Mike Strizki’s utility bill is zero, thanks to some creative thinking using renewable energy technologies. By using solar panels, a hydrogen fuel cell, storage tanks and an electrolyzer, he has enough electricity even on the cloudiest days. And Strizki isn’t a hermit living in the dark off of snails and rainwater, either. His 3,500 square foot house is located in central New Jersey on 12 acres, with amenities you’d see in any 21st century home, like a hot tub and big screen TV. His renewable energy system even creates hydrogen he uses to power his fuel-cell car.

So how does he produce zero emissions?

On a sunny day, Strizki can get more than enough of his electricity from the solar panels. The excess goes to an electrolyzer that then breaks down a tank of water into oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen is released into the atmosphere, but the hydrogen is stored in 10 1,000-gallon propane tanks. So when the solar panels aren’t producing enough energy, the hydrogen is piped to an air-conditioner-sized fuel cell that makes electricity.
The fuel-cell car in the garage is called “The New Jersey Genesis” and Strizki – a civil engineer – helped design the car and maintains it for the NJ Department of Transportation. He fills it up with the hydrogen made from his electrolyzer.

This sort of system isn’t going to be available commercially for the rest of us anytime soon. Strizki’s project is extremely expensive - $500,000, paid for in part with a $250,000 grant from the NJ Board of Public Utilities.

Strizki acknowledges that the enormous cost is a huge hurdle, but believes that, with mass production, the price of the system (not including solar panels) would be about $50,000 and the new solar system would be around $80,000 (some states like NJ offer rebates that cover up to 70 percent of the solar’s cost).

Then there’s the question of efficiency. Critics point out that electrolyzers are only 50 percent efficient. By the time the process is complete, the hydrogen that is converted back into electricity is only half of the energy with which the process started. Sending that power back to the grid, some say, would be more effective because it would displace other dirty energy sources.

Strizki has created a company called Renewable Energy International that engineers, installs, and supports renewable energy systems like his. Despite its costs and efficiency questions, he still believes that hydrogen is the best solution to our clean energy problems. “No one has said what I’m doing doesn’t work…Nothing is as wildly expensive as destroying the whole planet.”

Christian Science monitor, Via the Modesto Bee
Renewable Energy International

Technology that can concentrate the power of the sun, making solar power more efficient and cost effective, looks to be one step closer to reality.

Sunlight has traditionally been harder to capture and convert into electricity very efficiently, because solar power is diffuse: Generating enough solar power with typical photovoltaics requires a four-square-mile area of silicon to get the same amount of electricity as a typical power plant.

But what if the sun’s power could be concentrated so that less material, less space, and less money was needed to power our lives cleanly? Replacing most of the silicon with plastic or glass lenses or metal reflectors would reduce the cost and require an area only about the size of a common backyard. Factor in the smaller amount of semiconductor needed, and soon a utility-scale solar plant would only take up between 2 and 2 1/2-square-miles – about half of what it would be now.

Several companies are rushing to develop the most innovative and efficient solar technology. Japan-based Sharp Corporation has developed a new system for focusing sunlight with a lens like the one used in lighthouses. The lens concentrates the light onto solar cells that are twice as efficient as traditional silicon cells. California-based SolFocus and Energy Innovations have also developed new concentrators, and Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab is supplying over a million solar cells for concentrator projects, including one in Australia that will make enough electricity to power about 3,500 homes.

But the systems are complex and difficult to implement. As Technology Review put it:

The goal is to engineer a concentrating system that focuses sunlight, that tracks the movement of the sun to keep the light on the small solar cell, and that can accommodate the high heat caused by concentrating the sun's power by 500 to700 times–and to make such a system easy to manufacture.

But Michael Rogol, solar industry analyst for the German company Photon Consulting, encourages people to keep their eye on the prize.

The biggest news for me is that serious solar people, over the course of the last year, have made notable commitments to concentrators.

The standard benchmark for certification of a building's efficiency and sustainability in design, construction, and operation is called LEED certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is administered by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED-certified buildings – also called “green buildings” – are popping up and gaining momentum around the country.

Charles Lockwood highlights the burgeoning market surrounding green buildings in a recent Barron's magazine opinion piece. Hint: they aren’t just for environmentalists anymore. Companies like Goldman Sachs, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Toyota , and Harley-Davidson have moved into LEED-certified buildings. The U.S. Green Building Council estimates that 5% of all new commercial construction in the U.S. was LEED-certified in 2006, and about 10% will be certified by 2010.

As the market shift gathers even greater momentum in coming years, standard buildings will become the real-estate industry’s version of the buggy whip…To prevent their properties from becoming passé, today’s real-estate owners should undertake renovations now…[These sorts of renovations] lower annual operating costs, generate workforce benefits like greater productivity and better employee attractions and retention, and meet the growing demand for green buildings…The marketplace shift to green is gathering force. Massive obsolescence is looming. Profits are there for the taking. It’s time to act.

Five key areas are considered in LEED certification: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. The higher number of points or “credits” a building earns in each of these categories, the higher the level of certification achieved: basic Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum.

Renovations of existing real estate space present significant profit potential and many investors are exploring real estate opportunities that allow for green renovations. The McGraw-Hill 2006 SmartMarket Report shows that green buildings get an average 3.5% higher occupancy rates than traditional buildings, 3% higher rent rates, and an average increase of 7.5% in building value. Costs to build or renovate a LEED-certified building vary by project, but achieving the basic LEED Certified level only increases construction costs a few percentage points. These costs can be recouped quickly with double-digit increases in water, gas, and electricity savings.

As Green as the Grass Outside (subscription required)
U.S Green Building Council
McGraw-Hill 2006 SmartMarket Report