Governor Schwarzenegger has 30 days to sign in Bill 32 and Bill 14 to California Law. Bill 32 increases government incentives and the size of potential solar-powered projects from 1.5 megawatts to 3 megawatts, whereas Bill 14 stipulates that Californian Utility companies must either buy from others or produce 33% of its energy from renewable resources such as solar, wind or different alternatives by 2020. For those keen on Californian politics, Californians have hoped to have sourced 20% of its electrical needs from renewable resources by 2010 but utility companies have been struggling to meet that goal. The big three utility companies in California, Pacific Gas and Electric, Edison International’s Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, only “produced 13% of their power from renewable.” Hence why Bill 14 has come forth to help offset the 20% for next year but raise the renewable resource demand by 13%. In addition, Bill 14 would greatly reduce the reliance on out of state renewable power sources in order to localize jobs for Californians. But why take such aggressive environmental measures? Electrical energy accounts for 32% of California’s Carbon-Dioxide emissions. Furthermore, emissions from electrical energy sector have increased substantially, nearly doubling other sectors such as transportation!
Japan planning $21bn solar power station in space
“However, advocates of space solar projects point out that solar energy at the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere is estimated to be 10 times greater than on the surface, as there is no atmospheric or cloud interference. Much of the technology required to transmit the energy to Earth is also based on existing satellite systems.”
Within the next 20 years, Japan aspires to create a massive space solar powered generator orbiting 36,000km (roughly 22,370 miles) above Earth to harness the Sun’s solar radiation. The generator itself, encompassing 4km (roughly 2.5 miles), plans on supplying electricity to approximately 294,000 Japanese homes from its 1GW generator. The Japanese plan to capture the energy from this solar generator by sending the electrical energy from the generator to Earth as microwaves. An American company known as PG&E also plans to execute a similiar method of capturing solar radiation within the next seven years.
“Transporting panels to the planned solar station will be prohibitively expensive, so Japan needs to find a way to reduce costs to make it commercially viable” – Hiroshi Yoshida, chief executive of Excalibur, a Tokyo-based space and defense policy consultancy
San Diego leads L.A., San Francisco in rooftop solar power
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Nearly ten years ago, roughly 500 houses in California utilized solar power. Today, approximately 50,000 homes utilize solar power. Surprisingly, San Diego leads both L.A. and San Francisco in rooftop solar power. Even more impressive, the small city called Nevada City in Central California, boasts nearly a 1 to 5 ratio of households utilizing solar energy. Even with these aforementioned figures, Solar Energy still only accounts for about 1% of the nation’s energy. Apparently, utilities in California fear the business aspect of solar power:
“And even in solar-friendly California, it is hampered by the lack of a robust feed-in tariff, such as the one in Germany, which would allow homeowners who install extra capacity to sell their electricity back to utilities at a favorable rate.
AB 920, a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) to do just that, is fiercely opposed by utilities and has so far failed to garner enough support for passage — not to mention backing by Schwarzenegger.”
Presently, Vote Solar Initiative, a San Francisco group a bill, hopes to lobby for a bill to remove the cap on allocated funds available to consumers in order to reduce their bills via selling electricity back to the utility companies. This bill has past in the legislature and awaits further approval in the state senate.
Evolving Face of Washington’s Environmental Solutions
It’s no surprise that Washington’s current environmental course is a far cry from the previous one under President Bush. Friday marked a historic day for the United States as the House of Representative passed legislation which would take strong steps to reduce global warming.
The legislation would require the 2005 global warming levels to be reduced by 17% by 2020 and 83% by 2050. It would put the greatest pressure on manufactures, utilities and the like.
The legislation must also be passed by the Senate. Individuals are hopeful that the legislation will be passed in the fall.
Image found at: http://www.marines.mil/units/hqmc/cmclegalasst/PublishingImages/Stock%20Images/House%20II.jpg
The bill represents a new page for the United States which has in the past, shied away from making strong environmental commitments. However many members of the House remain divided regarding the bill, particularly the republicans. Many believe that the bill will be ineffective in improving the environment or the current economic crisis.
Obama described the legislation as a “bold and necessary step” which “holds the promise of creating new industries and millions of new jobs, decreasing our dangerous dependence on foreign oil”. Clearly there is a sharp distinction between the two parties’ feelings on the bill.
The bill is aimed to lessen dependency on forms of energy which increase pollution and bring about a positive atmosphere for clean energy. It also includes a ‘cap and trade’ element which would allow industries to sell pollution permits among each other. The intention of which would be to reduce pollution through the permits.
Many republicans have attacked the bill, accusing it of possibly worsening the economic situation by forcing companies to outsource in order to avoid environmental restrictions. On the other hand, environmentalists have assailed the legislation as not being harsh enough. In any case, all advancements will be paused until the bill reaches the Senate.
Utah’s House members vote against climate change bill
Yesterday, Republicans and Democrats within the house of representatives passed a newly drafted bipartisan Climate Bill (a.k.a The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009) 219-212 tackling pollution, global warming and climate change. Surprisingly enough Democratic Representative Jim Matheson of Utah voted “No,” amongst the three other Republican Representatives Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz. Representative Matheson represents one of the only three Democrats who voted “No.” Representative Matheson purports that the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 requires restructuring and would negatively impact Utah.
“We’ve got to address climate change, and we’ve got to address energy independence; I hope we continue to work on those two issues. [Although] there’s a real regional income transfer that’s not fair to some regions of the country and in this case, it’s not fair to Utah.” – Representative Jim Matheson.
As most Utah residents know, Utah still utilizes several coal powered plants. Yes, the coal industry would hurt in Utah but what about the opportunity to create cleaner and more sustainable energy? As a resident in Salt Lake City, I can’t tell you how awful the inversions in the surrounding Utah valleys can truly be year round – it’s quite horrible. Granted, its certainly not just coal plants, for cars contribute to the problem; if more funds were directed toward cleaner energy, overall air and quality of life would improve. Even though the the climate bill passed in the House of Representatives, it still needs to pass through Congress. Perhaps an oversight on Matheson’s part, but bills can be restructured through the different mediums of our governmental system. Nonetheless, the bill was passed without the help of Matheson, Bishop and Chaffetz and hopefully the Senate will deliberate, put aside ideological partisan apprehension and jointly agree upon the importance of our environment.
As a website dedicated to eradicating light pollution once and for all, Starry Night Lights supports The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 bill. Light pollution affects all of us. As further evidence unveils itself regarding the impact of light pollution on creatures (including humans), inform your congressmen of the importance of light pollution. Light pollution is 100% irreversible.
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Idaho leads the nation in green job growth
That’s right.
Not California. Not New York. Not even Oregon lead the nation towards greener jobs. Idaho as well as Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming have stalwartly lead the United States towards more greener sources of employment. The Pew Research Center found data between 1998 – 2007 and concluded Idaho’s job in the “wind, solar, biofuel and energy efficiency industries grew at a rate of 126.1 percent, while overall Idaho jobs grew by 13.8 percent.” In 2007, 4,500 green jobs existed in a rapidly growing ‘green economy.’ The Pew Research Center defines green jobs as “engineers, plumbers, administrative assistants, construction workers, machine setters, marketing consultants, teachers, and many others” as well as asserting a ‘green economy’ “generates jobs, businesses and investments while expanding clean energy production, increasing energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, waste and pollution, and conserving water and other natural resources.”
How has Idaho secured new green employment opportunities? According to Phyllis Cuttino, Idaho exhibits more wind potential than both Oregon and Washington combined. Furthermore Businesses such as Nordic Windpower, Hawaiian company Hoku Scientific (manufacturers silicon for Solar Panels) and Micron technology’s LED branch have experienced substantial growth in employment and demand probably due to its “low cost of living, low cost of doing business, availability of labor and favorable local government support.” Good show Idaho.
New solar-powered tractor to reduce agricultural emissions
Industrialized nations in the world rely on fossil fuels for agricultural labour. Considering how a single diesel based tractor produces 23.3 tonnes of greenhouse gases each year, a new tractor for a new age was needed. Enter the ‘Multi-Purpose Solar Tractor.’ Utilizing solar panels, electricity and batteries, Farmers have the option of not only using this tractor for work but rather have the option to sell the tractor’s stored power to power their house or sell it to electrical grid. Talk about self-sufficiency! In a nut shell:
“The tractor is a light truck with sixteen on-board lead acid batteries powered by a 12kW electric motor. The batteries are charged with power from the 10 kWp photovoltaic modules. The vehicle can transport a load of up to 1 tonne; agricultural equipment can be attached for watering, pesticide spraying and collecting crops and it has a top speed of about 45 km/h on the road. It is especially suitable for work in large greenhouses where exhaust fumes from a standard combustion vehicle are a problem.”
Scientists have calculated the estimated emissions for this tractor and predict it will emit 57.17 tonnes of CO2equ (Six Green House Gases including heavy metals, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants) in 30 years – 757 tonnes by a conventional diesel tractor. Not surprisingly, the batteries on the solar-powered tractor emit the most CO2equ, lead. If cleaner battery technology existed for the tractor, scientists estimated a decrease in 20 tonnes of lead – significantly cutting its health and environmental impact.
Sunny Options for Environmental Enthusiasts!
Starry Night Lights is committed to improving the environment by providing customers with environmental and night friendly lighting fixtures. It is our hope that by educating the public we can encourage more people to become environmentally conscious. We provide individuals with the newest cutting edge lighting technology in green building. Solar energy is one of our newer and most exciting lighting options.
Where does solar energy come from?
Solar energy began in 1839 with the French scientist Edmund Becquerel. Becquerel found that sunlight was able to cause certain materials to give off a spark. This discovery was extremely important for the future of solar energy and marked the first stage of what would become photovoltaics. Photovoltaics is the science of using sunlight and solar cells to create energy.
By 1950 scientists took the discovery a step further and combined the technology with silicon so that about four percentage of sunlight could be used to generate electricity. Afterwards these PV cells were utilized by NASA to power spaceships, satellites and so forth.
How does solar energy work?
A PV cell is made up of two levels of semiconductor material which at a basic level are made up of silicon crystals. Silicon is the most common metalloid and in terms of mass, is the eight most common material found in the universe. Metalloid can be defined as a semi metal, chemical element. Often time they are referred to as semi conductors. In the case of silicon, in its pure form it does not function as an ideal conductor. Yet by adding other substances to it, in a process officially referred to as doping, a more effective form of silicon can be used for electricity generation. Doping typically involves adding boron to the lowest level of the PV cell. This process causes the silicon to carry a positive charge. In turn, the top level has phosphorus added to it which creates a negative charge. The two levels are known as “p-type” and “n-type” and the surface in between the two is known as the P-N junction. An electric field is created when electrons move about between the two layers.
Source: http://www.mrsolar.com
Sunlight hits the PV cell and the electrons are loosened. The electrons of each level are attracted to the electrons of the opposite layer as a result of the pull of the charge. Only an external circuit has the ability to allow the electrons to reach their desired level. When electrons go through the circuit they create electricity.
In a solar panel, the basic level is made up of several square cells which alone create very little energy. Thus they are usually clustered together to form modules, which when grouped together create a panel.
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Starry Night Lights your guide to green lighting!
(Article is based on information from www.ucsusa.org)
Better Days through the Sun’s Brightest Rays
Solar energy is abundant, clean and among the most promising avenues of renewable energy. As the world moves towards lessening its dependency on forms of energy which pollute the atmosphere, renewable energy will be the future.
Solar energy has enormous potential. In fact, just twenty days of sun is equivalent to all the earth’s reserves of coal, oil and natural gas.
The sun emits about 1,300 watts per square meter. The earth has the potential to receive about 1,000 of the 1,300 on an optimal sunny day. If one were to measure the sunlight of the entire earth’s surface for a year, the energy collected would be about 4.2 kW hours of energy daily.
Found at: http://www.globalforceinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/home-solar-panels.jpg
The amount of sunlight which can be collected and used for energy is dependent on geography, the season and local weather. For instance, deserts have the greatest potential for harvesting solar energy. It has been estimated that deserts can collect approximately six kW hours per square meter daily.
Naturally the amount of energy harvested is dependent on the sun concentration of the location. Areas, such as American northeastern cities like Boston or New York are close to 3.6 kW per square meter. Areas with high rain concentration have a low solar energy potential.
In spite of the positive sense of these figures, our society is not capable of harvesting sunlight’s full energy potential at this point. The inability to do so is based on the inefficiency of the devices being used.
Found at: http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4857970/build-your-own-solar-panel-main_Full.jpg
Among the many areas where solar energy could most effectively be used are commercial buildings. Both commercial buildings and residential homes are among the highest areas of energy use. Interestingly, outside of the energy which can be utilized through sunlight, energy can also be saved by using sunlight as a lighting source. Through thoughtful planning, architects can design buildings in ways which could utilize the sun for lighting.
Solar energy has become increasingly available for customers. For solar power lighting options turn to Starry Night Lights!
(Article is based on information from www.ucsusa.org)
Circadian Disruption Symposium
June 4th, 2009 Special IDA Bulletin
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“The symposium will provide the latest information regarding the known effects of light at night on circadian disruption and cancer, and may offer valuable information to city managers and planning officials who are considering updating their outdoor lighting plans. Please urge your city officials to attend this event or obtain copies of the proceedings.”
The International Dark-sky Association(IDA) proudly supports the New York Academy of Sciences and the Mushett Family Foundation Symposium on June 19th, 2009 regarding Circadian Disruption. Circadian Disruption is a disruption within living entities that operate roughly on a 24 hour biochemical, physiological and behavioral process cycle. In other words, Circadian Disruption is an alteration to the ‘internal human clock.’ With the advent of LED lighting as an alternative to compact fluorescent light bulbs, the Symposium will examine inquires and concerns regarding its fledgling technology. For instance, many LEDs manufactored today exhibit correlated colour temperature (CCT) well over 5500k. Natural Moonlight exhibits 4100k whereas highly pressured sodium lights i.e. common streetlight exhibits 2100k. As to wether LED’s CCT effects living entities, information regarding it remains unknown. Other topics will include the relationship between day and night as well as cancer studies from past and future. Registration begins promptly at 7:30 am and concludes around 7:30 – 8:00 pm.
