Saving electricity with better lights....
Today's post: Wednesday, 9-21-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with an economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Saving electricity with better lights....
We need massive new installation of renewable energy sources including solar and wind and to become much more energy efficient soon to prevent economic collapse when oil prices surge sometime in the next decade or two.
That’s true even if global warming stops by itself. (The recent fires and drought and record temperatures in Texas suggest the reverse! The people there who don’t believe in global warming didn’t notice apparently.)
Since we don’t yet have massive installations of renewable energy sources, that means it becomes even more critical to find and install all kinds of energy saving and more energy efficient devices that use electricity.
We’ve posted on ways to make homes more heat proof in sunny, hot weather because it can cut air conditioning costs up to 100 %. Even worst case locations can easily save over 50% on air conditioning costs with doable heat proofing.
We’ve posted on how solar canopies or roofs over parking lots not only generate the most electricity on the same sunny, hot days, they save the air conditioning costs for the people who park under them.
Today, lighting uses as much as 25% of all the electricity we use. So if we cut the electricity used by our lights five to one, that gives us about 20% of the electricity we use now for things like electric and plug-in hybrid cars and more computers and severs – WITHOUT needing to add any more electricity generation.
LED lights use as little as 10 % to 12% of the energy incandescent light bulbs use to make the same amount of light. LED lights also use half as much electricity or less than compact fluorescent bulbs – AND, unlike compact fluorescent bulbs, LED lights contain no toxic mercury.
(Many people who have compact fluorescent bulbs don’t know they contain mercury. They are unaware that when one breaks, the mercury causes that room to have a hazardous materials problem and that failure to deal with this correctly can harm their health. And people often are careless in disposing of things. So putting lots of compact fluorescent bulbs into homes is guaranteed to cause lots of added mercury in household trash.)
LED lights also last something like a hundred times longer than incandescent light bulbs and many times as long as compact fluorescent bulbs.
That means that LED lights are dramatically better and more desirable to use.
So why haven’t LED light bulbs already replaced everything out there?
The reasons that has not already happened are these three.:
1. Like the early compact fluorescent bulbs, LED light bulbs that fit in the fixtures that were made for incandescent light bulbs have not been available. This one is beginning to be solved. There are some LED bulbs that make the same amount of light that do fit.
2. Even now when LED bulbs that do fit fixtures are beginning to be available, they can cost $60 each or more while incandescent light bulbs cost a dollar and compact fluorescent bulbs cost less than $10 often.
3. Even though over time LED bulbs last so much longer and use so much less electricity to make light, they are already a good deal on lifetime costs, few people have replaced their other bulbs with LED bulbs. If your house takes 20 bulbs now, replacing all 20 with LED bulbs takes over $1200!
So, the third thing we don’t yet have is financing to buy all the LED bulbs you need at one time. A five year loan for $1200 would be about $24 a month. Most people can afford $24 a month.
The good news is that more and more companies are already making LED bulbs that will fit in the fixtures that were made for incandescent light bulbs.
And, two companies I know of are already working to cut the cost of making LED lights at least in half, Bridgelux and GLO AB.
Once all three of these problems are solved, the only light bulbs that won’t be LED light bulbs are those that are specialty lights of some kind. LED lights don’t yet make some colors or very high intensity lights.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Solyndra had problems but its federal backing was and is a good idea....
Today's post: Wednesday, 9-14-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with an economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Solyndra had problems but its federal backing was and is a good idea….
We need massive new installation of renewable energy sources including solar and wind and to become much more energy efficient soon to prevent economic collapse when oil prices surge sometime in the next decade or two.
That’s true even if global warming stops by itself. (The recent fires and drought and record temperatures in Texas suggest the reverse! The people there who don’t believe in global warming didn’t notice apparently.)
Solyndra proposed a way to install efficient solar photovoltaic cells quickly and on a large scale.
Had it worked, it would have helped produce the badly needed new solar power in the large amounts we need.
So the federal funding had the correct goal.
Their solution turned out to be overpriced as prices in their market dropped before they became established. Some companies have recovered from that.
But they also got too much funding before they got enough sales and feedback from buyers. They also got too much upfront funding instead of having funding contingent on meeting milestones and did NOT use the safer progress payment funding model.
Many very smart people with money and experienced venture capitalists have made these same mistakes.
But what they people trying to criticize the investment or make political capital of Solyndra’s failure don’t know is that success in backing new companies in growth industries does NOT require they all be successful.
If three of ten survive and one does really well investing in the ten often more than doubles your starting money. And, this can happen in few enough years to be interesting indeed!
Secondly, investing in new industry actually works BETTER if you invest quickly and fail quickly. That way, you learn enough to make more successful investments while that industry is still in high growth mode.
So, the federal government program that backed Solyndra invested in a potential solution for the problem that needed solving.
In this case, they failed quickly. They will be better informed for their next investments.
So even in the next few months, they should make better investments than they would have done had Solyndra not failed.
But there is far, far more to this story.
The government was working to get large scale solutions in place and build momentum for even more growth in these solutions.
Solyndra DID fail.
But the exact same program that gave Solyndra the money they lost also looks very much as if the whole program has ALREADY succeeded.
Tesla Motors has successfully created huge and unstoppable momentum in enabling us to power vehicles and transport without oil or while using dramatically less of it.
Moreover that’s true even if Tesla fails also. And, with Toyota as a partner it is increasingly unlikely Tesla will fail.
But thanks to Tesla and its initial success and genius for publicity, virtually every serious player in car manufacturing is working on plug-in hybrids and all electric cars.
In addition, thousands of charging stations for such cars are already in place and several companies are building more.
Solyndra did fail. But the federal program that lost money on it was doing the right things and has already succeeded in its underlying goal. And there’s more good news coming.
Today's post: Wednesday, 9-14-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with an economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Solyndra had problems but its federal backing was and is a good idea….
We need massive new installation of renewable energy sources including solar and wind and to become much more energy efficient soon to prevent economic collapse when oil prices surge sometime in the next decade or two.
That’s true even if global warming stops by itself. (The recent fires and drought and record temperatures in Texas suggest the reverse! The people there who don’t believe in global warming didn’t notice apparently.)
Solyndra proposed a way to install efficient solar photovoltaic cells quickly and on a large scale.
Had it worked, it would have helped produce the badly needed new solar power in the large amounts we need.
So the federal funding had the correct goal.
Their solution turned out to be overpriced as prices in their market dropped before they became established. Some companies have recovered from that.
But they also got too much funding before they got enough sales and feedback from buyers. They also got too much upfront funding instead of having funding contingent on meeting milestones and did NOT use the safer progress payment funding model.
Many very smart people with money and experienced venture capitalists have made these same mistakes.
But what they people trying to criticize the investment or make political capital of Solyndra’s failure don’t know is that success in backing new companies in growth industries does NOT require they all be successful.
If three of ten survive and one does really well investing in the ten often more than doubles your starting money. And, this can happen in few enough years to be interesting indeed!
Secondly, investing in new industry actually works BETTER if you invest quickly and fail quickly. That way, you learn enough to make more successful investments while that industry is still in high growth mode.
So, the federal government program that backed Solyndra invested in a potential solution for the problem that needed solving.
In this case, they failed quickly. They will be better informed for their next investments.
So even in the next few months, they should make better investments than they would have done had Solyndra not failed.
But there is far, far more to this story.
The government was working to get large scale solutions in place and build momentum for even more growth in these solutions.
Solyndra DID fail.
But the exact same program that gave Solyndra the money they lost also looks very much as if the whole program has ALREADY succeeded.
Tesla Motors has successfully created huge and unstoppable momentum in enabling us to power vehicles and transport without oil or while using dramatically less of it.
Moreover that’s true even if Tesla fails also. And, with Toyota as a partner it is increasingly unlikely Tesla will fail.
But thanks to Tesla and its initial success and genius for publicity, virtually every serious player in car manufacturing is working on plug-in hybrids and all electric cars.
In addition, thousands of charging stations for such cars are already in place and several companies are building more.
Solyndra did fail. But the federal program that lost money on it was doing the right things and has already succeeded in its underlying goal. And there’s more good news coming.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Ways communities and utilities can create jobs and clean energy....
Today's post: Wednesday, 8-10-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Ways communities and utilities can create jobs and clean energy....
I see 3 ways this can be done.
1. They can sponsor homes and businesses they serve to do just a few things that will make a major difference if lots of the homeowners and businesses do them.
Such things as:
adding insulation
and weather stripping or heat proofing buildings with peaked roofs by adding well screened intake ports around their perimeter and convection powered turbines so that the spaces between the roof and ceiling stay very warm and cool off when the sun goes down instead of being much hotter than the air temperature and staying that way all night
or replacing all or most of the light bulbs with LED bulbs fit here.
2. They can sponsor a special program for homeowners and businesses to do all or add most of the energy saving or renewable or onsite power generation methods they don’t already have in place.
That would add doing things like double pane windows and adding solar power in addition to doing all three of the things above.
3. They can in addition sponsor a program for all local organizations and businesses that have parking lots that get sun now to cover them with solar photovoltaic canopies.
This one is a surprisingly large opportunity that has extra benefits.
Every community in the United States has from hundreds to thousands of parking lots where people park where they work or where they shop. With minor exceptions such as some breaks for daytime light or trees now in the larger parking lots, every square foot of those parking lots could be generating solar electricity for the businesses or shops involved.
But that’s not the only benefit. The canopies and the solar cells will make the cars and people in the parking lots MUCH cooler in the summer. On a 100 degree summer day, the cars will be up to 100 degrees inside instead of the 120 to 150 degrees they often are now. That will give the shops that offer them a competitive advantage. And it will save the energy now spent by the people running their car air conditioners to remove all that heat. Lastly, it will make getting in and out of their cars and going to and from their cars much drier and less of a hassle in rainy weather.
A. Given the sparse money currently available to the governments of communities from small towns to large states, their main role will likely need to be to:
Encourage the utilities serving them to offer and finance such programs.
Encourage the companies that now finance solar installations to offer similar financing to other energy saving work to new customers even without solar and to other energy saving work for their current solar clients.
Publicize to everyone in their communities that these programs exist as they become available so everyone who lives there knows they exist. This one they can do immediately because of the programs that already exist that companies such as Solar City and Sungevity offer.
Offer lower permit fees or fast track the project approvals or both for the work to install such projects.
B) Utilities have more to gain and more money available to promote such projects.
They can publicize the value of doing these things and the national and local companies that offer them in the areas they serve.
But in addition, they can offer to help finance all such upgrades that save energy in the summer or which add more solar power either for homeowners or businesses that have no other way to finance them or offer incentives for using other financing options.
Doing this would likely add more to their ability to meet peak summer demand than adding more fossil fuel or nuclear power plants, do it in a tenth of the time, and at far less cost.
Lastly, they could ask for small increases in rates to help pay to do even more in this area. Germany is doing extremely well using this technique, FIT or feed-in tariff, to add more solar and such energy saving upgrades.
Every one of these actions will improve the economy and add jobs in the communities that do them.
The money saved from the energy savings over time will also strengthen the local economy as the residents will have more money to spend.
And, it will give the utility companies a more diverse and stable way to generate and supply energy and meet peak demands.
Today's post: Wednesday, 8-10-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Ways communities and utilities can create jobs and clean energy....
I see 3 ways this can be done.
1. They can sponsor homes and businesses they serve to do just a few things that will make a major difference if lots of the homeowners and businesses do them.
Such things as:
adding insulation
and weather stripping or heat proofing buildings with peaked roofs by adding well screened intake ports around their perimeter and convection powered turbines so that the spaces between the roof and ceiling stay very warm and cool off when the sun goes down instead of being much hotter than the air temperature and staying that way all night
or replacing all or most of the light bulbs with LED bulbs fit here.
2. They can sponsor a special program for homeowners and businesses to do all or add most of the energy saving or renewable or onsite power generation methods they don’t already have in place.
That would add doing things like double pane windows and adding solar power in addition to doing all three of the things above.
3. They can in addition sponsor a program for all local organizations and businesses that have parking lots that get sun now to cover them with solar photovoltaic canopies.
This one is a surprisingly large opportunity that has extra benefits.
Every community in the United States has from hundreds to thousands of parking lots where people park where they work or where they shop. With minor exceptions such as some breaks for daytime light or trees now in the larger parking lots, every square foot of those parking lots could be generating solar electricity for the businesses or shops involved.
But that’s not the only benefit. The canopies and the solar cells will make the cars and people in the parking lots MUCH cooler in the summer. On a 100 degree summer day, the cars will be up to 100 degrees inside instead of the 120 to 150 degrees they often are now. That will give the shops that offer them a competitive advantage. And it will save the energy now spent by the people running their car air conditioners to remove all that heat. Lastly, it will make getting in and out of their cars and going to and from their cars much drier and less of a hassle in rainy weather.
A. Given the sparse money currently available to the governments of communities from small towns to large states, their main role will likely need to be to:
Encourage the utilities serving them to offer and finance such programs.
Encourage the companies that now finance solar installations to offer similar financing to other energy saving work to new customers even without solar and to other energy saving work for their current solar clients.
Publicize to everyone in their communities that these programs exist as they become available so everyone who lives there knows they exist. This one they can do immediately because of the programs that already exist that companies such as Solar City and Sungevity offer.
Offer lower permit fees or fast track the project approvals or both for the work to install such projects.
B) Utilities have more to gain and more money available to promote such projects.
They can publicize the value of doing these things and the national and local companies that offer them in the areas they serve.
But in addition, they can offer to help finance all such upgrades that save energy in the summer or which add more solar power either for homeowners or businesses that have no other way to finance them or offer incentives for using other financing options.
Doing this would likely add more to their ability to meet peak summer demand than adding more fossil fuel or nuclear power plants, do it in a tenth of the time, and at far less cost.
Lastly, they could ask for small increases in rates to help pay to do even more in this area. Germany is doing extremely well using this technique, FIT or feed-in tariff, to add more solar and such energy saving upgrades.
Every one of these actions will improve the economy and add jobs in the communities that do them.
The money saved from the energy savings over time will also strengthen the local economy as the residents will have more money to spend.
And, it will give the utility companies a more diverse and stable way to generate and supply energy and meet peak demands.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Clean and sustainable energy is beginning to add jobs
Today's post: Wednesday, 8-3-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today's post:
Clean and sustainable energy is beginning to add jobs
We need more jobs to put people to work and boost the economy.
The more jobs we add, the better off we are.
And, the more reliable, sustainable, clean, and efficient our energy production and use becomes, the stronger our economy will be and the more jobs there will be.
So the recent uptrend in new solar projects and new solar financing is very good news indeed!
We recently did a post or two on this uptrend. And, today on www.greentechmedia.com is an article on the recent uptrend in solar and solar financing.
The two GreenTech Media stories that caught my attention were:
1. A company called Prologis apparently is of massive size and owns warehouses throughout the United States. They now have the financing to put photovoltaic cells on every one of the roofs of their warehouses that it can be placed on.
Why is that so important?
If that project gets done successfully, it will add as much PV electricity as ALL the PV electricity we had in place in 2010. (I hope they do a phase 2 to put up solar canopies over all the parking lots involved.)
2. A story highlights that solar thermal power can store the heat it collects to generate electricity for hours after the sun goes down and to be able to match the electricty they send to the grid to the demand for it.
BrightSource Energy with its solar thermal tower design says the higher temperatures of its design can do this better than thermal solar trough design. That may or may not be true. And it's less likely to be true for doing better per dollar spent since the trough design is far cheaper and faster to deploy.
But this is great to see either way since it begins to make solar more capable of replacing electricity made by burning fossil fuels or from nuclear power.
A thermal solar plant in Spain has even provided 24 hour electricity during the summer and other times of year with lots of sun.
At some point, larger solar power locations will also add batteries to enable 24 hour electricity supply as needed to match demand on the grid. The technology to make this doable and cost effective is coming I believe.
Clearly this will likely happen first at solar thermal locations.
Today's post: Wednesday, 8-3-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today's post:
Clean and sustainable energy is beginning to add jobs
We need more jobs to put people to work and boost the economy.
The more jobs we add, the better off we are.
And, the more reliable, sustainable, clean, and efficient our energy production and use becomes, the stronger our economy will be and the more jobs there will be.
So the recent uptrend in new solar projects and new solar financing is very good news indeed!
We recently did a post or two on this uptrend. And, today on www.greentechmedia.com is an article on the recent uptrend in solar and solar financing.
The two GreenTech Media stories that caught my attention were:
1. A company called Prologis apparently is of massive size and owns warehouses throughout the United States. They now have the financing to put photovoltaic cells on every one of the roofs of their warehouses that it can be placed on.
Why is that so important?
If that project gets done successfully, it will add as much PV electricity as ALL the PV electricity we had in place in 2010. (I hope they do a phase 2 to put up solar canopies over all the parking lots involved.)
2. A story highlights that solar thermal power can store the heat it collects to generate electricity for hours after the sun goes down and to be able to match the electricty they send to the grid to the demand for it.
BrightSource Energy with its solar thermal tower design says the higher temperatures of its design can do this better than thermal solar trough design. That may or may not be true. And it's less likely to be true for doing better per dollar spent since the trough design is far cheaper and faster to deploy.
But this is great to see either way since it begins to make solar more capable of replacing electricity made by burning fossil fuels or from nuclear power.
A thermal solar plant in Spain has even provided 24 hour electricity during the summer and other times of year with lots of sun.
At some point, larger solar power locations will also add batteries to enable 24 hour electricity supply as needed to match demand on the grid. The technology to make this doable and cost effective is coming I believe.
Clearly this will likely happen first at solar thermal locations.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Several kinds of good news on solar....
Today's post: Wednesday, 7-27-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Several kinds of good news on solar....
1. For years now, the Germans have done the world’s best job on adding solar capacity. And they are now out to double that to help replace using even less nuclear power.
2. As we posted on last week, China is beginning to add significant solar capacity & the CEO we posted on then of Suntech Solar said that China was on its way to becoming one of the two largest solar markets.
3. He also said that the United States is also on its way to becoming one of the two largest solar markets.
For example, in California, where there is lots of sun, a lot of innovation driven companies, and a lot of voters who value renewable energy, three good things are happening.
Now that no upfront money needed financing is available to add solar, the number of homeowners adding solar to their homes has already about doubled since before that happened.
Solar City and Sungevity are two of the strongest players in that market; but there are many more.
Second and third, California Governor, Jerry Brown just announced a plan to also add about 12% of the state’s future electricity in medium to small sized solar locations near existing transmission lines (and near where people will use the electricity are living.) Nanosolar is a thin film solar company specializing in serving this market at lowest cost and fastest deployment. They have already been installing such systems in Germany.
The other part of his plan is to add large solar farms both photovoltaic and thermal in locations where there is room to put them and lots of sun to add another 10% of the states future electricity. Many of those projects also got federal support and are already being built.
There are three pieces of good news in this.
California is a state that because of its innovations is often copied by other states when the innovations work.
The cash going into solar companies that supply California will cause them to grow and gradually drive prices down so the day is near when solar is one of the cheapest ways to generate electricity per watt.
And, since almost all of Mexico has multiple times the solar potential of the sunniest part of California, Mexico will begin to copy California and initially buy from solar companies in the United States.
4. Many major corporations in the world are also increasing their investment in solar products.
Just this week DuPont bought Innovalight, a Silicon Valley company, that makes specialty inks that can increase the electricity produced in a solar cell or installation in a given area.
I also heard an ad on the radio a few days ago sponsored by Sharp Solar, a Japanese technology company. They were advertising adding their panels with a solar lease program to the people in our area.
Applied Materials in the United States is a large technology company in the Silicon Valley and already has millions of dollars a year in sales from its thin film solar related products.
5. And, this is the tip of the iceberg. The events I’m reporting here may be as little as a ninth or tenth of what is happening in real solar progress that I haven’t yet learned about.
Global warming related costs are already going up and the world wide recession and rising health care costs are still with us.
But in solar, there is increasingly good news!
Today's post: Wednesday, 7-27-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Several kinds of good news on solar....
1. For years now, the Germans have done the world’s best job on adding solar capacity. And they are now out to double that to help replace using even less nuclear power.
2. As we posted on last week, China is beginning to add significant solar capacity & the CEO we posted on then of Suntech Solar said that China was on its way to becoming one of the two largest solar markets.
3. He also said that the United States is also on its way to becoming one of the two largest solar markets.
For example, in California, where there is lots of sun, a lot of innovation driven companies, and a lot of voters who value renewable energy, three good things are happening.
Now that no upfront money needed financing is available to add solar, the number of homeowners adding solar to their homes has already about doubled since before that happened.
Solar City and Sungevity are two of the strongest players in that market; but there are many more.
Second and third, California Governor, Jerry Brown just announced a plan to also add about 12% of the state’s future electricity in medium to small sized solar locations near existing transmission lines (and near where people will use the electricity are living.) Nanosolar is a thin film solar company specializing in serving this market at lowest cost and fastest deployment. They have already been installing such systems in Germany.
The other part of his plan is to add large solar farms both photovoltaic and thermal in locations where there is room to put them and lots of sun to add another 10% of the states future electricity. Many of those projects also got federal support and are already being built.
There are three pieces of good news in this.
California is a state that because of its innovations is often copied by other states when the innovations work.
The cash going into solar companies that supply California will cause them to grow and gradually drive prices down so the day is near when solar is one of the cheapest ways to generate electricity per watt.
And, since almost all of Mexico has multiple times the solar potential of the sunniest part of California, Mexico will begin to copy California and initially buy from solar companies in the United States.
4. Many major corporations in the world are also increasing their investment in solar products.
Just this week DuPont bought Innovalight, a Silicon Valley company, that makes specialty inks that can increase the electricity produced in a solar cell or installation in a given area.
I also heard an ad on the radio a few days ago sponsored by Sharp Solar, a Japanese technology company. They were advertising adding their panels with a solar lease program to the people in our area.
Applied Materials in the United States is a large technology company in the Silicon Valley and already has millions of dollars a year in sales from its thin film solar related products.
5. And, this is the tip of the iceberg. The events I’m reporting here may be as little as a ninth or tenth of what is happening in real solar progress that I haven’t yet learned about.
Global warming related costs are already going up and the world wide recession and rising health care costs are still with us.
But in solar, there is increasingly good news!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Positive comments from a world class solar CEO....
Today's post: Wednesday, 7-20-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Positive comments from a world class solar CEO....
Suntech Power is one of the largest solar companies in the world. Its CEO and founder, Mr. Zengrong Shi is a world class CEO and entrepreneur.
As his name suggests, he and Suntech are from China. (His quotes appeared yesterday in the San Jose Mercury News.)
They have cut the cost per watt of solar cells from $6 per watt to about $1.60. “This is all manufacturing innovation….along the supply chain.” “…it is not revolutionary. It looks more incremental, but it is very effective.”
He is visiting the Silicon Valley which he does about every month and a half to also check out innovations and new technology or potential joint venture partners here.
He said, “There is a lot of R&D activity going on in the Silicon Valley. Results are encouraging. But we need to see a viable commercial solution because with solar we are talking about scale, costs, and reliability.”
So far, the largest market in the world is in Europe and Germany in particular. But Shi thinks that will change. “In the future, the Chinese and American market will be the major markets.”
He also said that if a company drives the cost down and the solar panels are “cheaper, the market is bigger.”
He also said that “The installation of one megawatt of electricity….creates 35 jobs, most of them locally.”
“From that perspective, protectionism is not a winning policy.”
When the United States was often building the best and most innovative products, we felt the same way.
But he has an added point that local jobs are created no matter who provides the solar panels.
But there are still other reasons for not being protectionist against superior or as good but cheaper products from outside the United States in the areas of renewable energy.
1. The need for more and affordable sources of renewable energy is huge. If we do get a lot more, our economy will expand instead of shrink and there will be more jobs.
It’s hard to understate how important that is. When effective energy use goes up the economy grows. Recently, when the cost of gasoline shot up, it became one of the two triggers of our current recession.
Putting up protectionist barriers in renewable energy fields will reliably remove more jobs than it adds!
2. Here in the United States, we also have a second traditional competitive advantage that is still intact. Even if things are not invented here or made here, if they do a good job where there is demand for them, we tend to be the best in the world at selling them. The money from doing so ALSO creates jobs.
So, if protectionism cuts our access to the best products to sell or makes them cost more, that too decreases jobs.
So, I like the way Mr. Shi thinks. He understands exactly what the worldwide market needs from the solar industry. And I sincerely hope his optimistic forecast about China and the United States becoming the biggest solar markets comes to pass.
I think he is a world class CEO. And we would do well to emulate him instead of throwing roadblocks in his path.
Today's post: Wednesday, 7-20-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Positive comments from a world class solar CEO....
Suntech Power is one of the largest solar companies in the world. Its CEO and founder, Mr. Zengrong Shi is a world class CEO and entrepreneur.
As his name suggests, he and Suntech are from China. (His quotes appeared yesterday in the San Jose Mercury News.)
They have cut the cost per watt of solar cells from $6 per watt to about $1.60. “This is all manufacturing innovation….along the supply chain.” “…it is not revolutionary. It looks more incremental, but it is very effective.”
He is visiting the Silicon Valley which he does about every month and a half to also check out innovations and new technology or potential joint venture partners here.
He said, “There is a lot of R&D activity going on in the Silicon Valley. Results are encouraging. But we need to see a viable commercial solution because with solar we are talking about scale, costs, and reliability.”
So far, the largest market in the world is in Europe and Germany in particular. But Shi thinks that will change. “In the future, the Chinese and American market will be the major markets.”
He also said that if a company drives the cost down and the solar panels are “cheaper, the market is bigger.”
He also said that “The installation of one megawatt of electricity….creates 35 jobs, most of them locally.”
“From that perspective, protectionism is not a winning policy.”
When the United States was often building the best and most innovative products, we felt the same way.
But he has an added point that local jobs are created no matter who provides the solar panels.
But there are still other reasons for not being protectionist against superior or as good but cheaper products from outside the United States in the areas of renewable energy.
1. The need for more and affordable sources of renewable energy is huge. If we do get a lot more, our economy will expand instead of shrink and there will be more jobs.
It’s hard to understate how important that is. When effective energy use goes up the economy grows. Recently, when the cost of gasoline shot up, it became one of the two triggers of our current recession.
Putting up protectionist barriers in renewable energy fields will reliably remove more jobs than it adds!
2. Here in the United States, we also have a second traditional competitive advantage that is still intact. Even if things are not invented here or made here, if they do a good job where there is demand for them, we tend to be the best in the world at selling them. The money from doing so ALSO creates jobs.
So, if protectionism cuts our access to the best products to sell or makes them cost more, that too decreases jobs.
So, I like the way Mr. Shi thinks. He understands exactly what the worldwide market needs from the solar industry. And I sincerely hope his optimistic forecast about China and the United States becoming the biggest solar markets comes to pass.
I think he is a world class CEO. And we would do well to emulate him instead of throwing roadblocks in his path.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Lower your summer AC bills with Lowe’s Home Improvement....
Today's post: Wednesday, 7-13-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Lower your summer AC bills with Lowe’s Home Improvement....
(See our post: Slash summer air conditioning costs two ways….Wednesday, 6-22-2010 for why to do the things listed and more details.)
The summary:
1. You can dramatically cut the heat going into your house so that you have to pay far less to pump it out.
a) You can add regular insulation &/or buy radiant barrier insulation with styrofoam backing as little as one fourth inch thick at Lowes.
(Doing it both ways to also reflect heat back in the winter can be just a bit over a half inch thick and save on your heating bills too.) This does a good job of preventing the radiant heat from the sun from getting into your house.
b) You can add several well screened new ways to get air to the underside of your roof between it and your ceiling AND add convection powered roof turbines.
That way you stop having the space between your roof and ceiling as a solar heater with air between 160 & over 200 degree still air.
Instead, that air is just a few degrees warmer than the outside air because the extra heat leaves out of the spinning roof turbines. The air between your roof and ceiling can be 100 degrees when it’s 95 and sunny instead of 185! Even better, when the day gets later and when the sun goes down it can be 70 degrees there when it’s 70 outside instead of 170!
c) You can install ceiling fans in the rooms you spend the most time in. And, if mounted in the ceiling instead of hanging down, they don’t wobble all over as the hanging ones do.
Even on a moderately low and quiet setting, they cut the perceived temperature by about 5 degrees. You can set your AC for 75 degrees and with the ceiling fans it feels like 70. And if your utility wants you to set your AC to 78 on the hottest days, it will still feel like 73 with ceiling fans.
I just checked. Lowes sells the sheets of styrofoam backed radiant heat barrier insulation and the roof turbines.
But Lowes does NOT arrange installation of the roof turbines that leaves your roof watertight nor do they arrange for a contractor to add several well screened new ways to get air to the underside of your roof between it and your ceiling.
With the interior ceiling fans they provide both the ceiling fans and a local installer. (That local installer is prohibited though by contract from doing other work for you. So the other work has to be from a different contractor or two.)
d) You can also install more regular insulation if you have little or none now. And, you can install all double pane windows if you don’t already have them. Pella, Anderson, and Marvin all make good double pane windows. Marvin I think is the only one that offers wood both inside and out if you prefer that.
Once you have this heat proofing in place, you may well be able to cut 70 to 100 % on your AC bill. And, in most places hot nights after hot days will be a memory!
(We only had gotten to the added entry ports and roof fans plus ceiling fans. We hadn’t gotten yet to the double pane windows and radiant barrier insulation and more regular insulation.
On a day that was 95 degrees outside before, it would be about 85 degrees inside from 3 PM to 3 AM inside.
But after just adding the roof turbine system and the ceiling fans it was 75 degrees inside and felt fine with the ceiling fans. Then at night it dropped to below 70 inside.
If we had had AC, our bill would have dropped to zero since we would never have turned it on.)
In locations that get hotter than 95 and stay above 75 degrees at night, AC would still have been needed. But you begin to get the idea from our experience how much less you’d need to run it and pay the bill for.
2. You can also add solar panels to make extra electricity at your home. If you heat proof first, you may find your summer AC bill drops to zero since the solar panels provide enough for what you use in hot, sunny weather.
It’s not rolled out to all the Lowe’s stores yet. But you can work from your local store once it is to get accurate solar bids from your location and the satellite view of it AND a lease so you don’t need a lot of money upfront to have solar panels added.
In some cases the lease payment will be less than the savings on your AC bill!
Sungevity is the company that is partnering with Lowe’s to provide this.
3. If on days you do need AC, if you lower your inside temperature to 68 degrees in the morning and you have done this heat proofing, you get several benefits.
The outside air at that hour of the morning is coolest. So the AC is most efficient and produces cooler temperatures using less electricity. Even better, the rates at that time of day are lowest due to low demand.
It will stay cool inside your house so it will be comfortable to be in during the day and it will be cool at night so you can sleep in cool temperatures.
If after doing this you then set the AC to 75, it will only go on AT ALL on the very hottest days.
By combining these steps you can drop a several hundred dollar month bill for electricity to run your AC to less than $50 or even zero!
Today's post: Wednesday, 7-13-2010
We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.
And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.
At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.
And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.
Today’s post:
Lower your summer AC bills with Lowe’s Home Improvement....
(See our post: Slash summer air conditioning costs two ways….Wednesday, 6-22-2010 for why to do the things listed and more details.)
The summary:
1. You can dramatically cut the heat going into your house so that you have to pay far less to pump it out.
a) You can add regular insulation &/or buy radiant barrier insulation with styrofoam backing as little as one fourth inch thick at Lowes.
(Doing it both ways to also reflect heat back in the winter can be just a bit over a half inch thick and save on your heating bills too.) This does a good job of preventing the radiant heat from the sun from getting into your house.
b) You can add several well screened new ways to get air to the underside of your roof between it and your ceiling AND add convection powered roof turbines.
That way you stop having the space between your roof and ceiling as a solar heater with air between 160 & over 200 degree still air.
Instead, that air is just a few degrees warmer than the outside air because the extra heat leaves out of the spinning roof turbines. The air between your roof and ceiling can be 100 degrees when it’s 95 and sunny instead of 185! Even better, when the day gets later and when the sun goes down it can be 70 degrees there when it’s 70 outside instead of 170!
c) You can install ceiling fans in the rooms you spend the most time in. And, if mounted in the ceiling instead of hanging down, they don’t wobble all over as the hanging ones do.
Even on a moderately low and quiet setting, they cut the perceived temperature by about 5 degrees. You can set your AC for 75 degrees and with the ceiling fans it feels like 70. And if your utility wants you to set your AC to 78 on the hottest days, it will still feel like 73 with ceiling fans.
I just checked. Lowes sells the sheets of styrofoam backed radiant heat barrier insulation and the roof turbines.
But Lowes does NOT arrange installation of the roof turbines that leaves your roof watertight nor do they arrange for a contractor to add several well screened new ways to get air to the underside of your roof between it and your ceiling.
With the interior ceiling fans they provide both the ceiling fans and a local installer. (That local installer is prohibited though by contract from doing other work for you. So the other work has to be from a different contractor or two.)
d) You can also install more regular insulation if you have little or none now. And, you can install all double pane windows if you don’t already have them. Pella, Anderson, and Marvin all make good double pane windows. Marvin I think is the only one that offers wood both inside and out if you prefer that.
Once you have this heat proofing in place, you may well be able to cut 70 to 100 % on your AC bill. And, in most places hot nights after hot days will be a memory!
(We only had gotten to the added entry ports and roof fans plus ceiling fans. We hadn’t gotten yet to the double pane windows and radiant barrier insulation and more regular insulation.
On a day that was 95 degrees outside before, it would be about 85 degrees inside from 3 PM to 3 AM inside.
But after just adding the roof turbine system and the ceiling fans it was 75 degrees inside and felt fine with the ceiling fans. Then at night it dropped to below 70 inside.
If we had had AC, our bill would have dropped to zero since we would never have turned it on.)
In locations that get hotter than 95 and stay above 75 degrees at night, AC would still have been needed. But you begin to get the idea from our experience how much less you’d need to run it and pay the bill for.
2. You can also add solar panels to make extra electricity at your home. If you heat proof first, you may find your summer AC bill drops to zero since the solar panels provide enough for what you use in hot, sunny weather.
It’s not rolled out to all the Lowe’s stores yet. But you can work from your local store once it is to get accurate solar bids from your location and the satellite view of it AND a lease so you don’t need a lot of money upfront to have solar panels added.
In some cases the lease payment will be less than the savings on your AC bill!
Sungevity is the company that is partnering with Lowe’s to provide this.
3. If on days you do need AC, if you lower your inside temperature to 68 degrees in the morning and you have done this heat proofing, you get several benefits.
The outside air at that hour of the morning is coolest. So the AC is most efficient and produces cooler temperatures using less electricity. Even better, the rates at that time of day are lowest due to low demand.
It will stay cool inside your house so it will be comfortable to be in during the day and it will be cool at night so you can sleep in cool temperatures.
If after doing this you then set the AC to 75, it will only go on AT ALL on the very hottest days.
By combining these steps you can drop a several hundred dollar month bill for electricity to run your AC to less than $50 or even zero!
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