The Future of Solar PV (Photovoltaic) Energy
1. The Problem
2. The Solution
3. The Results
4. The Benefits
5. An Investment in the Future
1. The Problem:
Traditional sources of electrical power generation are running out as production will peak in the next decade but demand will continue to rise. Energy prices will continue to rise at a higher rate as well as the number of outages during peak hours. There is the obvious problem of the pollution we are causing to our environment.
From my perspective, the world's energy needs vary greatly; there is no clear single solution to the problem of supplying the world's energy.
All forms of energy production have issues associated with them, i. e. -
1. Coal - Pollution/Strip Mining
2. Natural Gas - Cost and Lack of Infrastructure
3. Hydro - Limited Availability/Environmental Concerns
4. Wind - Limited Site and Resource Availability
5. Solar PV - Higher Cost
6. Nuclear – Waste disposal
2. The Solution:
Solar PV (Photovoltaic) systems effectively deliver three to five hours of peak power per day at roughly 10 Watts per square foot. Not one square inch of new land would be required to site PV. Theoretically, there are adequate residential, commercial, Government rooftops, and parking structures in California to power a substantial percentage of our State's electrical needs from solar.
In Southern California, solar produces a net energy gain in approximately three years. This means that within three years, PV systems begin producing more energy than the energy spent in producing the system and its raw materials. Best of all, the energy produced cost zero emissions.
At today's prices, a typical solar system costs approximately $8.00/watt, installed and has an operating life in excess of 25 years. For all intents and purposes, maintenance and operating costs are minimal. Now there are systems available for rent. Companies such as Citizenre at www.jointhesolution.com/rethink-solar allow you to create solar power of a unit that is installed, maintained and monitored by them. You merely pay the monthly rental fee for you clean electricity which is the same price as you pay the electric company for you electricity. Also they allow you to lock in a rate now for up to 25 years so you are paying the same price throughout the entire contract.
3. The Results:
Solar energy increases the diversity of power and adds stability to a fossil fuel favored energy structure, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
4. The Benefits:
-- Solar can be quickly deployed at the point of use, reducing the need for additional transmission and distribution infrastructure, and cost thereof.
-- Solar operates most efficiently at mid day, when grid demand is at its peak. By decreasing the strain during peak hours, the longevity of existing power plants and infrastructure is extended, lowering further the cost of energy production.
-- By deploying solar over time the cumulative effect of the installed base is impressive. Given its 25-year life, within 10 to 20 years, a respectable portion of California's energy could be supplied by solar.
-- Once installed, the cost is fixed. In comparison to traditional sources of energy, the fuel cost is nonexistent, and operational costs are limited. A solar system's cost is amortized over its life, there are no rate hikes due to fuel or operating cost increases.
5. An Investment in the Future:
There are some negatives. Presently, solar costs more than traditional energy generation. Its efficient use is limited to daylight hours unless storage is employed. Admittedly, the solar industry today is not large enough to address all of our needs. The solar industry does not have the financial influence to compete with existing utilities, which typically oppose PV, within political circles. (Industry revenues globally represent only 3.0B/year). Globally, the industry has experienced an annual growth rate in excess of 18% in over a decade. This rate of growth is equivalent to that of semiconductor, telecommunications and computer industries.
Clearly, there is no easy solution to California's energy problem. No doubt, a variety of technologies and tools are needed to ensure California's energy independence and security.
The Solar Industry Needs Your Support
For those interested in promoting a clean, safe and environmentally friendly source of energy, I urge you to write your representatives in the State and Federal Government. Make it clear you vote for representatives who support current legislation aimed at advancing the deployment of solar energy, such as the net metering law which allows the solar producer to feed surplus power onto the grid, causing the meter to spin backward, lowering the electric bill. Tax credits and deployment subsidies provide the revenues necessary to support research and development of more efficient solar systems.
Remember, in the 1970's the State of California enacted emission standards that surpassed the rest of the nation. The argument against these standards was the cost of such improvements. Almost 30 years later, the impact is in the air and reflected in the increased fuel economy of the vehicles we drive.
Solar energy is part of the solution and is a key to America's long-term energy supply. After all, fossil fuels have a long history of issues with respect to stability of supply and cost.
The Outlook of Solar Power is Bright!
1. Solar will sustain its torrid growth, as costs continue to fall. The solar market has grown at ~40% per annum in recent years, and there are many reasons to think that it will sustain, if not exceed, that clip in 2008. Solar panel prices have followed a predictable experience curve since the 1970’s, with prices dropping by 20% with each doubling of manufacturing capacity. As the silicon-dominated industry moves to thinner and higher-efficiency wafers, increases manufacturing scale, improves wafer and cell processing technologies, sees polysilicon prices return to rational levels, and migrates production to lower-cost countries –- costs will continue to drive towards parity with grid rates, and solar will become increasingly more attractive. Companies have developed creative PPA (power-purchase agreement) financing models to reduce or eliminate upfront installation costs, which will make solar more accessible for a wider range of corporate and residential customers. The election year should also see more state subsidy support for solar and a renewal of the federal tax credit, which will further bolster growth.
2. Emerging startups that benefit from the polysilicon supply shortage will face increased pressure, as the poly-Si crunch begins to ease. Solar veterans can debate the timing endlessly, but many expect additional poly-Si supply to come online by late 2008. Startups that tout silicon-independent solar solutions, like concentrators and thin film (CIGS, a-Si, CdTe, etc.), will face pressure to come to market more quickly, as their cost/supply advantages erode with greater availability of poly-Si and a retreat from spot-pricing. E.g., none of the CIGS thin-film startups, which have collectively received hundreds of millions in investment in recent years, managed to reach mass commercialization this past year as many had projected. They will continue to be under pressure to reach market before the window of opportunity closes.
3. Entrepreneurs will increasingly look beyond cell and module production. As the technology-heavy areas of cell and module production get crowded, more and more entrepreneurs look to startup opportunities in the downstream balance-of-systems part of the value chain. This area has seen less attention to date, yet makes up ~50% of the total installed cost. Novel packaging techniques, distributed inverter / MPP tracking / power management technologies, systems monitoring solutions, streamlining of the installation process, and creative solar financing models — entrepreneurs increasingly recognize the ripe opportunity in this part of the solar business, and 2008 should see heightened startup activity in this area.
4. China and India will begin to emerge as strong domestic markets for solar. With a 500 MW coal-fired plant going up in China every week, the growth of greenhouse gas emissions has reached dizzying levels. China already “boasts” 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, with hundreds of thousands a year dying prematurely from such pollution. Many experts expect that the government will spend tens of billions of dollars in the next 5-10 years –- a significant portion going to solar -– to reach the mandate of 15% from renewables by 2020. In India, where the energy shortfall has reached 15% and domestic coal reserves will run out in ~50 years, the government is actively pursuing incentive policies and feed-in tariffs to help drive the use of solar and other renewables. 2008 should see further policy refinement in both countries, which will spur increased domestic adoption of solar.
Few people doubt solar energy's potential, but many wonder when it will be reached. "In the long term, solar may well play an important role," Karg says. "I personally expect a contribution of 10 to 20% of the global electricity production, mainly in the form of grid-connected systems." However, he does not foresee that happening within the next 20 years.
Nevada Solar One
The sun sits high over the Nevada desert in the Eldorado Valley, gleaming off the upside down rows of mirrored parabolic trough collectors at the Nevada Solar One power plant.
At 64 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity, Nevada Solar One is the largest CSP plant to be built in 15 years. While the plant won't come online until April, its construction marks the revival of an industry that has seen almost no market growth in over a decade.
The plant was developed by Acciona Energy and Solargenix Energy -- two companies that have worked hard behind the scenes to get the CSP industry up and running again.
The plant uses parabolic trough collectors to generate electricity. The mirrored troughs face the sky and direct sunlight to a large metal and glass receiver in the middle of the trough that holds circulating oil. The oil travels to heat exchangers, which heat water and create steam to run a turbine. Parabolic troughs are one of three commercialized CSP technologies.
Further down the row of parabolic troughs, Plant Manager Bob Cable admires the impressive devices before him.
"I've been working with this technology for the last decade," Cable says. "I've seen some impressive gains in technological advancement, and now we're seeing more broad acceptance of the technology as the market becomes more attractive."
Indeed, after roughly a decade of little growth for the industry, CSP is coming back strong. And it's not just parabolic trough collectors that are experiencing a boom. Power towers, which use heliostats to focus solar energy on a central receiver to produce steam, and dish systems, which use reflectors to power a generator at the dish's focus point, are making great strides in technological capabilities, lower costs and market acceptance.
But according to Thomas Rueckert, Program Manager for CSP Management at the U.S. Department of Energy, parabolic troughs are the most advanced.
"Because of the track record [the parabolic trough industry] had in southern California with the 354 megawatts (MW) operating -- and actually improving in performance -- I think you're seeing the financial institutions more willing to embrace trough technology because it's proven and the risks are less," said Rueckert.
Rueckert was referring to the 354 MW of parabolic trough collectors installed in California's Mojave Desert between 1984 and 1990. Those plants are still operating today, currently producing energy at around $0.12-$0.14/ per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and proving the technology can provide clean, reliable energy to the grid.
The Nevada Solar One plant will produce electricity at around $0.15-$0.17/kWh. While those costs are double what area residents pay for electricity, Nevada Solar One will sell energy to two utilities through a power purchase agreement (PPA). The PPA will ensure a fixed cost for the electricity over a long period, making the solar power economical down the line.
Now that global investment in CSP is increasing, technology costs are decreasing and renewable portfolio standards (RPS) in the U.S. are requiring more solar generation, project costs for all CSP technologies should come down significantly in the coming years, said DOE's Rueckert.
"All of those things have really opened the door," he said. "And it's interesting that all three technologies are pushing forward, which was kind of unexpected."
Back at Nevada Solar One, Acciona Solar's Cohen stands before the group of reporters and members of the solar industry who have come to witness the rebirth of CSP.
"The potential is huge. It was difficult to get the attention of the financial institutions in the U.S., but right now we have their attention. We get a lot of people asking us, 'how can we develop this technology?'"
Dr. Alex Marker, Research Fellow for Schott North America, Inc., stands to the side of Cohen, nodding his head. Schott is certainly feeling the positive impact of increased CSP development. To meet the demand for its glass receivers, the company brought a new receiver manufacturing facility online in Germany last summer and is developing another facility in Spain that will come online in early 2008.
"I think [the market] is going to grow drastically," says Marker, looking over at the receivers in the troughs. "We're happy to be a part of this new development."
Now that financial institutions are noticing CSP, companies like Acciona and Solargenix will be able to tap into the vast resource potential in the Southwestern U.S.
According to figures from DOE's Solar Lab, 20,000 MW of CSP capacity could come online in the U.S. by 2020 with the proper investment and technological capabilities. Rueckert seemed optimistic that a large amount of those resources will be tapped.
"When this plant comes online next month, it's going to be a great success," he said. "The market is exploding and things are really taking off."
Indeed, a solar panel for your home, whether brand new, second hand or rented, is definitely a wise choice as it helps you in minimizing your electric bills, helps the worlds growing energy needs and is especially an environmentally healthy and helpful choice.
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Friday, June 3, 2011
The Environmental Book
Question:
What inspired you initially to begin your Trash Talk venture?
Answer:
As a society, we are bombarded with negative information about the environment and our resources constantly. Feeling powerless because we cannot afford to donate cash or time to a cause, we begin to feel overwhelmed by the immense environmental problems our world faces. Psychologists know that simply performing one positive action helps to define a positive outlook on life and will inspire further participation from the individual.
Question:
How long did the Trash Talk column run?
Answer:
The column began in 1999, and was published for about 5 years, before being compiled into Trash Talk. For the last couple of years, we have focused all our energies towards compiling the articles into a book that matched our expectations and the publisher's deadline. However, we continue to write articles, which are published across North America.
Question:
Why the title?
Answer:
We talk about trash so we simply called it Trash Talk. It was an eye-catching title for readers of our column, so we kept the title for the book. The concept of the book is to reduce, reuse or recycle items that were formally destined for the landfill. The idea of refusing to buy products with excessive packaging is another essential element discussed. You are sending a powerful message to manufacturers when their sales figures decrease.
Question:
What kind of book is Trash Talk?
Answer:
Firstly, Trash Talk is meant to inspire participation from the individual in easing the world's environmental strain. The entire book is focused on bringing the reader inspiring facts, useful ideas, and a real sense of hope. We show how recycling benefits us all and discuss how the 4-R's of waste management are implemented. By treating waste as a resource, the reader will save money and better the environment.
Question:
Where is the likely readership? What type of person would be attracted to this book?
Answer:
Anyone that creates waste, that likes to save money and who would like to lessen their personal impact on the environment would get something very useful out of this book.
Anyone who is feeling overwhelmed or depressed about the state of the earth can find some comfort in our pages. Individuals and businesses will learn how to save money and time. Our financial consultant tells us that if people could find a way to save just $7 a day they could contribute to their retirement monthly. We show people how to accomplish this simply by improving their waste and resource management.
Question:
What is the sales potential of the book? What are the interests of the book?
Answer:
Zero Waste initiatives are gaining popularity in communities across North America. Education systems are teaching recycling and environmental sciences in their curriculum. The last time we checked - landfills were not getting any smaller. It is in the best interest of all of us on this planet to make it as healthy and non-toxic as possible in order to remain. With this in mind, we felt it was vitally important to have this book published, aiding communities in their waste reduction efforts.
Question:
What makes this book unique?
Answer:
Trash Talk is about implementing the Refuse-Reduce-Reuse tactics first, in that order, before even considering recycling. In this, we are not trying to pronounce that recycling is a negative approach by any means - more a final solution when all other options have been considered. By taking matters into our own hands we can ease the burden that is upon the recycling industry, decrease our own household costs and help preserve our resources.
In all our research, we could find only four, or five, books on this subject throughout North America. Most of these are regionally based and were written up to 10 years ago. We have written Trash Talk for a wider, North American audience. We included a list of over 140 magazines, Internet sites, books and reports that were used in the writing process, as well as providing statistics throughout the book.
It is focused on providing the reader with a sense of hope and the knowledge that their actions have a direct impact on their own pocketbook as well as the health of the community. In fact, many chapters close with a list of the direct benefits attained by taking the suggested actions and the chapters can be read in any order.
Question:
Why should anyone care?
Answer:
We think it is vital that people recognize the volume of waste generated in homes and businesses. Each bag sent to the landfill increases municipal costs and the need to create new landfill space. The ideas in this book will help individuals and businesses to not only manage their waste and resource consumption, but also purchase less.
We show readers how to turn their yards into organic, wildlife paradises. Individuals will learn how to increase the value of their real estate. Employers will learn new ways of decreasing sick days and increasing staff production.
Communities will learn how to reduce smog and waste issues. Each - and every one -of these things we just mentioned can have a huge effect on the financial state and health of people within our communities.
Question:
What makes this book so enjoyable that people keep referring back to it?
Answer:
The hands-on reuse ideas make it easy to start right away with simple projects around the home or office that make a difference. The positive approach gives the feeling that there is hope and that no matter how small you start it is just that - a start. In no time, the inclination to look at anything twice before discarding it will be a reflex action. Because readers learn of the direct benefits of each action they make, we hope they will find the courage to further their management journey. This book could very well be one of the best tools for individuals and businesses to meet Zero Waste goals.
Question:
What is the best way to get started in recycling?
Answer:
Returnable bottles and cans are probably the easiest to begin with, and have the additional incentive of receiving money for bringing them to the depot. All office paper, envelopes, cereal boxes, newspaper and junk mail can be put in one box and taken to the depot. Cardboard is also easily recycled. However, not all glass is recyclable. Very few depots accept ceramics or drinking glasses. Because mixed glass is less valuable than separated colors, many depots require glass to be sorted by color. Tin cans and aluminum foil can be put in another box. Labels on jars and cans are also recyclable.
It is easiest to start recycling these resources. When the family becomes used to these, they can consider recycling plastics, metals and many other things. Recycling is the first step in taking responsible measures to deal with our waste problems.
Question:
Do you have outlets for all your recycled items?
Answer:
Most communities have big recycling bins, reuse centers and take-it-back programs available for the public. There are differences in each depot. For instance, some require labels to be taken off cans and bottles - others do not. Some accept all rigid plastics from #1-#7 - others accept only translucent milk jugs. It is important to become familiar with local depot requirements because the wrong thing can ruin the whole bin.
Question:
How does one "save time and money"? Provide some examples of how reuse works.
Answer:
Even before recycling, a plastic container can be reused for various storage means numerous times. This means the container is not going to the landfill, contributing increasing municipal costs and loss of land. The individual saves money by not purchasing a storage container.
What inspired you initially to begin your Trash Talk venture?
Answer:
As a society, we are bombarded with negative information about the environment and our resources constantly. Feeling powerless because we cannot afford to donate cash or time to a cause, we begin to feel overwhelmed by the immense environmental problems our world faces. Psychologists know that simply performing one positive action helps to define a positive outlook on life and will inspire further participation from the individual.
Question:
How long did the Trash Talk column run?
Answer:
The column began in 1999, and was published for about 5 years, before being compiled into Trash Talk. For the last couple of years, we have focused all our energies towards compiling the articles into a book that matched our expectations and the publisher's deadline. However, we continue to write articles, which are published across North America.
Question:
Why the title?
Answer:
We talk about trash so we simply called it Trash Talk. It was an eye-catching title for readers of our column, so we kept the title for the book. The concept of the book is to reduce, reuse or recycle items that were formally destined for the landfill. The idea of refusing to buy products with excessive packaging is another essential element discussed. You are sending a powerful message to manufacturers when their sales figures decrease.
Question:
What kind of book is Trash Talk?
Answer:
Firstly, Trash Talk is meant to inspire participation from the individual in easing the world's environmental strain. The entire book is focused on bringing the reader inspiring facts, useful ideas, and a real sense of hope. We show how recycling benefits us all and discuss how the 4-R's of waste management are implemented. By treating waste as a resource, the reader will save money and better the environment.
Question:
Where is the likely readership? What type of person would be attracted to this book?
Answer:
Anyone that creates waste, that likes to save money and who would like to lessen their personal impact on the environment would get something very useful out of this book.
Anyone who is feeling overwhelmed or depressed about the state of the earth can find some comfort in our pages. Individuals and businesses will learn how to save money and time. Our financial consultant tells us that if people could find a way to save just $7 a day they could contribute to their retirement monthly. We show people how to accomplish this simply by improving their waste and resource management.
Question:
What is the sales potential of the book? What are the interests of the book?
Answer:
Zero Waste initiatives are gaining popularity in communities across North America. Education systems are teaching recycling and environmental sciences in their curriculum. The last time we checked - landfills were not getting any smaller. It is in the best interest of all of us on this planet to make it as healthy and non-toxic as possible in order to remain. With this in mind, we felt it was vitally important to have this book published, aiding communities in their waste reduction efforts.
Question:
What makes this book unique?
Answer:
Trash Talk is about implementing the Refuse-Reduce-Reuse tactics first, in that order, before even considering recycling. In this, we are not trying to pronounce that recycling is a negative approach by any means - more a final solution when all other options have been considered. By taking matters into our own hands we can ease the burden that is upon the recycling industry, decrease our own household costs and help preserve our resources.
In all our research, we could find only four, or five, books on this subject throughout North America. Most of these are regionally based and were written up to 10 years ago. We have written Trash Talk for a wider, North American audience. We included a list of over 140 magazines, Internet sites, books and reports that were used in the writing process, as well as providing statistics throughout the book.
It is focused on providing the reader with a sense of hope and the knowledge that their actions have a direct impact on their own pocketbook as well as the health of the community. In fact, many chapters close with a list of the direct benefits attained by taking the suggested actions and the chapters can be read in any order.
Question:
Why should anyone care?
Answer:
We think it is vital that people recognize the volume of waste generated in homes and businesses. Each bag sent to the landfill increases municipal costs and the need to create new landfill space. The ideas in this book will help individuals and businesses to not only manage their waste and resource consumption, but also purchase less.
We show readers how to turn their yards into organic, wildlife paradises. Individuals will learn how to increase the value of their real estate. Employers will learn new ways of decreasing sick days and increasing staff production.
Communities will learn how to reduce smog and waste issues. Each - and every one -of these things we just mentioned can have a huge effect on the financial state and health of people within our communities.
Question:
What makes this book so enjoyable that people keep referring back to it?
Answer:
The hands-on reuse ideas make it easy to start right away with simple projects around the home or office that make a difference. The positive approach gives the feeling that there is hope and that no matter how small you start it is just that - a start. In no time, the inclination to look at anything twice before discarding it will be a reflex action. Because readers learn of the direct benefits of each action they make, we hope they will find the courage to further their management journey. This book could very well be one of the best tools for individuals and businesses to meet Zero Waste goals.
Question:
What is the best way to get started in recycling?
Answer:
Returnable bottles and cans are probably the easiest to begin with, and have the additional incentive of receiving money for bringing them to the depot. All office paper, envelopes, cereal boxes, newspaper and junk mail can be put in one box and taken to the depot. Cardboard is also easily recycled. However, not all glass is recyclable. Very few depots accept ceramics or drinking glasses. Because mixed glass is less valuable than separated colors, many depots require glass to be sorted by color. Tin cans and aluminum foil can be put in another box. Labels on jars and cans are also recyclable.
It is easiest to start recycling these resources. When the family becomes used to these, they can consider recycling plastics, metals and many other things. Recycling is the first step in taking responsible measures to deal with our waste problems.
Question:
Do you have outlets for all your recycled items?
Answer:
Most communities have big recycling bins, reuse centers and take-it-back programs available for the public. There are differences in each depot. For instance, some require labels to be taken off cans and bottles - others do not. Some accept all rigid plastics from #1-#7 - others accept only translucent milk jugs. It is important to become familiar with local depot requirements because the wrong thing can ruin the whole bin.
Question:
How does one "save time and money"? Provide some examples of how reuse works.
Answer:
Even before recycling, a plastic container can be reused for various storage means numerous times. This means the container is not going to the landfill, contributing increasing municipal costs and loss of land. The individual saves money by not purchasing a storage container.
Wind Power
We live in an energy conscious world today and more and more people are seeking ways to reduce carbon emissions and help protect the environment. Cutting down on fossil fuels and the use of renewable energy is a key part of protecting our planet.
Wind power has emerged as one of the most effective ways of harnessing the Earth's natural resources to produce a clean form of energy that doesn't damage our environment.
As oil prices continue to rise and pressure mounts to cut down on carbon emissions, the benefits of wind power and other alternative energy sources are becoming more and more apparent.
According to experts, wind power could meet 10 per cent of the world's electricity within 20 years, even if the amount of electricity used doubled. At present, the annual growth rate of wind power is more than 40 per cent and it should soon supply electricity to 100 million people worldwide. Europe is currently the world leader when it comes to wind power with Germany and Spain providing the most electricity through wind power. The United States is third on the list, followed by India and Denmark.
Wind power is the fastest growing source of alternative energy in the United States and around the world. Every year, more an more households get their electricity through wind power. However, this cheap and clean source of energy is still only being used to a fraction of its potential. However, this is likely to change in the next few years for a number of reasons.
Wind power is clean
The chief advantage of wind power is that it is clean. There is no smoke, no fumes, no smog and no dirty air for us to breath. A turbine simply harnesses the energy of the wind and produces electricity without producing any waste whatsoever.
Wind power can produce electricity that can be fed directly to homes and factories, replacing the power supplied by major power plants. Today, power plants are among the biggest polluters in the United States. However, a single 1-MW wind turbine can save on 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide in one year. This is the same of planting one square mile of forest. And that is just from one turbine, imagine what one hundred turbines will do to help save our environment.
Wind power is cheap
Wind is free so wind energy is cheap. In fact, it is the most competitive of all the renewable energy sources when it comes to cost and can easily rival the cost of other more tradition fuels like gas or oil.
Wind power is a relatively new technology and at the outset it was quite an expensive source of power. However, developments in the technology means that costs have reduced drastically and are continuing to fall. Meanwhile, the cost of power provide by fossil fuels is going up so wind power is likely to become the cheapest for of electricity in the near future. And once it becomes the cheapest, we can expect to see a significant rise in the number of wind farms in the United States.
Wind power is local
Wind is everywhere so there is the potential to build wind farms anywhere. Of course, some areas are better than others for harnessing wind power but the ability to have wind power as a local source of energy is a real plus. It can save on miles and miles of cabling, provide jobs and investment in local areas, and generally boost local economies.
Wind power also benefits society on a wider level. It makes for a cleaner environment which means healthier people and fewer air pollution-related medical problems. It can also be put in place quickly, cheaply and easily to deliver a reliable source of energy in a relatively short space of time.
Wider issues
The future of wind power is affected by any number of larger, global environmental and geo-political issues. With world leaders currently developing a new agreement on how the world is going to tackle climate change, a number of major changes can be expected in the world's energy supply. A move to greener, cleaner sources of energy is inevitable.
This signals a busy future for wind power. At the moment we have barely scratched the surface of this valuable resource. In the United States, wind power supplies less than 1 per cent of the country's total electricity needs. However, there is the potential to have 60 per cent of electricity supplied by wind power, and the figures are similar on a global scale.
So, in the coming years we are likely to see the number of wind farms around the world rocket as more and more countries harness this clean and cheap source of electricity.
Wind power has emerged as one of the most effective ways of harnessing the Earth's natural resources to produce a clean form of energy that doesn't damage our environment.
As oil prices continue to rise and pressure mounts to cut down on carbon emissions, the benefits of wind power and other alternative energy sources are becoming more and more apparent.
According to experts, wind power could meet 10 per cent of the world's electricity within 20 years, even if the amount of electricity used doubled. At present, the annual growth rate of wind power is more than 40 per cent and it should soon supply electricity to 100 million people worldwide. Europe is currently the world leader when it comes to wind power with Germany and Spain providing the most electricity through wind power. The United States is third on the list, followed by India and Denmark.
Wind power is the fastest growing source of alternative energy in the United States and around the world. Every year, more an more households get their electricity through wind power. However, this cheap and clean source of energy is still only being used to a fraction of its potential. However, this is likely to change in the next few years for a number of reasons.
Wind power is clean
The chief advantage of wind power is that it is clean. There is no smoke, no fumes, no smog and no dirty air for us to breath. A turbine simply harnesses the energy of the wind and produces electricity without producing any waste whatsoever.
Wind power can produce electricity that can be fed directly to homes and factories, replacing the power supplied by major power plants. Today, power plants are among the biggest polluters in the United States. However, a single 1-MW wind turbine can save on 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide in one year. This is the same of planting one square mile of forest. And that is just from one turbine, imagine what one hundred turbines will do to help save our environment.
Wind power is cheap
Wind is free so wind energy is cheap. In fact, it is the most competitive of all the renewable energy sources when it comes to cost and can easily rival the cost of other more tradition fuels like gas or oil.
Wind power is a relatively new technology and at the outset it was quite an expensive source of power. However, developments in the technology means that costs have reduced drastically and are continuing to fall. Meanwhile, the cost of power provide by fossil fuels is going up so wind power is likely to become the cheapest for of electricity in the near future. And once it becomes the cheapest, we can expect to see a significant rise in the number of wind farms in the United States.
Wind power is local
Wind is everywhere so there is the potential to build wind farms anywhere. Of course, some areas are better than others for harnessing wind power but the ability to have wind power as a local source of energy is a real plus. It can save on miles and miles of cabling, provide jobs and investment in local areas, and generally boost local economies.
Wind power also benefits society on a wider level. It makes for a cleaner environment which means healthier people and fewer air pollution-related medical problems. It can also be put in place quickly, cheaply and easily to deliver a reliable source of energy in a relatively short space of time.
Wider issues
The future of wind power is affected by any number of larger, global environmental and geo-political issues. With world leaders currently developing a new agreement on how the world is going to tackle climate change, a number of major changes can be expected in the world's energy supply. A move to greener, cleaner sources of energy is inevitable.
This signals a busy future for wind power. At the moment we have barely scratched the surface of this valuable resource. In the United States, wind power supplies less than 1 per cent of the country's total electricity needs. However, there is the potential to have 60 per cent of electricity supplied by wind power, and the figures are similar on a global scale.
So, in the coming years we are likely to see the number of wind farms around the world rocket as more and more countries harness this clean and cheap source of electricity.
Future Energy
With global warming, general pollution and rising fuel prices, our future energy needs are a hot topic. Fuel cells may represent a solution, one coming sooner than later.
Future Energy Concepts – The Fuel Cell
A fuel cell is a fairly vague phrase thrown around by those in the know and those that know relatively little. Regardless of the particular design, a fuel cell is essentially a cell similar to a battery in which a chemical process occurs to produce electricity. In this case, however, the fuel is hydrogen. The basic idea is to combine hydrogen with oxygen in a process that produces electricity. This electricity is then used as we would normally use it in our lives.
If you read the paper or watch the news, one would think the concept of hydrogen fuels in a new one. In fact, it is not. The first one was created in 1839. The problem, of course, was it was inefficient and there wasn’t much interest since fossil fuels were plentiful and our energy needs were tiny compared to today. It wasn’t until the 1960s that much interest was shown in the energy platform. As with many advances, NASA decided to use fuel cells to power the Gemini and Apollo spacecrafts. Unfortunately, the trick has been translating this limited use to wide spread applications in daily life.
A common misconception is a fuel cell represents renewable energy. Very clearly, it does not. It is a device, not an energy platform. It is like saying a hydroelectric dam is a renewable energy. The dam is a machine to harness a renewable energy resource, but not an energy source in and of itself. The fuel cell works much the same way. It is a methodology for harnessing energy from hydrogen. The particular method can be clean or dirty, to wit, one can use water or coal for the base material. Obviously, coal is not much help.
Fuel cells can be run, in theory, on any material containing hydrogen. This means renewable energy sources such as hydrogen, biogas, and so on. The primary goal is to focus on water and other renewable sources because of their inherent clean advantages. When hydrogen is used, for instance, it produces no tangible pollution or greenhouse gases. The byproduct, instead, is simply water.
There are a few hurdles that must be overcome before hydrogen fuel cells really become a viable energy platform. First, the technology is such that the fuel cells are far too large and heavy to be used for practical purposes. The infamous hydrogen car is not currently viable because of this, although test cars from primarily German manufacturers are being evaluated. The second problem is efficiency, which is to say fuel cells are not. Currently, fuel cells produce energy at a cost of about 10 times that of fossil fuels, and that is a positive estimate. Again, not a viable option.
While these may seem like significant hurdles, they actually point to the viability of hydrogen fuel cells as a power source. These problems are focused on technical aspects of delivery, not on whether the process works. If there is anything we are good at as a species, it is making technological breakthroughs. If we can build a hydrogen nuclear weapon, surely we can build a hydrogen fuel cell.
Future Energy Concepts – The Fuel Cell
A fuel cell is a fairly vague phrase thrown around by those in the know and those that know relatively little. Regardless of the particular design, a fuel cell is essentially a cell similar to a battery in which a chemical process occurs to produce electricity. In this case, however, the fuel is hydrogen. The basic idea is to combine hydrogen with oxygen in a process that produces electricity. This electricity is then used as we would normally use it in our lives.
If you read the paper or watch the news, one would think the concept of hydrogen fuels in a new one. In fact, it is not. The first one was created in 1839. The problem, of course, was it was inefficient and there wasn’t much interest since fossil fuels were plentiful and our energy needs were tiny compared to today. It wasn’t until the 1960s that much interest was shown in the energy platform. As with many advances, NASA decided to use fuel cells to power the Gemini and Apollo spacecrafts. Unfortunately, the trick has been translating this limited use to wide spread applications in daily life.
A common misconception is a fuel cell represents renewable energy. Very clearly, it does not. It is a device, not an energy platform. It is like saying a hydroelectric dam is a renewable energy. The dam is a machine to harness a renewable energy resource, but not an energy source in and of itself. The fuel cell works much the same way. It is a methodology for harnessing energy from hydrogen. The particular method can be clean or dirty, to wit, one can use water or coal for the base material. Obviously, coal is not much help.
Fuel cells can be run, in theory, on any material containing hydrogen. This means renewable energy sources such as hydrogen, biogas, and so on. The primary goal is to focus on water and other renewable sources because of their inherent clean advantages. When hydrogen is used, for instance, it produces no tangible pollution or greenhouse gases. The byproduct, instead, is simply water.
There are a few hurdles that must be overcome before hydrogen fuel cells really become a viable energy platform. First, the technology is such that the fuel cells are far too large and heavy to be used for practical purposes. The infamous hydrogen car is not currently viable because of this, although test cars from primarily German manufacturers are being evaluated. The second problem is efficiency, which is to say fuel cells are not. Currently, fuel cells produce energy at a cost of about 10 times that of fossil fuels, and that is a positive estimate. Again, not a viable option.
While these may seem like significant hurdles, they actually point to the viability of hydrogen fuel cells as a power source. These problems are focused on technical aspects of delivery, not on whether the process works. If there is anything we are good at as a species, it is making technological breakthroughs. If we can build a hydrogen nuclear weapon, surely we can build a hydrogen fuel cell.
About Recycling
At home, at work and at school, Americans have successfully engaged in recycling programs--and one of the best success stories is paper.
In 2005, a record-high 51.5 percent (51.3 million tons) of all paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling. The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) hopes to increase that number and has set an ambitious goal of 55 percent recovery by 2012.
Every American can do his or her part. Although each community's recycling programs may be different, you can generally recycle newspapers, corrugated containers (cardboard), direct mail, magazines and catalogs. Check with your local municipality to find out what you can and cannot recycle.
The AF&PA Recycling Awards were created to recognize outstanding individual, business community and school paper recycling efforts. In 2006, the program was expanded to include a category for schools.
This year's award winners are:
Ed Hurley Memorial Paper Recycling Award (for individual achievement)
• Joel Ostroff, Macon County, North Carolina
AF&PA Business Leadership Recycling Awards
• Small Business: Bluegrass Regional Recycling Corporation, Richmond, Kentucky
• Large Business: Brewer Science, Inc., Rolla, Missouri
AF&PA Community Recycling Awards
• Small Community: North-field, Minnesota
• Large Community: Seattle, Washington
AF&PA School Recycling Awards
• Classroom: Heber Springs High School, Heber Springs, Arkansas
• Schoolwide: Mountain Home High School, Mountain Home, Arkansas
• College & University: tie between the University of Colorado at Boulder in Boulder, Colorado, and the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon
"This year's Recycling Award winners have exhibited innovation and social responsibility," said AF&PA President & CEO W. Henson Moore. "Their accomplishments in recycling have set new precedents."
In 2005, a record-high 51.5 percent (51.3 million tons) of all paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling. The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) hopes to increase that number and has set an ambitious goal of 55 percent recovery by 2012.
Every American can do his or her part. Although each community's recycling programs may be different, you can generally recycle newspapers, corrugated containers (cardboard), direct mail, magazines and catalogs. Check with your local municipality to find out what you can and cannot recycle.
The AF&PA Recycling Awards were created to recognize outstanding individual, business community and school paper recycling efforts. In 2006, the program was expanded to include a category for schools.
This year's award winners are:
Ed Hurley Memorial Paper Recycling Award (for individual achievement)
• Joel Ostroff, Macon County, North Carolina
AF&PA Business Leadership Recycling Awards
• Small Business: Bluegrass Regional Recycling Corporation, Richmond, Kentucky
• Large Business: Brewer Science, Inc., Rolla, Missouri
AF&PA Community Recycling Awards
• Small Community: North-field, Minnesota
• Large Community: Seattle, Washington
AF&PA School Recycling Awards
• Classroom: Heber Springs High School, Heber Springs, Arkansas
• Schoolwide: Mountain Home High School, Mountain Home, Arkansas
• College & University: tie between the University of Colorado at Boulder in Boulder, Colorado, and the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon
"This year's Recycling Award winners have exhibited innovation and social responsibility," said AF&PA President & CEO W. Henson Moore. "Their accomplishments in recycling have set new precedents."
Bio-Fuels
Biomass burning has an overall impact on the atmospheric chemistry as well as the climate. When there is a fire in the savannas, or tropical forests, or like the recent California fire, large quantities of particulate matter and trace gases are released.
Biomass fuel is also known as Bio-fuel. Bio-fuel is defined as liquid, solid or gaseous fuel that consists of biomass. Biomass fuels can be used for generating power and also for heating purposes.
Biomass fuels can help greatly in reducing the various greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time can increase energy security by being an alternative to fossil fuels. Today, you will find expansion of bio-fuel industries in Asia, Europe, and America.
Bio-fuels are most commonly used in automotive transport like the E10 fuel. They can easily be produced from any source containing carbon like plants. Biomass is mostly derived from living organisms, which includes animals, plants, and their by-products. Manure, crop residues and garden waste are some of the different sources of biomass. This is a renewable energy source that is associated to the carbon cycle as compared to various natural resources like coal, petroleum, and nuclear energy.
Some of the most popular agricultural products that are grown for the purpose of creating Bio-fuel in the United States are soybeans and corn while Europe uses wheat, rapeseed and sugar beet; sugar cane is grown in Brazil, Jatropha in India and palm oil in South-East Asia.
In the early part of 2007, Diversified Energy Corporation with the help of North Carolina State University (NCSU) geared itself for a breakthrough in biofuel technology, which has been named Centia. Centia has been positioned for producing military and commercial jet fuel and can even act as a biodiesel additive in cold or freezing weather. The process of developing Centia looks promising and is expected to deliver a high energy efficiency level that can be in excess of 85%.
There are a wide variety of scientific experiments being conducted, globally, to produce a viable bio-fuel that will be efficient and environmentally friendly. Scientists have started to look beyond the bio-fuels and started to work on the various byproducts of bio-fuel that can be used and even consumed as food in our daily lives.
Considered as an integral part of the green revolution, bio-fuels offer quite a few advantages over other fossil fuels like coal and petroleum. Bio fuels have the ability to recycle carbon dioxide with every growing season by getting it from the air to convert it into biomass. So unlike coal, which upon burning releases carbon, biomass in a way traps all the carbon that is in the air. This is an important aspect from the point of view of global warming because it doesn’t release any carbon components into the air. The biggest advantage over conventional fuel is that bio-fuel is renewable and hence they will not deplete the limited natural resources of our planet.
Common Biomass Fuels
Here is a list of some of the most common first generation Biomass fuels:
Vegetable oil
Vegetable oil is used for cooking food and also as a fuel. Vegetable oil is not high quality oil for fuel use but it is still used in older diesel engines, which are equipped with an indirect injection system.
In most of the cases, vegetable oil is used for manufacturing bio-diesel that is compatible with most of the diesel engines. It is normally blended with conventional diesel fuel for optimum efficiency.
Bio-diesel
Bio-diesel is one of the most common Bio-fuels in Europe. It is produced mainly from fats or oils using the process of trans-esterification. It is a liquid that has a similar composition like that of mineral diesel. The chemical name for bio-diesel is fatty acid methyl ester (FAME).
The oil is mixed with methanol or ethanol and sodium hydroxide, which initiates a chemical reaction to produce glycerol and bio-diesel (FAME). The process produces 1 part of glycerol per 10 parts of bio-diesel.
Bio-diesel is extensively used in diesel engines after it is blended with mineral diesel. Some countries like Germany have manufacturers Volkswagen, who provide a cover on their diesel engines as a part of their warranty for 100% bio-diesel use.
A majority of vehicle manufacturers still limit to use of 15% bio-diesel blended with mineral diesel. In some of the European countries, 5% bio-diesel blend is widely used and even available at gas stations
Bio-ethanol
Ethanol is one of the most common Bio-fuels across the world. It is also known as an alcohol fuel and is produced by fermenting sugars, which are derived from corn, wheat, sugar cane and sugar beet. The various production methods for ethanol are fermentation of the sugars, enzymatic digestion, distillation and drying.
The use of Ethanol has been widely seen in petrol engines where it replaces gasoline. Almost all the petrol engines in the world can run on 15% blends of bio-ethanol with gasoline.
With an eye on the diminishing natural resources, its time for us to usher in the bio-fuel era!
Biomass fuel is also known as Bio-fuel. Bio-fuel is defined as liquid, solid or gaseous fuel that consists of biomass. Biomass fuels can be used for generating power and also for heating purposes.
Biomass fuels can help greatly in reducing the various greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time can increase energy security by being an alternative to fossil fuels. Today, you will find expansion of bio-fuel industries in Asia, Europe, and America.
Bio-fuels are most commonly used in automotive transport like the E10 fuel. They can easily be produced from any source containing carbon like plants. Biomass is mostly derived from living organisms, which includes animals, plants, and their by-products. Manure, crop residues and garden waste are some of the different sources of biomass. This is a renewable energy source that is associated to the carbon cycle as compared to various natural resources like coal, petroleum, and nuclear energy.
Some of the most popular agricultural products that are grown for the purpose of creating Bio-fuel in the United States are soybeans and corn while Europe uses wheat, rapeseed and sugar beet; sugar cane is grown in Brazil, Jatropha in India and palm oil in South-East Asia.
In the early part of 2007, Diversified Energy Corporation with the help of North Carolina State University (NCSU) geared itself for a breakthrough in biofuel technology, which has been named Centia. Centia has been positioned for producing military and commercial jet fuel and can even act as a biodiesel additive in cold or freezing weather. The process of developing Centia looks promising and is expected to deliver a high energy efficiency level that can be in excess of 85%.
There are a wide variety of scientific experiments being conducted, globally, to produce a viable bio-fuel that will be efficient and environmentally friendly. Scientists have started to look beyond the bio-fuels and started to work on the various byproducts of bio-fuel that can be used and even consumed as food in our daily lives.
Considered as an integral part of the green revolution, bio-fuels offer quite a few advantages over other fossil fuels like coal and petroleum. Bio fuels have the ability to recycle carbon dioxide with every growing season by getting it from the air to convert it into biomass. So unlike coal, which upon burning releases carbon, biomass in a way traps all the carbon that is in the air. This is an important aspect from the point of view of global warming because it doesn’t release any carbon components into the air. The biggest advantage over conventional fuel is that bio-fuel is renewable and hence they will not deplete the limited natural resources of our planet.
Common Biomass Fuels
Here is a list of some of the most common first generation Biomass fuels:
Vegetable oil
Vegetable oil is used for cooking food and also as a fuel. Vegetable oil is not high quality oil for fuel use but it is still used in older diesel engines, which are equipped with an indirect injection system.
In most of the cases, vegetable oil is used for manufacturing bio-diesel that is compatible with most of the diesel engines. It is normally blended with conventional diesel fuel for optimum efficiency.
Bio-diesel
Bio-diesel is one of the most common Bio-fuels in Europe. It is produced mainly from fats or oils using the process of trans-esterification. It is a liquid that has a similar composition like that of mineral diesel. The chemical name for bio-diesel is fatty acid methyl ester (FAME).
The oil is mixed with methanol or ethanol and sodium hydroxide, which initiates a chemical reaction to produce glycerol and bio-diesel (FAME). The process produces 1 part of glycerol per 10 parts of bio-diesel.
Bio-diesel is extensively used in diesel engines after it is blended with mineral diesel. Some countries like Germany have manufacturers Volkswagen, who provide a cover on their diesel engines as a part of their warranty for 100% bio-diesel use.
A majority of vehicle manufacturers still limit to use of 15% bio-diesel blended with mineral diesel. In some of the European countries, 5% bio-diesel blend is widely used and even available at gas stations
Bio-ethanol
Ethanol is one of the most common Bio-fuels across the world. It is also known as an alcohol fuel and is produced by fermenting sugars, which are derived from corn, wheat, sugar cane and sugar beet. The various production methods for ethanol are fermentation of the sugars, enzymatic digestion, distillation and drying.
The use of Ethanol has been widely seen in petrol engines where it replaces gasoline. Almost all the petrol engines in the world can run on 15% blends of bio-ethanol with gasoline.
With an eye on the diminishing natural resources, its time for us to usher in the bio-fuel era!
Bio Pyramid
In the ongoing energy debate, biomass energy is getting a lot of play among politicians. To understand the concept, it first helps to understand the bio pyramid.
Bio Pyramid
All of the organisms in the world follow orders of classification. Whether you choose to put them into groups of plants and animals, herbivores and carnivores, or any other of the many different types of classification systems, organisms can be put into many groups in order to understand their relationship to one another. One way to classify organisms is to put them into their order, or hierarchy, in the food chain. In this way, we can see how animals and other organisms relate to each other based on what they consume.
There are several different ways to look at the food chain, and one important and useful tool in this area is the bio pyramid. A bio pyramid is a graphical chart that shows the comparative mass of the consumers to the producers in the food chain. This can be helpful in determining how energy is transferred to the top levels of the pyramid from the bottom levels.
Each level in a bio pyramid is composed of a trophic level. Trophic levels are groupings of different “consumer” groups, such as primary producers (usually just plants or other photosynthetic organisms) rising all the way up to carnivores (such as humans). While a typical biological pyramid might group these consumers in order of energy produced, a bio pyramid shows them in order of total mass from highest to lowest. This often means that the primary consumers, such as the plants, are at the bottom because they are more numerous and take up more mass. The levels are built upon then by how many upper level organisms could survive based on the level below. An example can be seen in this sea bio pyramid:
It would take 1,000,000 kg of phytoplankton (1st level), to feed 100,000 kg of zooplankton (2nd level), to feed 10,000 kg of shrimp (3rd level), to finally feed 1,000 kg of large fish. The final level, the 5th, would only be able to have 100 kg of shark supported by the levels below.
In this way, a bio pyramid shows the inefficiency of the food chain, and lets researchers know that if a level was able to be skipped (such as a shark dipping down and eating shrimp instead of fish), more energy would be conserved and the food chain would lose less energy along the way. Given this fact, a bio pyramid is an important tool when looking at the laws of conservation of energy among different classes of organisms.
Bio Pyramid
All of the organisms in the world follow orders of classification. Whether you choose to put them into groups of plants and animals, herbivores and carnivores, or any other of the many different types of classification systems, organisms can be put into many groups in order to understand their relationship to one another. One way to classify organisms is to put them into their order, or hierarchy, in the food chain. In this way, we can see how animals and other organisms relate to each other based on what they consume.
There are several different ways to look at the food chain, and one important and useful tool in this area is the bio pyramid. A bio pyramid is a graphical chart that shows the comparative mass of the consumers to the producers in the food chain. This can be helpful in determining how energy is transferred to the top levels of the pyramid from the bottom levels.
Each level in a bio pyramid is composed of a trophic level. Trophic levels are groupings of different “consumer” groups, such as primary producers (usually just plants or other photosynthetic organisms) rising all the way up to carnivores (such as humans). While a typical biological pyramid might group these consumers in order of energy produced, a bio pyramid shows them in order of total mass from highest to lowest. This often means that the primary consumers, such as the plants, are at the bottom because they are more numerous and take up more mass. The levels are built upon then by how many upper level organisms could survive based on the level below. An example can be seen in this sea bio pyramid:
It would take 1,000,000 kg of phytoplankton (1st level), to feed 100,000 kg of zooplankton (2nd level), to feed 10,000 kg of shrimp (3rd level), to finally feed 1,000 kg of large fish. The final level, the 5th, would only be able to have 100 kg of shark supported by the levels below.
In this way, a bio pyramid shows the inefficiency of the food chain, and lets researchers know that if a level was able to be skipped (such as a shark dipping down and eating shrimp instead of fish), more energy would be conserved and the food chain would lose less energy along the way. Given this fact, a bio pyramid is an important tool when looking at the laws of conservation of energy among different classes of organisms.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Green Recovery
Our economy is in trouble. Falling home prices, foreclosures, bank failures, a weaker dollar, rising prices for gas, food, and steel, and layoffs in banking, construction, and manufacturing sectors are all indicators of serious economic strain—following a long period in which the middle class went nowhere even while the economy grew as a whole. What’s more, evidence suggests the current downturn will continue for at least another year.
At the same time, we face a growing climate crisis that will require us to rapidly invest in new energy infrastructure, cleaner sources of power, and more efficient use of electricity and fuels in order to cut global warming pollution. There is much work to be done in building smart solutions at a scale and speed that is bold enough to meet this gathering challenge.
It is time for a new vision for the economic revitalization of the nation and a restoration of American leadership in the world. We must seize this precious opportunity to mobilize the country and the international community toward a brighter, more prosperous future. At the heart of this opportunity is clean energy, remaking the vast energy systems that power the nation and the world. We must fundamentally change the way we produce and consume energy and dramatically reduce our dependence on oil. The economic opportunities provided by such a transformation are vast, not to mention the national security benefits of reducing oil dependence and the pressing need to fight global warming. The time for action is now.
Today, the Center for American Progress releases a new report by Dr. Robert Pollin and University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute economists. This report demonstrates how a new Green Recovery program that spends $100 billion over two years would create 2 million new jobs, with a significant proportion in the struggling construction and manufacturing sectors. It is clear from this research that a strategy to invest in the greening of our economy will create more jobs, and better jobs, compared to continuing to pursue a path of inaction marked by rising dependence on energy imports alongside billowing pollution.
The $100 billion fiscal expansion that we examined in this study provides the infrastructure to jumpstart a comprehensive clean energy transformation for our nation, such as the strategy described in CAP’s 2007 report, “Capturing the Energy Opportunity: Creating a Low-Carbon Economy.” This paper shows the impact of a swift initial investment in climate solutions that would direct funding toward six energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies:
- Retrofitting buildings to increase energy efficiency
- Expanding mass transit and freight rail
- Constructing “smart” electrical grid transmission systems
- Wind power
- Solar power
- Advanced biofuels
This green recovery and infrastructure investment program would:
- Create 2 million new jobs nationwide over two years
- Create nearly four times more jobs than spending the same amount of money within the oil industry and 300,000 more jobs than a similar amount of spending directed toward household consumption.
- Create roughly triple the number of good jobs—paying at least $16 dollars an hour—as spending the same amount of money within the oil industry.
- Reduce the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent from 5.7 percent (calculated within the framework of U.S. labor market conditions in July 2008).
- Bolster employment especially in construction and manufacturing. Construction employment has fallen from 8 million to 7.2 million over the past two years due to the housing bubble collapse. The Green Recovery program can, at the least, bring back these lost 800,000 construction jobs.
- Provide opportunities to rebuild career ladders through training and workforce development that if properly implemented can provide pathways out of poverty to those who need jobs most. (Because green investment not only creates more good jobs with higher wages, but more jobs overall, distributed broadly across the economy, this program can bring more people into good jobs over time.)
- Help lower oil prices. Moderating domestic energy demand will have greater price effects than modest new domestic supply increases.
- Begin the reconstruction of local communities and public infrastructure all across America, setting us on a course for a long-term transition to a low-carbon economy that increases our energy independence and helps fight global warming. Currently, about 22 percent of total household expenditures go to imports. With a green infrastructure investment program, only about 9 percent of purchases flow to imports since so much of the investment is rooted in communities and the built environment, keeping more of the resources within the domestic economy.
Our report looked at investments that were funded through an increase in near-term government spending, which could ultimately be repaid by future carbon cap-and-trade revenues. These sources of new investment included the following funding mechanisms:
- $50 billion for tax credits. This would assist private businesses and homeowners to finance both commercial and residential building retrofits, as well as investments in renewable energy systems.
- $46 billion in direct government spending. This would support public building retrofits, the expansion of mass transit, freight rail, smart electrical grid systems, and new investments in renewable energy
- $4 billion for federal loan guarantees. This would underwrite private credit that would be extended to finance building retrofits and investments in renewable energy.
A comprehensive clean energy agenda is essential to the future of our country. The green recovery and infrastructure investment described here is doable in the early days of a new administration. It would enable our country to take significant steps, through energy efficiency and renewable energy development, to move toward a low-carbon economy, while Congress and the next administration move toward the swiftest possible implementation of an economy-wide greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program.
The next president and lawmakers can pledge to repay the Treasury the cost of the green infrastructure recovery program from cap-and-trade auction revenue. The plan increases public spending in the short term when a near-recession economy needs greater impetus to growth; but it remains consistent with fiscally responsible long-term plan to reduce the debt as a share of GDP, after the economy recovers.
My colleagues and I at CAP look forward to continuing to work on our shared mission to reap all of the benefits provided by the transition to a low-carbon economy and look forward to discussing this work in greater detail.
LIFE IN GREEN
Green Holidays
There are plenty of ways to be green friendly and environmentally aware during the holiday season--ANY holiday season!For starters, cutting down the amount of plastic you purchase is an excellent choice. Carving a real pumpkin is much better than the plastic versions sold in stores around Halloween, and recycling those scary decorations you already own is also an option.
For birthdays, a gift bag is a smaller use of paper than buying a roll of gift-wrap, and far easier to deal with. For winter holidays, fake trees may seem like a green alternative to a real tree, but plastic trees mean petroleum-based materials. Eventually, even the fake holiday trees will end up in a landfill somewhere. It's better to explore living tree options or even consider doing without the tree in favor of a special place in the home where gifts can be put on display before the great unwrapping.
When it comes to the unwrapping, most people consider it impractical to try and save the paper, but any ribbon used to wrap those gifts could definitely be used again. When dealing with the discarded wrapping paper, one alternative to throwing it all away is to save it for a do-it-yourself papermaking project, which can be great fun for kids and adults alike
Going Green With Cleaners
Many people fret over the amount of chemicals in their kitchens. Commercial kitchen cleaners often have caustic chemicals, fumes, and are generally unpleasant in spite of a lemon-fresh or "cool breeze" scent. The scents themselves are a source of irritation for many allergy sufferers who can't stand the perfumes. The solution?Ordinary household vinegar mixed with varying degrees of water. Vinegar is a natural disinfectant, and cuts through caked on residues like ketchup, mustard and salad dressing. You can clean the entire fridge with vinegar, including the rubber seals.
There are some things to remember about cleaning with vinegar: Never mix it with ammonia or bleach-the fumes created by such a mixture are toxic. Do not mix vinegar with dish soap, which contains ammonia. Use white vinegar for your cleaning needs-including the bathroom, where vinegar is quite effective in cutting through bar soap residue and lime deposits.
Green living is not just better for the environment; it can also be quite cost effective. Compare a single bottle of vinegar with the cost of the same amount of cleaning solutions for both your bathroom and kitchen and see how the savings add up.
Getting Started On Greener Living
Your start down the green living path means reducing waste, reusing what you can, and recycling wherever possible. The first step could include a more mindful use of everyday objects we throw away without thinking, such as plastic shopping bags. Green-minded people will reuse these bags for diaper disposal, and as alternative trash bags.The advantage to using a shopping bag for trash is twofold; it saves you money on garbage bag purchases, and it makes you much more aware of how much waste you are creating in a given week. You will also find yourself sorting out the recyclable materials from the trash--glass containers, plastic bottles and the like--because they become too much for the smaller bags. Your green living home recycling program just got a jump-start, all because you saved money on larger, more wasteful garbage bags
Green Alternatives In Entertainment
Many people want to reduce the amounts of paper, plastic, and related packaging waste found in everyday purchases. Not so many take a very hard look at the kinds of waste generated by everyday purchases.How much plastic goes in to each and every compact disc sold at your local music store? Digital music download sites, while not advertised as such, are excellent green alternatives to CD purchases. The extra benefits of digital downloads include the elimination of the need for plastic CD cases as well as the plastic wrapper that goes around it. Another green alternative?
Canceling your newspaper subscription and getting your news online, and from the source. Most newspapers use Associated Press news wire reports for their national news, and your local issues can be found at the websites for your local TV stations. How much paper and ink goes into your Sunday supplement alone? Getting your news online saves trees and landfill space.
Yet another not-so-obvious green alternative related to entertainment? Beer on tap. Nobody thinks to market draft beer as an environmentally friendly commodity, but serving beer from the tap eliminates not only the need for glass bottles and wasteful cardboard packaging, it is often better tasting and less expensive depending on the time of day and the brand you buy. By switching to "draft-only" you vote with your dollar, and enjoy a much better brew
Using Homemade Remedies
There are many problems and tasks that can be solved by using home remedies or other natural solutions. Avoid environmental issues by skipping harsh chemicals in detergent and other cleaners, and make your yard a safer place by using natural pest remedies. Make your own cleaners. Rather than buying cleaners, detergents, and other products with harsh chemicals, make your own with simple ingredients you have lying around the house.For example, combine baking soda and vinegar, and flush with boiling water, for an effective drain cleaner; use lemon juice to remove mildew; and use corn starch to deodorize carpet. Get rid of outdoor pests naturally. You don't have to use harsh pesticides in your garden to get rid of outdoor pests.
Try companion planting, which combines plants that attract pests (like roses) with plants that pests avoid (like chives). Or, hand-pick pests off your plants – it's time consuming, but definitely a good way to get rid of aphids and Japanese beetles. You can also apply garlic juice or blended hot peppers to your plants to deter pests. Rid your home of unwanted visitors naturally, too. You don't have to spray, buy ant traps, or apply other chemicals to get rid of indoor bugs, either. To get rid of ants naturally, squeeze a lemon at their point of entry and leave the peel. Use flypaper if you are plagued with flies, or even make your own with honey and yellow paper. And don't kill spiders at all (unless your house is infested), as they will help get rid of other pests.
Green Workout
1. Use your muscles en route. Instead of driving to the gym, walk (or jog or bike) there. If it’s too far, drive just part of the way and complete the journey under your own power. Improve your fitness by parking farther and farther away each time.2. Bring your own bottle and fill it at the tap.
3. Share your soles. Recycle your used athletic shoes, or donate them to a clothing drive. Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program turns old shoes into new courts.
4. Take short showers. Just because it’s not your water bill doesn’t mean it’s not our water.
5. Speak up. Encourage your gym’s management to take measures to reduce waste, such as turning off lights in vacant rooms, shutting off the sauna/steam room/hot tub at night, minimizing use of the heater and air conditioner, and installing recycling bins
Green Office Tips
1. Turn off unnecessary lights, especially in unused offices and conference rooms. Turn down other lighting levels wherever possible.
2. Use a desk caddy to save envelopes, rubber bands, and paper clips for reuse.
3. Not only recycle the paper from your printer, but recycle your newspapers and boxes too.
4. Be more eco-efficient. Use a mug or glass instead of styrofoam or paper cups.
5. Write with refillable pens made from recycled plastic.
6. For fax machines and printers, use refillable ink cartridges and recycle old ones.
7. Save paper by printing and copying on both sides. And only print what you really need.
8. Carpool or use public transportation. If you own a business, encourage carpooling or allow telecommuting to reduce carbon emissions.
9. Take your lunch to work in a reusable container.
HAPPY ENVIRONMENT
Incorporating Green Architecture Into An Existing Home
The latest buzz in the residential market for architectural enthusiasts is green living. And why shouldn't green living cause such a stir? Green architecture means a cleaner environment and using cost efficient energy saving building methods. If you're looking for ideas to incorporate green architecture into your existing home, there is a lot you can do.• Incorporate green architecture into your home by using sustainable materials for your home finishes. Items like countertops, wall surfaces, and flooring can be sustainable. Use finishes like recycled plastic, salvaged steel, and locally mined and produced stones and tiles.
• Select low toxic paints and finishes for the interior and exterior of your home.
• Use low flush toilets to conserve water usage.
• Conduct an energy audit by doing an inspection of your house and looking for any areas that might have air leaks or could use more insulation. By creating tight seals in your home and properly insulating your walls, you save on heating bills and usage. See if there is a non-profit in your area providing green building services that will conduct an energy audit for you.
• Look at the product labels.
A Prefabricated Home Is A Green Home
Once, a prefabricated home typically consisted of homes designed to be mobile homes or tract type housing. Today, a prefabricated home, or pre-fab home, is the new modern affordable alternative to housing. This new green home comes designed with cost-saving building techniques, a streamlined construction timeline, and often incorporates elements of green architecture, like energy efficiency and recycled or renewable building materials. The pre-fab home comes in a sleek, modern, package with streamlined edges and open floor plansBenefits Of Living In A Green Home
Though the concept certainly sounds good in theory, you may wonder what the real benefits are to living in a green home. Whether you're contemplating remodeling your existing residence, purchasing a sustainable home, or building a new one, not only will you reap the benefits of cleaner, greener living, but so will the environment. Here's how living in a green home as its advantages:• You'll realize savings in the long-term due to lower utility bills.
• Living in a green home can actually keep you healthier. Less toxic substances and cleaner air help promote healthy living.
• You help the environment by utilizing recycled products and renewable resources. You live in a home designed to have the least impact on the surroundings around you.
• An energy efficient, well designed green home will command a high market value in the real estate market.
Go Green With Plants
Go Green With Plants
Houseplants have more advantages for your home than just looking pretty. Houseplants can actually filter the air in your house and rid it of pollutants. Follow these guidelines to make your houseplants work for you:• Keep one houseplant per every 10 square yards to help keep the air clean in that area
• If you mix night synthesizing plants (like orchids) with regular plants, your plants will work around the clock to filter your air
• Use a general mixture of plants to try to filter out as many pollutants as possible
Different plants are good for different pollutants, for example:
• Philodendrons and aloe plants are especially good protection against formaldehyde
• Gerbera daisies, peace lily, and English ivy are good protection against benzene and trichloroethylen
Green Environment For Your Backyard
Creating an environmentally friendly habitat for plants and wildlife is not that difficult at all. Here are some tips to create your own Green World: -Plant only trees common to the area -Do not replant flowers from the wild -Use only bulbs from cultivated stock -Use compost, grass clippings and vegetable table scraps to enrich the soil and eliminate the use of fertilizers -Never use pesticides. Encourage the presence of natural predators such as birds, frogs and ladybugs. -Use items such as buckets to collect rainwater to water your plants.Green Food, Greener Living
Some people don't realize that the food they eat and shop for could be contributing to the rising pollution problem and global warming. Using dangerous chemicals, pollutants and hormones that can harm our bodies and the environment grow produce and other foods at the grocery store. How can you do your part? You can help eliminate this problem by buying foods that have been grown organically. Buying organic and whole foods not only benefits the health of your family, but you are helping to cut down on the chemicals going into the air that we breathe everyday. Whole foods and organic foods are grown by energy efficient practices as well as without chemicals and pesticides. Shopping for organic foods is a smart decision all aroundLive A Green Lifestyle
Living a “green” lifestyle is easier than you think. There are a few simple steps you can follow that may seem small, but they are big in the fight against pollution and waste in the United States. The green motto that you can live by is “reduce, reuse and recycle.” These things can help drastically when it comes to waste and pollution in your community. Cars, groceries, food and other elements contribute to the growing problem. Here are some steps you and your family can take to do your part in the fight for a less polluted environment: Promote and support businesses that use and sell “green” products (recycled products). Drive sensible, “emission friendly” vehicles. Recycle all you can from home including glass, plastic, newspapers, motor oil, etc. By following these three simple rules above you will be preparing the world and the environment for future generations. Do your part now, so they won't have to deal with so much in the future.
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