of your income now goes to buying gasoline? In some areas, gas is now over a third of household income. That brings getting to work and back on fossil fuels almost as expensive as keeping a roof over your head. (Ideally, a mortgage should not be over a third of your income.)

A vast new mapping tool put out by the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index lets you zoom in on your neighborhood to see a great many indices of housing and transportation affordability in a series of interactive maps, that you can set to see a great deal of data that assess the costs of living in various regions, in various ways.

The site is a vast treasure trove of information. I just checked out one comparison:

I mapped (link) the cost of gas over the last eight years in the East Bay, and found just how much more it costs to live in the suburbs here than close to cities, for driving, in my area. (more…)