Solar Impulse 2 to Circle the World

Solar Impulse 1, the first solar aircraft capable of flying at night, set eight world records while crossing two continents in a number of flights from 2009 through 2013.  Solar Impulse 2, a new single-seat aircraft, will attempt the first solar flight around the world in 2015.  The plan: circle the globe with no fuel. It won't be nonstop, but hops will last up to five days and nights.

The aircraft's energy efficiency derives from a wingspan of 236 feet and weight of 5,000 pounds. "Solar Impulse 2 will have virtually unlimited autonomy, and we need to make sure the pilot is as sustainable as his aircraft," said Solar Impulse partner Andre Borschberg. "This is why the round-the-world flight will be as much a human as a technological feat." The plane's cockpit measures 5 cubic yards, sufficient to host a pilot for a week at a time, but is neither heated nor pressurized.

The global flight is scheduled to start in March 2015. Solar Impulse will fly over the Arabian Sea, India, Burma, China, the Pacific Ocean, the United States, the Atlantic Ocean and Southern Europe or North Africa before returning to the departure location in the Gulf area.  It will land every few days to change pilots at organized public educational events.

Source: Solar Today Magazine. May/June 2014. Page 8.

Solar Panels Work Even in Cloudy Northwest

Yeah we have said it but we are going to let Craig from The Olympian tell you again. :-)

Overcast skies don’t stop photovoltaic cells from pumping out the watts

BY CRAIG SAILOR

craig.sailor@thenewstribune.comMay 28, 2014

At some point just about every homeowner gives a thought to solar energy. Who wouldn’t like to power their house with the sun, watch their electric meter run backwards and never pay for a kilowatt again?

And then the clouds set in. This is the Northwest, after all, not sunny Arizona.

But the sun finally is rising for good on solar power. Costs have come down, efficiency has gone up and financial incentives are increasing the return on investment.

MYTHBUSTING

In California, Hawaii or Arizona solar panels can be seen on many rooftops, but in the Northwest you’re more likely to see Sasquatch than a solar electric array. Dispelling the notion that there’s not enough sun to make a solar power system worthwhile is job number one for solar advocates.

Solar power will be one of the many topics covered at this weekend’s Mother Earth News Fair at the Washington State Fair Events Center in Puyallup. The two-day event focuses on living green. (See below for details.)

“It absolutely does work here,” Puget Sound Energy’s Jake Wade said of solar power. There’s no substitution for direct sunlight, he said. But summer’s long days and lower energy needs (compared with power sucking Phoenix and Las Vegas) enable solar-equipped customers to produce more power than they need.

High heat makes photovoltaic solar panels less efficient. So, the Northwest’s cool days help solar cells produce more energy.

And while overcast skies are not as productive as direct sun they make orientation and pitch of solar panels far less important. (The light is multidirectional.)

PSE has 2,021 solar producing customers. Solar energy now accounts for 1.13 percent of total U.S. capacity, according to figures just released by the U.S. Department of Energy. Since 2010 solar capacity increased by 418 percent across the nation.

NET ENERGY METERING

While Northwest summers might be a solar paradise what happens during winter’s short, dark days when the furnace runs day and night? That, say solar proponents, is when the beauty of net energy metering comes in to play.

NEM allows utility customers who generate their own renewable energy (including wind and hydro) to earn credits for surplus power they deliver to the grid. The Department of Energy cites NEM as one of the main drivers of the increased popularity of solar energy.

The system is simple. During the summer the energy a solar customer produces is sent back to the utility company. Meter discs actually spin backward. In the winter, when more energy is needed than produced, it’s subtracted from the customer’s account.

“It’s like using the utility as an infinitely efficient battery,” said Wade, who is PSE’s net metering program manager.

Some customers, if they have a big enough system and/or are energy conservative, wind up paying nothing for their electricity. However, they still pay a small monthly bill to the utility for service.

COST

Each 1,000 watts of PV solar panel produces about 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. The typical home in Western Washington uses 900 to 1,000 kilowatt hours per month, Wade said. To be completely net zero that home would need an array that produced 10 to 12 kilowatts. The median size of a solar system for a PSE customer is 4 to 5 kilowatts, he said.

The biggest stumbling block for most solar power seekers is cost. A full system could set a homeowner back $30,000. But costs have dropped dramatically in recent years and have stabilized.

The solar panel industry is highly competitive. Federal prosecutors last week indicted five Chinese military officials for stealing industrial secrets from Hillsboro, Oregon, based solar panel manufacturer SolarWorld.

Other factors driving cost include choice of product and difficulty of installation.

TECH ADVANCES

The heart of any solar system is its PV cells. The delicate silicon-based wafers are interconnected and assembled in to sturdy panels, usually about 40 inches by 65 inches. Depending on manufacturer and model the panels can produce from 200 to 275 watts. After quality of the panels, buyers should be concerned with efficiency, price, warranty and aesthetics.

Panel maker SunPower sets the market record at 21.5 percent efficiency. That means that 21.5 percent of light hitting the cells is output as energy in ideal, laboratory conditions. That’s almost a doubling since the Carter administration when the president famously installed panels on the White House roof. They were later removed by President Ronald Reagan.

Scientists have recently announced the development of cells that absorb different wavelengths of sunlight and achieve efficiency in excess of 40 percent. But those cells are years from production and affordability. The development does mean that fewer cells will be needed to achieve the same power output of today’s systems.

Another breakthrough came in inverter efficiency. The inverter is what converts DC power (which the panels produce) to AC power (for home use.) Once at 80 percent efficiency they now run up to 97 percent.

Up until the early 2000s batteries were required but are now no longer needed. Batteries still can be added to a system but add cost and are not needed with NEM. Batteries are a must for off grid systems.

PLACEMENT

The optimum location for solar panels is a south facing, pitched roof. That takes advantage of the most light. A west facing roof is the next best choice but is 15 percent less productive.

A roof pitch of 30 to 35 degrees is optimum. (That equates to a roof rising 7 to 8 vertical inches over 12 linear inches.)

Even if a property owner has plenty of land a roof provides a ready-made, engineered structure and needs the least amount of wiring. At least 75 percent of customers place their panels on roofs. If a roof isn’t at the right pitch or orientation the panels can be racked to the correct placement. However, that will add to the cost.

Other locations include pole and ground mounted panels but both of those also add to installation costs. Some advanced pole systems allow the panels to track the sun through the day.

Some of Haffner’s clients get creative. He’s installed panels on car ports, pergolas and even on a chicken coop. David Lee attached an awning to his house made of solar panels. He plans on adding another soon.

Roof mounted systems come with flashing that prevents leaks. 

INCENTIVES

But wait, there’s more. If free power isn’t a strong enough attraction the financial incentives don’t end there.

Aside from NEM, Washington utility companies administer an incentive program that buys the energy produced by individuals and companies (up to $5,000 per participant per year) regardless of whether it goes to the grid or is used by the customer. If the solar equipment used is made in Washington, then the kilowatt hours produced is paid at 54 cents. If out-of-state equipment is used, then it drops to 15 cents.

Additionally, a solar power customer can take 30 percent of the system cost off their federal income tax bill. That means a $30,000 system would end up costing $21,000 after taxes. Furthermore, all parts and installation costs are sales-tax free in Washington.

When it comes time to sell your home a solar PV system will add to its value. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found in 2013 that a home with a solar system added $24,000 to its sale price compared with homes without systems.

PUSHBACK

Solar energy might be a victim of its own success. Utility companies have recently begun to push back against NEM in the Sun Belt states.

Politicians in California and other sunny states are under pressure from utilities and their lobbyists to retool incentive programs. The companies say renewable energy customers need to share the costs of energy transmission and distribution. Environmentalists say the traditional utility business models are under threat.

Wade said PSE is looking closely at the situations in the Sun Belt states. He acknowledges that the battles will be fought there before they come, if ever, to the Northwest. But, he said, PSE will not stand in the way of renewable energy.

“If this is the direction our customers are going then this is the direction we’re going.”

DO YOU HAVE A SUNNY FUTURE?

The cost of a solar power system is equivalent to that of a new car. But the technology and financial incentives have never been better. If you’re thinking of going solar consider these points:

Budget: Know what you want to spend before starting out.

Financing: Some financial institutions offer solar-based loans.

Staying power: Will you own your home long enough for it to pay off?

Your site: Survey trees and buildings that might block light to panels.

System: Roof, pole or ground mount.

Placement: Does your roof face south? Is it big enough to hold the panels you desire?

Roof: Is it in good shape or will it need to be replaced soon?

Contractors: Find those that deal only or mostly in solar. Make sure they are licensed and bonded.

References: Check them.

RESOURCES

Incentives

Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency: dsireusa.org

Washington state solar equipment manufacturers

Silicon Energy: silicon-energy.com
Itek Energy: itekenergy.com

WORKSHOPS

Mother Earth News Fair

Mother Earth News Fair at the Washington State Fair Events Center will feature more than 200 hands-on workshops that center on green living. Headlining speakers include actor and green advocate Ed Begley Jr., organic farmer Joel Salatin, Bob’s Red Mill founder Bob Moore and permaculturist Toby Hemenway.

When: Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1
Where: Washington State Fair Events Center, Puyallup
Tickets: $25
Information: motherearthnews.com

If you are interested in learning more about solar and can't make it to the Mother Earth Fair, Western Solar will be hosting a free Solar 101 Workshop on June 12th.  Click here for more details and to register.  If you would like to schedule a free site assessment, click here.

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/2014/05/28/3152965/solar-energy-getting-brighter.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/2014/05/28/3152965/solar-energy-getting-brighter.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/2014/05/28/3152965/solar-energy-getting-brighter.html#storylink=cpy

Western Solar to host Free Solar 101 Workshop in Bellingham

June 12, 2014

5:30-7:00pm

ReSources (2309 Meridian St), Bellingham

Click here to RSVP.

This presentation hosted by Western Solar Inc and PSE (Whatcom County) will give you an overview of photovoltaic technology, how it works in the Pacific Northwest, the financial benefits, and available incentives.  A PSE (Whatcom County) Representative will also be available to discuss net-metering. 
Space is limited, RSVP today!

Obama Puts Solar Panels Back on White House

President Obama will announce new plans Friday designed to boost solar power and promote energy efficiency, including the completed installation of solar panels on the White House roof.

The solar panels on the president's residence are "part of an energy retrofit that will improve the overall energy efficiency of the building," said White House spokesman Matt Lehrich.

During a visit to Wal-Mart in Mountain View, Calif., near San Jose, Obama will also outline what aides call some 300 "private and public sector commitments" designed to create jobs and reduce carbon pollution.

The speech comes three days after the administration issued a report saying that climate change caused by pollution is already damaging the environment and triggering extreme weather conditions.

"Acting on climate change is more urgent than ever," said Michael Boots, acting chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality.

In a campaign fundraising speech this week in Los Angeles, Obama said his administration has "actually reduced our carbon emissions faster than any other country in the world, even as we are also producing more energy generally, doubling our production of clean energy."

The initiatives Obama will announce Friday include programs aimed at financing for new solar business ventures, training and developing a solar workforce, and enforcing new building codes to promote efficiency.

Private companies, including Wal-Mart, will commit to similar projects, the White House said.

The plans are projected to create enough new solar energy to power more than 130,000 homes, and energy savings that are the equivalent of taking 80 million cars off the road for one year, the White House said.

President Jimmy Carter also installed solar panels at the White House, but President Ronald Reagan had them removed.

Congressional Republicans said they support renewable energy, but Obama's plan should include more domestic energy production, including the proposed Keystone oil pipeline.

"The president can't claim an 'all of the above' strategy while he's blocking the Keystone pipeline, slow-rolling the approval of new energy exploration, and proposing job-killing regulations that will destroy the American coal industry," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Source: David Jackson. USA TODAY. 5/9/14

Global Carbon Emissions Increase Much Faster Than Expected

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC's) latest report, which explores ways to cut carbon emissions, put the world on notice. Despite efforts in the United States, Europe and developing countries such as China to ramp up energy efficiency and renewable energy, global carbon emissions have been increasing at a much faster clip than they were just a few decades ago. To avoid the worst of the worst, IPCC scientists say emissions will have to be reduced 40 percent to 70 percent by 2050 and warn that we only have a 15-year window to reverse course.

"We cannot afford to lose another decade," said Ottmar Edenhofer, a German economist who co-chaired the committee that wrote the report. "If we lose another decade, it becomes extremely costly to achieve climate stabilization."

As Edenhofer points out, the cost of doing nothing likely would dwarf whatever we might spend today to address climate change. That said, it makes the most sense to replace fossil fuels with the most cost-effective, safest, carbon-free and low-carbon options that can be deployed as quickly as possible.

For the biggest source of U.S. carbon pollution — electric utilities — the best solution is wind, solar and other renewable energy technologies, which, according to the new IPCC report, "have achieved a level of technical and economic maturity to enable deployment at a significant scale." In other words, renewables are now a lot cheaper and better than they were when the last IPCC report came out seven years ago.

Nuclear Not Economic

What about nuclear power? Although it now provides the most carbon-free electricity in the country, without a national carbon tax or cap-and-trade program, it's not economical, even with more than 50 years of generous federal subsidies.

Over the last decade, the estimated price tag for a new reactor has skyrocketed, jumping from $2 billion in 2002 to as high as $12 billion today. Wall Street won't finance a project unless Uncle Sam co-signs the loan, which leaves taxpayers on the hook if a project fails. So while Southern Company and its partners, with the help of an $8.3 billion federally guaranteed loan, are building two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear plant site in Georgia, it's unlikely the industry will be able to muster more than two or three more in the next decade. As recently as five years ago, utilities applied for licenses to build more than 25 new reactors.

At the same time the nuclear industry's hoped-for renaissance has fizzled, older reactors are shutting down. Four reactors closed last year because of prohibitively expensive safety upgrades or competition from cheaper energy sources, namely natural gas and wind. Economics will close a fifth reactor, Vermont Yankee, this fall, and the nation's largest nuclear plant operator, Exelon, said in February that unless market conditions improve, it will announce plant closings by the end of this year.

Wind, Solar More Affordable

Unlike new reactors, the cost of solar and wind has dropped dramatically. Solar panel prices have plummeted more than 75 percent since 2008, and the cost of generating electricity from wind turbines declined more than 40 percent over the past three years, sparking a construction boom. Last year, solar installations in the United States amounted to a record 5.1 gigawatts, boosting the national total to nearly 13 gigawatts -- enough to power nearly 2.2 million typical American homes. And by the end of December, there were enough wind turbines across the country to power 15.5 million homes and cut annual electric power sector carbon emissions by 4.4 percent.

Given solar and wind's exponential growth, experts see tremendous potential. The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), for example, projects that wind and solar could produce 15 percent of U.S. electricity by 2020, 27 percent by 2030, and 50 percent by 2050.

Still, naysayers harp on the fact that wind and solar power are intermittent. The sun doesn't always shine, they say, and the wind doesn't always blow. That may be true, but it's not a deal-breaker. Studies by NREL and electricity grid operators in the United States and Europe conclude that larger contributions from solar and wind would not create significant technological problems or impose higher costs.

"Meeting demand in the face of variability and uncertainty is old hat for grid operators," said Mike Jacobs, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) who used to work at NREL. "They're already doing it with wind and solar here in the United States and in Europe."

"Besides, spreading wind and solar installations over a large enough area would help address the intermittency issue," he added. "The wind is always blowing somewhere, and if we increased the percentage of wind and solar to 30 percent — which we should be able to do within the next 15 years — the system's flexibility to manage supply and demand, along with a updated grid, should be able to integrate that power."

Renewables Provide More Resilience

Ramping up renewables not only would cut carbon emissions, it also would diversify the national electricity system and make it more resilient, according to a new UCS report. That system — which includes power plants, transmission lines and fuel delivery networks — was not designed to withstand all of today's extreme weather events, many of which have been linked to climate change.

Sea level rise, for example, threatens nearly 100 coastal electricity facilities, including power plants and substations, the UCS report found. Water temperature and availability also pose major problems. Older coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants rely on a "once-through" cooling process that draws hundreds of millions, if not billions, of gallons of water daily from the closest water body. When that river, lake or ocean gets too hot, which is happening with greater frequency, the plants have to cut back production or shut down temporarily. Likewise, droughts can substantially reduce water availability, while flooding from extreme rainfall can overwhelm a plant, as it did in June 2011 when a record-breaking Missouri River flood forced the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant near Omaha to remain shut down after a scheduled refueling outage two months earlier.

Renewables don't suffer from the same limitations. Rooftop solar panels and wind turbines, for instance, rely on smaller, more distributed units, which make it less likely that extreme weather events would have the same dramatic impact. Moreover, renewables are less vulnerable to drought and heat because they don't require water.

Source: Elliott Negin, Union of Concerned Scientists This article was originally published on the Huffington Post. May 01, 2014 

Governor Inslee's Step Toward Clean Energy Future

If climate hawk Governor Jay Inslee gets his way, Washington State may have just taken the next major step toward America’s clean energy and low-carbon future.

Citing already-apparent climate change impacts to his state’s economy and environment, Inslee last week signed an executive order designed to cut fossil fuel emissions and boost renewable energy.

Inslee’s ambitious plan includes creating a carbon market, quitting coal power, and setting low-carbon transportation fuel standards. While major action will require public input and a tough state legislative fight, Washington State has clearly joined the West Coast vanguard of America’s fight against climate change.

Six Steps Toward Cutting Emissions Through Clean Energy 

Washington State’s climate action will focus on virtually every aspect of the state’s energy and emissions profile through action on six main areas:

• Establishing a 21-member Carbon Emissions Reduction Taskforce to recommend design and implementation of a market-based emissions reduction program, likely a cap-and-trade system or carbon tax, to be considered during the 2015 state legislative session.
• Directing state agencies to work with utilities to eliminate over time the use of any electricity generated from coal, whether based in or outside of the state.
• Transitioning the state’s transportation to a low-emission future by increasing vehicle electrification through tax incentives and expanded infrastructure, developing a low-carbon fuel standard, and making local governmental transportation planning efforts more efficient.
• Creating a joint program state between the Department of Commerce and Washington State University to research, fund, and deploy new renewable and energy efficiency technologies with a focus on solar energy.
• Improving the energy efficiency and emissions profile of state government and privately owned buildings though a new statewide efficiency program for both existing and new buildings.
• Reviewing and potentially updating the state’s greenhouse gas emissions limits.

Cutting emissions are not a new idea for Washington State, but they’re designed to address the mounting impacts of climate change and could provide a major economic boost. The state already has an existing law in place, passed in 2008 requiring carbon emissions to fall to 1990 levels by 2020, and then below those levels again by 2035 and 2050.

Former Governor Christine Gregiore proposed a statewide cap-and-trade program in 2009, only to have it fail in the state legislature due to economic concerns at the height of the recession. Without taking the actions outlined in his executive order, Inslee said, the state would fail to meet those targets.

Source: Silvio Marcacci.CleanTechnica. 2014

Mark Your Calendars: Solar Decathlon 2015 Dates Announced

Fans of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, take note: Solar Decathlon 2015 will be held Oct. 8–18, 2015, at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California.

The Solar Decathlon competition houses will be open to visitors from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily on eight days over two weekends:

• Thursday, Oct. 8–Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015
• Thursday, Oct. 15–Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015.

The remaining dates, the Solar Decathlon village will be closed for competition activities.

This is your opportunity to tour the highly efficient, solar-powered houses designed, built, and operated by the Solar Decathlon collegiate teams. Talk to the students, gather ideas to use in your own home, and learn about energy-saving features and products that can help you save money. Mark your calendars now, and start planning your visit today!

The video below showcases past Decathlons.