A hugely successful solar power project in India is providing clean, affordable electricity for 100,00 people and will be reproduced in other developing nations.

The $1.5 million United Nations-backed project aims to increase the number of homes using solar power in the Karnataka state of southern India. The number of homes using solar power has risen from 1,400 just four years ago to 18,000 today. Indian banks have also helped out by financing the solar systems, which can cost $300-$500 in an area where annual family income is $1,200. The UN’s involvement cut initial interest rate payments, but will be phased out over time.

A UN report to be released this week at the UN Commission for Sustainable Development shows that the solar power is cheaper and healthier than using the common kerosene lamp (no fumes to inhale or dim light to strain the eyes), and it doesn’t emit global warming pollution.

The solar systems allow for a few hours of power to run light bulbs, a radio, fan, or television. But that's enough to make a big difference, according to a UN statement:

“[The lighting] has been credited with better grades for schoolchildren, better productivity for cottage-based industries such as needlework artisans, and even better sales at fruit stands, where produce is no longer spoiled by fumes from kerosene lamps.”

Because of the project's success and its affordability, plans are in the works to expand the model to other developing nations. Efforts are underway in Tunisia, and future projects are planned for China, Indonesia, Egypt, Mexico, Ghana, Morocco, and Algeria.

Reuters, via Environmental News Network
United Nations Environment Programm

The U.S. Air Force is building the largest solar plant on the continent for the Nellis Air Force base in the Nevada desert. The massive photovoltaic array with silicon wafer panels covers 140 acres and will produce 15 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 30 percent of the base’s needs. The panels will even rotate to follow the sun across the sky.

The Air Force expects to save around $1 million each year from lower electric bills. The $100 million projected capital cost is being funded by private investors, with the Air Force paying none of the construction costs. The investors project a steady flow of revenue from the Air Force’s purchase of the electricity and substantial federal tax subsidies.

Despite the high costs of solar, Nellis Air Force Base sees a real value of relying on clean, renewable energy. Major Don Ohlemacher, operations flight chief and acting commander of the 99th civil engineer squadron at Nellis:

“It allows the Air Force to show its leadership in applying renewable energy and new technology to reduce our needs to use traditional forms of electric power.”

Others are also positive about solar power, but point out that there are other renewable energy technologies as well. Paula Mints, associate director and photovoltaic specialist with Navigant Consulting:

“The industry has some problems to solve. A lot of people are focusing on these large fields as a way to bring down the price of solar…They certainly have their place in the energy portfolio, but there are a lot of other technologies out there."

The plant will not have a battery to store the energy and will serve as a supplemental rather than a primary generating source.

Air Force Times
USA Today

Cross section of nanotube tower: Photo credit: Georgia Tech Research InstituteThe Georgia Tech Research Institute has come up with a solar panel design that could revolutionize the solar industry.

The new design features many nano-towers - think of microscopic blades of grass - that capture more sunlight because they have a larger surface area than the traditional flat design of photovoltaic (PV) cells. These three-dimensional panels produce about 60 times more current that regular solar cells. Because of this leap in efficiency, the coatings on the PV cells can be made thinner, and the overall size, weight, and mechanical complexity of the systems are reduced. From the news release:

“The GTRI photovoltaic cells trap light between their tower structures, which are about 100 microns tall, 40 microns by 40 microns square, 10 microns apart — and built from arrays containing millions of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes. Conventional flat solar cells reflect a significant portion of the light that strikes them, reducing the amount of energy they absorb.

Because the tower structures can trap and absorb light received from many different angles, the new cells remain efficient even when the sun is not directly overhead.”

But although the new design can produce a current much more efficiently, photovoltaic cells have to generate a voltage too. So far there’s too much resistance within the solar cell to produce the type of electricity that’s needed. Researchers say that hurdle will be the next phase of development.

The United States Air Force funded part of the research, seeking a smaller, more efficient solar panel that could eventually be used to power satellites and spacecraft. Researchers at Georgia Tech believe solar power would see a large jump in residential and commercial use as well if this lightweight and more efficient design is proven effective.

Georgia Tech Research News
International Business Times via the Green Report

Gary Reysa and his wife cut their energy use in half with their self-designed “Half Plan.” A retired airplane product development engineer from Boeing, Gary continues to satisfy his mechanical and creative curiosity with an array of efficiency and renewable energy projects at his home near Bozeman, MT.

I spoke with Gary by phone on April 5th.

Green Options: Why did you decide to cut your energy use in half?

Gary Reysa: I’m very concerned about global warming, and now that that I have a new grandchild, I see the impact it could have on future generations. It’s easy to get the feeling that there’s not much an individual can do, so my wife and I thought: What can we do? Could we make a significant cut in our energy use and global warming emissions? Could we cut it in half?

GO: How did you begin?

GR: The Half Plan seemed really ambitious to us at first. For one thing, we had no access to special technology. But I had begun some projects back around 2000 when we moved into our house and I started keeping track of our energy bills. When we officially began the Half Plan, we decided to do the projects that offered the most energy saving per dollar spent for our climate, house, skills, and habits.

GO: Wouldn’t it have been a lot easier to just buy carbon offsets?

GR: I have mixed feelings about carbon offsets. I wouldn’t criticize anyone for doing it, but it’s just not for me. I do believe there are a lot of places in the world where you can spend a few bucks and get carbon reductions. But I feel like some people use them to get out of doing real action.

I feel better about doing something directly that reduces my carbon footprint. But even with the Half Plan, we still have to buy green power from Northwest Energy to make up for what we use. We’re not completely independent of the power grid.

GO: You said you didn’t have access to any special technology for cutting your energy use. Did that affect the execution of your plan?

GR: Not at all – once we started researching it, we found out that almost all the equipment we needed was actually available locally.

We did a lot of different projects to cut our energy in half. We bought a Toyota Prius, installed a solar water heater, energy-efficient light bulbs, better insulation in our attic, sealed up the windows, put our computers on power strips (shutting off the power strips stops the computer from continuing to “sip” electricity, even when it’s supposedly off) and installed dryer venting. And those are just a few of the projects.

GO: Has the Half Plan been very expensive?

GR: So far we’ve spent $8800. The single biggest expense has been the Toyota Prius - but it’s also been the single biggest energy savings and biggest cut to our global warming emissions. It cut our transportation energy use by about 60 percent! We thought we’d be making a sacrifice by buying a smaller car, but it’s been great and we use it for 85 percent of our driving. We do live in the snowy mountains, so we need bigger car with 4-wheel drive part of the time.

I factored in a $4000 cost for the Prius into the overall $8800 cost of the Half Plan, because $4000 is the premium we paid for the hybrid features. We were due to replace our old Outback vehicle anyway (it had 205,000 miles on it), so the decision was whether to buy a conventional or a hybrid car.

Our other big expenses included the solar projects. In fact, I just finished another big solar project, but I haven’t factored that into the cost yet. It's a solar space heating project that uses solar water heating collectors to provide space heating for the house. The collectors are on the south wall of our new garden shed. They heat water in a 500 gallon tank behind the shed which gets pumped to the house.

Solar collectors for space heating

GO: Have the savings outweighed the initial investments?

GR: The savings has been phenomenal. We’ve invested $8800 and I’ve calculated that we’ll save $4600 in energy costs and 20 tons in global warming pollution each year. The cost savings will continue to go up as electricity and fuel prices go up.

One really neat project has been making our computer use more energy efficient. Our two computers and related equipment use about 270 watts of power when turned on. We put all of it on power strips. At night, we hibernate the computers and then turn everything off with the power strip switch. During the day we have the computers set to hibernate if they are inactive for 15 minutes.

This saves a total of 1624 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, 3200 lbs of global warming emissions, and $162 per year! This just knocked me out.

GO: What was the Half Plan’s biggest surprise?

GR: The biggest surprise was that there were no surprises. It was pretty painless except for the money invested into the projects, but we’ve already earned a big chunk of it back in our first year of savings.

It was relatively easy to do these projects, too. We live pretty normally – as in we waste a lot of energy! – but we started paying more attention to how we use our energy. To me, it would be fall-off-the-log-easy for people to do this without sacrificing or paying much. It’s just a lack of focus that keeps it from happening.

GO: Now that you’ve found the Half Plan so easy to do, have you thought about cutting your energy even further?

GR: We plan to cut it in half again. This time we will have to use solar PV panels for our electricity, which has a higher cost and a slower return than our other projects. But I’m not doing this next phase for the financial return; I’m doing it to cut my carbon dioxide pollution that causes global warming.

GO: So the next half may not be so easy?

GR: We did the Half Plan without changing our lifestyle at all. But to cut our energy further, we’re going to have to make changes like drive less or bike more. That’s not a downfall for us, it just requires more work. There will certainly be lifestyle changes this time.

For example, we just got back from Hawaii. I felt guilty for spending 2500 lbs of CO2 to go! But I think if we’re going to get serious about making another 50 percent drop, then we will need to start thinking harder about trips like that.

GO: So how do you entertain yourself out in Big Sky country?

GR: I love the TV show Living with Ed. It's a reality show with Ed Begley Jr and it's about how he lives his green lifestyle with his wife in Studio City, CA. It makes technical sense, it’s very entertaining, and he really cares about the issue and lives his life accordingly.

For a good read, I’d recommend The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Handbook by Godo Stoyke. It gives a long list of projects that people can do to cut their CO2 emissions and save money. It details the equipment needed, cost, return, energy saving, and carbon saving. I like the book so much I bought a second copy for our local library.

GO: Your website is a fantastic resource; very easy-to-understand information, graphs, and calculations. Any specific tips on how folks can get started on the Half Plan?

GR: At my website, Build It Solar, I have a Half Plan for People Who Like Plans and a Half Plan for People Who Don’t Like Plans, so folks can choose what works best for them.

I’m an engineer, and I know that simplicity is everything. When you have trouble with a design, it’s almost always because it’s too complex. For example, I found that the solar thermal designs are really simple and that anyone should be able to build it.

The other thing folks have to realize is that we are the problem. When you get mad about global warming, you have to look at yourself in the mirror. I read stuff on the Internet and I get the feeling that people are pointing fingers but aren’t identifying the problem as themselves. Instead, they want a quick fix or someone else to come along with the technology that will allow us to not have to do anything. And they feel comfortable about the fact that they’re not doing anything.

We’re the ones generating this problem, but that also makes it easy for us to do something about it. We’re in the driver’s seat to make drastic reductions. It’s easy to do. For example, efficiency is something you can implement quickly, and we can get a significant drop in emissions right away and painlessly. If enough people do that, we’ll have really made a difference.

GO: Do you think this can all really make an impact?

GR: My actual CO2 reduction is about 20 tons each year. If 100 million families did the same thing, the energy we would save we be about 25 percent of all of the U.S. CO2 emissions. That's huge! And the best part is that we know this can be done – with no help from new technology or George Bush. We can do this ourselves, right away.

Photo Credit: Green Wombat

Last week, the planet’s most powerful solar energy system was inaugurated in Serpa, Portugal, about 125 miles southeast of Lisbon. Covering approximately 150 acres, the solar farm is already making electricity for 8,000 homes in one of the poorest areas of the country.

The solar system was built by California-based PowerLight and financed and owned by GE Energy Financial Services. Todd Woody of the Green Wombat blog was at the dedication ceremony:

“The reception given PowerLight and GE shows why countries like Portgual, Spain and Germany have become attractive markets for solar power plants. Unlike the United States’ complex and undependable system of state and federal tax credits for solar power, Portugal supports renewable energy with a simple “feed-in tariff” that will pay GE a premium rate for 15 years for the electricity produced by the $75 million Serpa power plant. Portugal modeled its policy on Spain’s, were PowerLight is building two 20-megawatt range power stations.”

Although a new solar plant in Germany has the capacity to produce more power, experts believe that the technology and good solar resources in Portugal will allow the Serpa plant’s 52,000 panels to actually produce more electricity than any other plant in the world.

Portugal’s global warming emissions have surged 37 percent since 1990, one of the largest increases of any nation. Besides being a source of clean, renewable energy, the USD $75 million solar plant is expected to spur more alternative energy development in the region. It will also help Portugal take a step towards its rather astonishing goal of getting 45 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2010.

Green Wombat
International Herald Tribune
Stuff, via Green@WorkToday

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

Oregon has seen some exciting solar energy policies lately, like increasing its net metering laws to 2 megawatts (MW), proposed legislation for a renewable energy standard that includes provisions for community solar power, and a bill increasing the incentives for residential solar hot water and solar electric systems.

Now you can add “North America’s largest solar factory” to the state’s sunny solar outlook.

The German tech company SolarWorld AG is building a facility that will produce integrated solar silicon wafers (the primary component for the production of solar panels) and solar cells (the part that converts sunlight into electricity) in Hillsboro, OR.

SolarWorld will invest about $400 million to expand and develop the new facility over the next 2 years, which it acquired from the Japanese Komatsu Group. That company had already invested around $500 million in the facility but it never went into production because of weak demand in the chip industry. Oregon will support the investments by offering property and business energy tax credits.

A spokesman for the Oregon Department of Energy said the state is “absolutely committed to the long-term development of this [solar] industry.” Jon Miller, executive director of the Oregon Solar industry, noted that Oregon’s business-friendly climate for renewable energy industries made this significant development happen:

"This will provide Oregon with a very big economic boost and it highlights a vigorous effort by Oregon to attract businesses from the renewable energy industry. It's great news…to get another big renewable energy win for the Northwest."

SolarWorld currently has production facilities in nearby Vancouver, WA that employs about 100 people, all of whom will be offered jobs at the Hillsboro plant. The company employs 1,350 workers worldwide and expects the Hillsboro facility to employ up to another 1,000 people. The addition of this plant represents a significant expansion of their share of the U.S. solar energy market.

Photo courtesy of SolarWorld AG

Renewable Energy Access
The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) headquarters in Washington, DC is getting a clean energy makeover.

The U.S. House has passed new legislation approving the installation of a solar photovoltaic system on the DOE's James Forrestal Building on Independence Avenue. Authored by Minnesota’s Congressman Jim Oberstar, a Democrat, the Solar Net project has been the dream of the Congressman for decades. He first testified before the Public Works Committee in 1977 in support of solar energy powering federal buildings. Thirty years and a few gray hairs later, the now-Chairman of the Transportation Committee saw his wish become reality.

The Congressman explained that he and his colleagues in Washington have a responsibility to fight global warming and decrease the nation’s reliance on dirty fossil fuels,

The federal government should play a central role in encouraging innovation in developing new sources of energy. The Solar Net project is a reasonable, practical and simple alternative to traditional electricity sources…It is only fitting that the Energy Department be at the cutting edge of utilizing and supporting applied research in alternative energy.

The Solar Net project is a chance for the DOE to showcase the technology and their leadership on this issue. But it’s also practical: There is incredible opportunity for government buildings at the local, state, and federal level to be more efficient and use the cleanest energy possible.

The $30 million solar panels will be fitted on the south wall of the DOE headquarters, and measure 300 feet long by 130 feet wide.

Associated Press
Renewable Energy Access

Installing solar energy on your home or business can be a daunting task, and even the process of gathering information can be overwhelming. Part 1 of this series discussed the basics of solar energy, but even more detailed information can be found at the Green Options wiki. In particular, the solar entry and the photovoltaic (PV) facts sheet are good introductions.

Green Options also has a growing list of discussion forums with topics like “Alternative Energy” and – my favorite – the “Solar Power Fan Club.” You can post a question, comment, or recommendation and hook up with other folks who are exploring solar for the first time or perhaps are seasoned users. You can even start a new discussion thread if your topic doesn’t fit an established one.

You’ll see even more from Green Options in the near future; our online tools will provide practical assistance and information to help you get started on the road to solar. In the meantime, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency is a good, easy-to-navigate site that has financial assistance organized by type (utility rebates, state incentives, etc). The Solar Energy Industries Association is in 14 states and monitors state programs, stays up-to-date on legislation, and can help out homeowners who are having trouble with a local homeowners association or zoning board.

If you are thinking of going solar, or perhaps are already in the process, be assured that there are lots of other folks out there also learning and making the switch. We here at Green Options hope to make that journey a bit easier.

Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency
Solar Energy Industries Association

As I discussed in Solar Power Part 1, humans have been tinkering with solar energy for some time. So what makes the 21st century different, if at all?

To get a professional perspective, I spoke with Ron Rich, President of Atmosphere Recovery, Inc. His company owns a process that makes industrial furnaces run more efficiently, even recycling their CO2 emissions. In past lives, he’s been the head of the Minnesota Energy Agency and was the first solar systems engineer for Honeywell. He's quite the energy number cruncher and provided me with a good bird's eye view of the solar photovoltaic market. He believes that the 21^st century will be different from the 1940s, when there was a big solar push after WWII, and different from the 1970s, when there was a big solar push during the oil crisis.

He points out that although gas prices have come down from an average last year of $2.58, the interest in solar remains high because people are starting to see the impacts of global warming. Their concerns, as well as our over-reliance on fossil fuels and the wars that that dependence gets us in, are overriding the fact that gas prices have come down a few dimes and are predicted to average out to $2.51 per gallon in 2007. Rich is confident that this time, the U.S. is poised to launch itself into a clean energy economy with solar energy an important part of it.

For one thing, the cost of solar is coming down and will come down even further with mass production urged on by policies like the Million Solar Roofs plan in California. Check out the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency for a state-by-state guide to incentives and rebates, and this article in Mother Earth News for a good intro to calculating the payback time of a solar power system.

Rich also predicts that creative financing for could become more widespread and easier for homeowners. Options include building the cost of the PV system into the home’s mortgage, increased incentives, or solar easements. Solar systems could get more attractive too, like solar shingles or more subtle PV panels.

Solar is made from widely available materials, with more and more high tech improvements being made. In December 2006, solar power was in the news when a project reached an efficiency rate of 40.7 percent, the highest ever for sunlight-to-electricity performance. In a recent Green Options post, Philip Proefrock reported on a new model of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels that can produce more watts per square foot that the traditional model and uses 88% less PV material. And one company has even patented a technology using nanosilicon PV cells that can be sprayed onto windows in a thin film, allowing the windows themselves to produce electricity.

All signs seem to be pointing to a brighter path for solar; more financing options, better technology, and more supportive policies and incentives could make the early 21^st century the dawn of the solar age.