Eco20/20

Technology Review has an article on plastic solar cells with "near-perfect internal efficiency" - Pushing Plastic Solar Cells. Plastic solar cells are lightweight, flexible, and, most important, cheap to make. But so far, these devices have been too inefficient to compete with silicon solar cells for most applications. Now researchers from a few institutions claim to have made polymer solar cells with record-breaking efficiencies. These cells still aren't good enough to compete with silicon, but polymer efficiencies have been increasing at a rate of about 1 percent a year. If they can keep this up, say researchers, plastic solar cells will be competing with silicon within a few years.

olar domestic hot-water systems don't grab as many headlines, probably because they're not considered as high-tech as their solar PV cousins, where science is pushing the boundaries of sunlight-to-electricity conversion. I'm always surprised that residential solar thermal systems don't get much attention in the United States, particularly in the south where many homes have swimming pools (that need heating) and where the sun shines warm all year, making the payback dramatically better than PV. In Canada, where the conditions are less ideal, we seem for some strange reason to have a greater appreciation for rooftop solar thermal systems, and indeed, have many startups, such as EnerWorks, and academics spending considerable time improving on the technology.

A bunch of polls have come out that find the public supports strong climate action in spite of aggressive and widespread Republican fear-mongering about energy prices. For instance, the new Washington Post/ABC poll of 1,072 Americans (here) found: While majorities across the board support government regulation of greenhouse gases, it peaks among liberals (88%) and under 30s (80%), vs. 61% of conservatives and 64% of seniors. Support also ranges from 85% of Democrats, 65% "strongly," to 64% of Republicans, 39% strongly. Concern about its cost is broader, and stronger, among those who'd presumably be hit hardest - lower-income adults.

I read U.S. opens way for wind power off coast and wondered "what's in it for me"? The federal government has cleared the way for developers to plant wind farms in offshore waters on the Outer Continental Shelf, a move that could have a significant impact for North Carolina. ... Eventually, the regulations could help shape energy production in North Carolina, where the Outer Banks jut sharply into the Atlantic. The area has some of the strongest and steadiest winds on the East Coast, according to a report from the U.S. Department of the Interior. ... In a scheme similar to some offshore oil and gas drilling leases, states would get about 27 percent of the revenue sent to the federal government from offshore wind and hydrokinetics leases.

The US Dept. of Energy/EIA has released the 2007 edition of Renewable Energy Trends: The report, Renewable Energy Trends in Consumption and Electricity, 2007, provides an overview and tables with historical data spanning as far back as 1989 through 2007 on renewable energy consumption and electricity. As always, you can download the whole report from the above page in one PDF or grab individual chapters, data in Excel spreadsheets, etc.

Hot on the heels of the release of the NRDC's renewable energy map, we have another piece of first-rate energy geek eye candy: NPR: Power Hungry: Visualizing The U.S. Electric Grid. This map will let you check different sources (with separate maps for wind and solar, in addition to traditional sources), and toggle transmission lines and other features on and off. My only gripe is that you can't zoom the maps, which in some cases makes it a challenge to click on the circle for a particular power plant.

The US EPA has released their latest list of the top consumers of green power in the US: The Green Power Partnership works with a wide variety of leading organizations - from Fortune 500 companies to local, state and federal governments, and a growing number of colleges and universities. The following Top Partner Rankings highlight the annual green power purchases of leading organizations within the United States and across individual industry sectors.

American Electric Power (AEP) is doubling its goal of adding 1,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy to 2,000 MW by the end of 2011. This would bring the company's total renewable energy portfolio to more than 2,600 MW by the end of 2011. AEP has added 903 MW of wind generation since 2007, when the company committed to its original goal of adding 1,000 MW. AEP also set a new energy efficiency goal in 2009 to reduce consumption by 2.25 million megawatt-hours by the end of 2012. "Continuing to diversify our fuel mix with more renewable resources will allow us to meet our customers' energy needs and reduce our carbon footprint," said Michael Morris, AEP's chairman, president and CEO. "We can support development of a lower-carbon energy future through a combination of increasing renewable energy; driving the development of a new, interstate extra-high voltage transmission system to bring that renewable energy to market; promoting energy efficiency; and further developing advanced coal technologies such as carbon capture and storage."

In pursuit of Governor Deval Patrick's goal of 2,000 megawatts of wind power in Massachusetts by 2020, the Secretaries of the Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) announced a project to install a utility-scale wind energy project on state land adjacent to the Massachusetts Turnpike's Blandford Rest Area. "This wind energy project is good for the environment and it will help create jobs within our clean energy economy." -- Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick Following studies showing significant wind power potential, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) today issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to install wind power at the 68-acre site in western Massachusetts.

What do you do if you build a wind farm smack dab in the middle of a major bird migration route, and want to avert the anger of conservationists? Put up a radar system that's designed to shut down the entire thing when it detects a mass of birds on the way. That's what's been done at the 202 MW Peñascal Wind Farm in Texas: System Detects Birds Approaching Four Miles Away The system uses radar originally developed for NASA and the US Air Force to detect birds as far as four miles away, The Guardian reports. When it picks up the approaching birds, it analyzes the existing weather conditions and determines in real time whether those birds are in danger of flying into the blades. The system then automatically restarts the turbines when the birds have passed.

The wind energy industry in the United States installed 2,836 megawatts of new generating capacity through the end of March, bringing total installed generating capacity in the country to 28,206 MW, the American Wind Energy Association announced. The national trade association for the wind energy industry in the U.S. issued its report Tuesday on projects that were completed in 15 states during first financial quarter of the year.

A new battery made from non-toxic materials abundant in the Earth's crust could revolutionize the electric vehicles segment. The battery, powered by LifePO4 - a material used in advanced lithium-ion batteries, was developed by Universite de Montreal researchers.

REW reports the world's biggest solar thermal tower has opened in Spain - World's Largest Solar Power Tower Commissioned. Abengoa Solar has begun commercial operations of the world's largest solar power tower plant, a 20 MW installation. The company claims that the performance of the power plant, the so-called PS20, has exceeded its design output in the wake of its three-day production and operational testing period. Located at the Solúcar Platform, near Seville, Spain, PS20 is the world's second power tower plant in commercial use and features a number of significant technological improvements with respect to its predecessor, PS10. These enhancements include a higher-efficiency receiver, various improvements in the control and operational systems, and a better thermal energy storage system. PS20 consists of a solar field made up of 1255 heliostats with a surface area of 1291 square feet each. This reflects the solar radiation it receives onto the receiver, located on the top of a 531 foot-high tower, producing steam which is converted into electricity generation by a turbine. Plant construction was carried out by Abener.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu today announced selection of 53 new wind energy projects for up to $8.5 million in total DOE funding. These projects will help begin to address market and deployment challenges identified in DOE's 2008 report: "20% Wind Energy by 2030." Increasing wind energy generation will be a critical factor in achieving the Obama Administration's goals for clean energy, while also supporting new green jobs. Secretary Chu made the announcement by video at the WindPower 2009 Conference in Chicago this week. "Wind energy is one of our most promising renewable energy sources," said Secretary Chu. That's why I'm pleased to make this announcement today. By continuing to make investments in renewable energy we can cut our dependence on foreign oil and invest in a clean energy agenda that creates jobs and puts money back into the pockets of consumers."

A new public opinion poll shows strong bipartisan support for a national Renewable Energy Standard requiring utilities to generate at least 25 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025. The poll was released Tuesday as the wind energy industry gathered in the Windy City for the American Wind Energy Association's WINDPOWER 2009 Conference and Exhibition. For these 18,000 attendees and 1,200 exhibitors renewable energy means wind.

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President Obama's proposed $9.9 billion Energy Department budget contains up to $28 million for a Pantex wind farm that would be designed to meet the nuclear weapons plant's energy needs. The Pantex Renewable Energy Project would be built on land in the vicinity of the plant and could generate surplus electrical power that could be sold to utilities, according to budget documents. Preliminary plans call for the wind farm to be built by 2012. The project's overall scope would depend on future funding, but plans call for enough wind turbines to generate up to 75 megawatts of electrical generating capacity. Initial funding would only support construction of a 10- to 15-megawatt system.

Jerome a Paris has an excellent (and long) article at TOD about the economics of wind power - The cost of wind, the price of wind, the value of wind. I'd like to try to clear some of the confusion that surrounds the economics of wind power, as it is often fed and used by the opponents of wind to dismiss it. As I noted recently, even the basic economics of energy markets are often wilfully misunderstood by commentators, so it's worth going in more detail through concepts like levelised cost and marginal cost, and identify how different electricity producers have different impacts on electricity (market) prices (which may or may not be reflected in retail prices) and have different externalities. Value for society of a generation source may also include other items that are harder to acount in purely monetary terms (and/or whose very value may be disputed), such as the long term risk of depletion of the fuel, or energy security issues, such as dependency on unstable and/or unfriendly foreign countries or vulnerable infrastructure.

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Green building of the week from Inhabitat is this vertical farm proposed for Vancouver - Amazing Skyscraper Farm for Vancouver. I'll believe vertical farms work when I see it, but I'd like to see one tried, purely for the sake of showing how successful they can (or can't) be. Vertical farms are one of our favorite future-forward concepts for creating sustainable cities. Providing locally-grown produce and food will not only help us reduce our carbon emissions significantly, but also help us become healthier. Romses Architects recently came up with an amazing concept for a vertical farm in Vancouver as part of the City's 2030 Challenge. Complete with a tower for growing fruits and vegetables, a livestock grazing plane, a boutique dairy farm, commercial space, transit lines, renewable energy and more, the Harvest Green Tower has the potential to be a food growing, energy producing, living, breathing sustainable transit hub.