The acceleration of solar power continues and now Deutsche Bank predicts that solar power will become cheaper than utility power starting in 2013 and the pres. of Renewable Energy Corp claims that "parity in significant markets" including the U.S. can be achieved by 2012 (But I stand by my prediction of 2010).

     Several companies have announced that they will be producing solar modules for $1 a watt by late 2008 - 2009. That is the magic number that represents solar as competitive with utility power. They are www.avasolar.com www.firstsolar.com and www.ausra.com

     An intriguing look at a sustainable village can be found at www.loretobay.com (even though they don't include solar at this time).

     Major cities are moving ahead to reduce energy demand of existing buildings. See www.c40cities.org 

      
   [Prior update Aug. 27, 2007]

               NEW!I have posted a Solar Workshopon the Green Pages I edit on http://www.savannahbest.com

               Please check it our and tell your friends.

 {Prior  update August 11, 2007]

     I've gone video!

     When he said green was not green, I saw RED. In an article, that is receiving international play, in the current issue of an academic journal, the author proclaims nuclear power as green. Then he claims renewable sources of energy were not green and would cause serious environmental harm.
 I felt he needed immediate rebuttal, and made my first video in order to counteract the author's claims. The full version is available on Google Video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6670068800228271067

And I also broke it down into segments for YouTube. The first segment is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKJqZZBlSaU
                      Please check out the video and recommend it to your friends -- thanks  -- js 
The journal author's argument is based on a measurement tool of his own making -- the amount of power generated per square meter. On this shaky foundation he builds improbable scenarios where biomass, wind, solar and hydro power would take up vast amounts of land and prove ruinous to the nation.
  
What's worse, he implicitly rejects future conservation efforts as well as the impact of current and future technologies that are going to transform energy production over the next five years.

The appropriate response to future energy needs is to reduce energy demand and to incorporate a blend of commercially viable, local, renewable energy sources, creating energy where it is used.    

 [Prior update Feb. 18, 2007]

     What a difference a year makes. I have been spending my time collecting information, which seems to be growing exponentially. Unfortunately, I am remiss in posting to this site. So I am now trying to correct that.

There is going to be a shift in emphasis, as I have come to the conclusion that a Solar Cities model will spur the growth of solar energy faster than the Million Rooftops approach. (Million Rooftops was dropped by the Department of Energy in 2004/5 supplanted by the Solar Initiative and Building America). While there now is an emphasis by the DOE on Zero Energy, solar seems to be a by-product, rather than a stimulus.

I have just added a page -  Solar Cities  - where I have posted the full text of a draft document-in-process

      Savannah: Solar City of the South 

which I prepared for the Sustainable Future Town Hall Feb. 7. (Your comments, suggestions welcome.)

         Some suggested recommendations:
          What We Can Do to Help Stimulate a Local Solar Industry can be found on

           the Local Action page.                                                                       

Solar 2005 - Initial thoughts

posted Oct. 28

When I went to Solar 2005 in Washington DC in Oct. I had practically convinced myself that this year might be the tipping point for solar. I was wrong, but not by much. I'm now predicting 2007, particularly if the tax credits for solar installations (see story below) are extended for another few years.

My earlier belief was based on news items by manufacturers of Concentrating Solar Energy equipment - thousand-plus acre solar fields - that are winning multimillion dollar  contracts to build utility-size installations. In conversations with top execs, it is clear that they are not ready for automated production. It will probably take them a couple of years to ramp up.

Once that happens, however, the economies of scale kick in and it becomes economically feasible to develop community-based microgrids on 20-40 acre sites. A microgrid is powered by a combination of roof-mounted photovoltaics (PV), solar water heating, geothermal heat pumps, small solar concentrator fields, and, where practical, wind turbines. Back-up power can come from the local power company, fuel cells, and/or generators that run on locally produced biodiesel fuel.

What's new in photovoltaics

The bad news is that the demand for silicon chips is still outrunning supply so it will probably take another year before we see any significant drop in PV module prices.

Solar panels represent about 50 percent of the cost of a roof-mounted system. So there is also a trend to reduce the costs of other components and to produce modules that require less labor to install. Some companies are now specializing in bundling systems, including the solar modules, appropriate cables, inverters, and other electrical equipment, saving time and reducing the hassle of inspections which all lead to eventual cost reductions.

Big Box Solar is another trend that should provide a real boost to the solar power industry. Companies with large warehouses or manufacturing facilities can use their thousands of square feet of roof space to mount large solar installations. The tax credits in the current energy bill will give a real impetus to this trend. Some of these have already been installed (Wa-lMart, Staples) and they report positive experiences.

More to come -

SolarSavannah is sponsored by www.savannahbest.com

====================

Major Solar Initiatives under the new Energy Bill

Compiled by Jack Star jack@solarsavannah.com
Sept. 16, 2005

1) Tax credit of 30% for individuals:
     Up to $2000 per year for each system:

           Solar domestic water heating (excluding pools and spas)
           Photovoltaics

Units must be put "in service" between Jan.1 2006 to Dec.31, 2007

     UPDATE : the bill has been extended to Dec. 31, 2008
Credits can be carried over for several years.

In practical terms this means that a homeowner could install a solar water heating system, with up to 30% of the costs paid out of a tax credit, and could also install a PV system with the same tax credit -- each up to $2000.

The law may also allow a homeowner to install part of a PV system one year and the balance the next year and thus have another $2000 tax credit. Industry people are meeting with the IRS to clarify this part of the law.

2) Tax credit of 30% for businesses:
     No $limit for each system:
     
           Solar water heating (excluding pools and spas)
           Photovoltaics
           Concentrator Solar Power systems

Units must be put "in service" between Jan.1 2006 to Dec.31 2007
Credits can be carried over for two years.

3) Builders can also obtain a tax credit for a qualified new energy efficient home defined as, “A dwelling unit, located in the U.S., with an annual heating and cooling energy consumption which is at least 30 percent below the annual level of heating and cooling energy consumption,” and has “building envelope component improvements account for at least one-third of such 30 percent” of a compatible dwelling unit.

Builders will receive a $1,000 tax credit for construction of the qualified energy efficient home. If a house is built at the 50 percent efficiency level, with one-fifth of savings coming from a building envelope component, builders will receive a $2,000 tax credit.
   
A building envelope component is defined as, “Any insulation material or system, which is specifically and primarily designed to reduce the heat loss or gain of a dwelling unit when installed in or on such dwelling unit.” This also includes exterior windows and skylights, doors and any metal roof with appropriate pigmented coating that reduces heat gain of dwelling and meet the Energy Star program requirements.

4) Other homeowner benefits
 
 10% tax credit on the cost of home improvements that prevent energy from seeping out of the house, such as adding insulation and energy-efficient windows and doors. Similar tax credit for energy efficient appliances.  Available for the next two years, with the maximum credit over that time of $500. Of that, no more than $200 can be claimed for windows.  (I don’t know if it has any carry over provision.)

Major areas that receive no credit.
And for which there is no other subsidy in this bill:

          Non-profits
          State and local governments

I’m not sure about renters buying energy efficient appliances.

Of course, those homeowners or business that do not have a tax liability cannot benefit from this energy bill.

-----------------------------

July 5 '05 (but still valid today) -- I have added a briefing paper:
          Prospects for Solar Energy for Major Residential
          and Commercial Developments in Chatham County

-----------------------------

     April 18, 2005

     This is the first day of this web site. My goal is to stimulate interest, and action, in the use of Solar energy,  and related alternate energy sources. In conversations with others, I find that there is a serious lack of  information about the current state of Solar, how projects are implemented, costs and payback.

     I plan to provide a continuing series of case histories of ongoing Solar projects and look to the future -  - linking  Solar energy to Hydrogen Fuel Cells -- nonpolluting, self-sustaining, virtually limitless energy.

     Here's something to think about:

Can Solar Energy Save Social Security?

By Jack C. Star

By now, we've pretty much heard the story of Social Security. The Administration alleges that as Baby Boomers retire the contribution to the Social Security Trust Fund from a declining number of younger workers will eventually cause the current surplus to shrink to zero. At that time, if nothing changes in the interim, the nation will be faced with both increasing the payroll deduction and reducing benefits. That painful moment is about 36 years away.

Politicians look for the answers that will hurt them least at the polls. Economists argue over various market solutions. Perhaps science, technology and engineering have answers that will ease the pain. What if the nation, local governments, and major corporations united in a concerted effort to promote solar energy?

Installing and maintaining solar energy systems are labor intensive. Adding more workers means increasing employment, reducing the chronic underemployment among minorities, increasing payrolls and thus increasing Social Security contributions at a greater rate than is currently projected. A solar energy industry also would provide a wide range of blue-collar and white-collar jobs.

There is less economic advantage to outsource manufacture of solar panels, solar shingles, and solar concentrators --- thus providing more regional manufacturing jobs. Jobs would also be created in research labs and technical schools, as well as in a variety of infrastructure-related industries.

A focus on solar energy also has a positive, direct effect on hydrogen production and hydrogen storage stimulating the growth of the fuel cell and its related industries. Emphasis on solar energy also leads to continuing improvements in energy efficiencies in residential and commercial buildings, cars, trucks, buses and SUVs. The explosion of the personal computer industry, and its continuing spin-offs, is an accurate model of the cascading growth potential of solar.

• Greater employment generally:
  · improves local economies
  · generates local tax revenue
  · leads to a reduction in crime and thus the costs of the criminal justice system
  · reduces the amount of public assistance
  · provides employer contributions to health care

Solar and alternate energy production is not some future pie-in-the-sky dream. Substantial growth is happening right now. Markets for solar energy, wind energy, and fuel cells are poised to grow from $16 billion in 2004 to more than $100 billion by 2014, according to a report released on March 22nd by Clean Edge, Inc., an energy research and publishing firm.

Clean Edge projects that over the next 10 years, markets for solar voltaic devices will grow from $7.2 billion to $39.2 billion; wind power installations will expand from $8 billion to $48.1 billion; and fuel cells and distributed hydrogen will grow from $900 million to $15.1 billion.

These figures do not include the substantial value of the ripple effect to related industries. My personal belief is that these figures are very conservative.

But, what if increased employment was not sufficient to fully cover a shortfall in the Social Security Trust Fund, and some reduction in the growth of future benefits beyond 2041 will still be deemed necessary?  As the costs of energy would decline so would the costs of heating, electricity, and transportation. This means that those dependent on Social Security would see a proportional decrease in the percentage of their household  budgets for these fixed expenditures. Quality of life for retirees would not suffer.

Aggressive pursuit of solar and other sustainable energy sources yields a win-win-win for our society, our economy, and our security; and renders moot much of the current "crisis hysteria".

Jack C. Star is former bureau chief for McGraw-Hill World News in Milan, Italy and New York City, where he wrote for such energy-related publications as Electrical Week, Nucleonics Week, Platts Oilgram, Chemical Week, Chemical Engineering, Electronics, Automobile International, and Scientific Research.