THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Archive for November, 2010

Having tried the softer approach last year, and failed to get an agreement at Copenhagen, this year, the US appears to be going for an all or nothing approach.

In a briefing with journalists, Todd Stern, the chief climate envoy for the US, said, “We’re either going to see progress across the range of issues or we’re not going to see much progress. We’re not going to race forward on three issues and a take a first step on other important ones. We’re going to have to get them all moving at a similar pace.”

Here’s the problem. The developing nations (including China and India) want three financial commitments from the developed nations: for help against deforestation, with (renewable energy) technology sharing and in adapting to the results of climate change.

The US is saying, only in return for these two concessions:

According the UK Guardian the US criteria is that developing nations commit to emissions cuts, and to the establishment of a verifiable system of accounting for these cuts. If these features were included in a treaty, the United States would agree to the three provisions that are important to emerging economies.

China and India are being directly targeted by this negotiating posture. President Obama offered technology transfer arrangements with both last year, prior to Copenhagen, and got results from both in movement towards an agreement at Copenhagen.

After the Obama visit and agreement on technology transfer, India agreed to 20% cuts, and China agreed to reduce greenhouse gases by 40% in advance of Copenhagen. China has since enacted cap and trade, forced utilities to buy renewable energy, revised the grid to make it renewable-friendly and turned itself into the world’s largest clean energy investment magnet, in the process bypassing the US in clean tech development. It is more than meeting its side of the bargain.

But China had previously balked at the “verifiable” aspect of cuts. That the US is holding out for this suggests that that might now be within reach.

Indeed, Michael Levi is noting that the two Indian proposals, obtained by the Associated Press, address the sticky subjects of monitoring emissions cuts and sharing environmentally friendly technologies with poor and developing nations.

“India is proposing a framework for accountability by which nations do their own reporting to U.N. climate authorities, which would then review and assess the reports. There would be no punishments for violations, suggesting targets would be voluntary rather than legally binding, but includes developing nations in the rubric of commitments.

“Industrialized countries would detail their emissions, progress and future plans in reaching emissions targets as well as how much funding they have contributed for poor nations. Developing countries would offer similar details on their emissions and targets.”

Image: ClimateProgress
Susan Kraemer@Twitter

The University of Delaware has the oldest solar lab in the nation and is now looking to deck its rooftops with solar panels (perhaps now is a good time to go solar).  The University of Delaware has announced that its new solar system (almost up and running) will save the University over $30,000 a year (or even as much as $60,000 per year, if electricity prices rise as people are expecting they will). This is 1/3 to 2/3 the cost of the system (which has a price tag of $90,000), meaning it will pay for itself in 3 years.

This 1-MW project will also make the University the largest solar-power generator in Delaware (OK, not the largest state in the country, but still…). However, with Delaware Technical & Community College leaders planning a 1.6-MW solar project, that title may not last for long.

Of course, researchers at the Energy Institute, the University of Delaware’s groundbreaking energy lab, wish the University had got on the solar bandwagon sooner. But they are happy that it has now, at least.

“It’s been frustrating at times,” Steve Hegedus of the Energy Institute said. “I can’t believe it’s taken this long, but it finally has some energy behind it.”

Delaware Online reports that a big stimulus for new renewable energy projects in Delaware such as this one was state legislation this year requiring that utilities get more of their power from renewable energy sources.

“Momentum for renewable energy has sparked significant spending and investment at campuses across the state, making them forerunners to the green-energy initiatives that state leaders have proposed,” Wade Malcom of Delaware Online writes. “Perhaps the most consequential came this summer with legislation that requires utility companies here to derive 25 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2025.”

Looks like Delaware has the solar bug.

via CalFinder Solar

Connect with me on Facebook, StumbleUpon, Twitter, or Care2.

Photo Credit: mathplourde via flickr (CC license)

Indian schoolchildren testing out the I-slate

About 100 million Indian children do not have electricity in their schools. Of course, this means they are without computers, too. However, this may soon be changing.

“Students in rural Indian villages are now in the process of testing the I-Slate, a solar-powered tablet PC developed by Rice University and Singapore’s Nanyang Tech University,” CalFinder Solar reports.

The I-slate is the brainchild of Rice University’s Krishna Palem and is reportedly “the first of a series of electronic notepads being built around a new class of low-energy-consumption microchips that use a fraction of the electricity of today’s computer chips.” Along with Rice University, this technology and project is being worked on by researchers at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Indian non-profit Villages for Development and Learning Foundation (ViDAL), and Switzerland’s Center for Electronics and Microtechnology.

The I-slate is expected to be able to run on the solar power of panels similar to those in hand-held calculators due to these new microchips.

Testing Out the I-Slate in Indian Schools

So far, Indian schoolchildren (mostly age 10-13) in a school near Hyderabad have tried out early prototypes of this technology.

Most of these children never saw a computer or video game before, but they were apparently very curious and eager to learn about and use the technology.

“Children in Indian village schools are just like their peers anywhere in the world: eager to learn, tech savvy, and willing to try new pedagogical tools that engage their creative minds,” says Rajeswari Pingali, ViDAL president.

“They immediately picked up on the technology,” says Rice undergraduate Lauren Pemberton. “They clearly didn’t like some of the things we expected to work really well, like the button placement, but they loved the scratch-pad application which was added at the last minute.”

Such a technology would, of course, do wonders to improve India’s economic advancement.

“President Obama’s visit to India this week highlights Indian economic achievements, but India’s full economic potential will only be realized with sustainable, low-cost technologies that benefit all segments of the population,” says Palem.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) apparently has faith in the technology. In 2009, it was one of seven technologies the IEEE believed would “have world-changing implications on the way humans interact with machines, the world and each other” in the years to come.

Looks like a fun project and one that could do much for India and other low-income countries.

Connect with me on Facebook, StumbleUpon, Twitter, or Care2.

Photo Credit: TG Daily

Just in time for the holidays, GM has announced that it is investing $162 million more in three of small-car its manufacturing plants, including one that makes the generator for its Chevy Volt electric/gasoline vehicle, which Motor Trend has named 2011 Car of the Year. The investment means that GM will rehire laid-off workers as well as retain workers and create new hires, and it appears that more Volt-related green jobs are in the works for next year.

More Volt Engines in the U.S.

Of the three factories, GM’s engine operations in Flint will get the largest slice of the pie. This is the facility that builds the generator for the Volt, and it will also build engines for other compact models. According to GM, Volt engines are being built in Austria and shipped to the U.S., but the company expects to ramp up its domestic production to 800 per day (yes, per day) by the end of 2011, and possibly to 1200 by the next year.

More Green Jobs in the U.S.

Between the Volt and its focus on compact models, GM is heading in a greener direction, and Motor Trend’s seal of approval is the icing on the cake. GM has also gone out of its way to promote the Volt as an all-American car for all Americans, not just the “real” ones. Of course, not everyone is happy. There is still at least one self-proclaimed automotive expert out there in the talk show world who seems to have made a new career out of hating the Volt, despite its promise of job creation and a cleaner environment. In fact, there seems to be a whole trend brewing out there to punish companies that create new green jobs and bring new green products to the market, such as General Electric and Johnson & Johnson. Oh well, what would Christmas be without Scrooge?

Image: Christmas tree by sociotard on flickr.com.

US Climate non-profit Carbonfund.org proposes that the climate talks at Cancun might achieve more without US participation. With no hope for any treaty ratification, (it takes 67 votes in the Senate) there is really no purpose in the US being there, and it drains resolve and negotiating time from serious negotiators.

“The US has been the 800-pound gorilla in the room at climate negotiations,” said Carbonfund President Eric Carlson. “As the largest global emitter per capita with enormous entourages at the meetings, all attention goes toward the US Put simply, the problem is that there are not 67 votes in the US Senate to ratify any climate deal the President might negotiate. It’s like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. The world needs to wise up and move the ball to a different field.”

He might have a point. After all, the Kyoto Accord has achieved significant carbon reductions in the nations that adopted it, regardless of the lack of US participation.

Taken as a whole, the US is a net drain on action, because of the Senate problem.

However, with the ongoing growth of regional carbon markets in the US and Canada, there is some hope of these connecting with the world carbon market. Taken together, US states with active climate programs are among the largest five economies of the world. Even without a Federal climate policy, two carbon markets WCI (Western Climate Initiative), and RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative) could have quite an impact.

These state-level policies have the potential to make greenhouse gas reductions comparable to the best of European reductions, according to the Center for Climate Strategies – achieving 27% below 1990 levels by 2020.

California alone, which begins regulating carbon under AB32 by 2012 is the eighth-largest economy in the world. Read more…