Hawaii has the highest energy prices in the nation. (Photo courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
Some states have been looking at
new ways to get more renewable energy
on the grid. This year, California,
Vermont, and now Hawaii implemented
a German-style pricing model that pays
people for the green electricity they
generate. Ben Markus reports:
Transcript
Some states have been looking at
new ways to get more renewable energy
on the grid. This year, California,
Vermont, and now Hawaii implemented
a German-style pricing model that pays
people for the green electricity they
generate. Ben Markus reports:
Hawaii imports fossil fuels – namely oil – to meet 90% of its energy needs –
including electricity.
“We’ve been saying for decades that this is foolish, and yet we haven’t changed. Well, now we’re
changing.”
Ted Peck is the state’s Energy Administrator. He says recent approval of
the new pricing model will help spark that change.
It offers a premium price for renewables. That makes it easier for solar and
wind companies to secure financing because they know what they’ll be
paid.
Mark Duda is president of the Hawaii Solar Energy Association. He says
it’s not as wide-open as the German model, but it will make a difference.
“Many of the key design elements went in the direction that the solar industry wanted, and so we’re
definitely pleased with that.”
The big sticking point is setting what will be paid for renewables. And some
are worried about how this will affect ratepayers.
Hawaii already has the highest energy prices in the nation.
Nearly 20 years ago, Germany passed a law requiring utility companies to pay
homeowners more for creating green energy. (Photo courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
Many European countries are taking
climate change seriously. Since
1990, Germany has slashed their carbon
emissions nearly 23%, emerging
as a leader in green energy. Conrad
Wilson explains the country’s transformation
to an alternative energy leader:
Transcript
Many European countries are taking
climate change seriously. Since
1990, Germany has slashed their carbon
emissions nearly 23%, emerging
as a leader in green energy. Conrad
Wilson explains the country’s transformation
to an alternative energy leader:
Nearly 20 years ago, Germany passed a law requiring utility companies to pay
homeowners more for creating green energy. Today that includes wind and
geothermal, but the big winner is solar.
Dr. Silke Karcher is a scientist at the German Ministry of Environment in Berlin.
She says the solar industry is growing, despite the lack of sun.
“One of the instruments, one of the legal instruments that we would really like to
export that has really been successful is the way that we’re supporting renewable
energies and electricity. We have a so-called ‘feed in tariff law,’ which mean that
wherever in Germany you produce renewable energy, you can feed it into the
grid and you get a specific price.”
And that policy has put Germany way ahead to the US. Even with all the rebates
and other recent incentives in the nation’s most pioneering green tech states, it
takes longer for homeowners in the US to pay off an investment in a solar array.
“What Germany does is that they say we’ll pay x amount of euros for every
kilowatt produced, period.”
That’s Jim Rarus, principal of InPower. It’s a Colorado-based solar installation
company. Rarus says rather than comparing renewable fuels to less expensive
fossil fuels, Germany accounts for the costs of pollution.
“They don’t compare certain technologies like solar, which obviously have a
higher cost basis, to other technologies like coal and natural gas, which have a
lower costs basis. So they’re paying a price that reflects the fact that it’s a little
more expensive to build a solar plant and allows the people that put it in to either
get their money back or to make a reasonable return.”
For homeowners investing in solar arrays in the US, the process can be
unpredictable and even frustrating. Johnny Weiss is executive director of Solar
Energy International. It’s a Colorado based nonprofit that trains people for
careers in the solar industry. He says the incentive system in the US is too
complex.
“Over here, it’s different and a more complicated system. We all have states that
are free to do their own incentive programs. We have incentives at the national
level. We have incentives at the local level. But the result is that it’s a bit
overwhelming for not just solar professionals, but the public as well. And it’s not a
consistent thing people can count on.”
Some communities in the US are trying out the European model. But the limited
government support in the US has driven competition as solar companies try to
make the energy source affordable. That’s something some fear isn’t happening
anymore in Germany.
Dr. Kurt Christian Scheel heads up the Department of Climate and Sustainable
Development for the German private industry association. Scheel worries that
government incentives have stifled innovation.
“I mean, let’s put it this way. Whoever produces solar panels in Germany has a
safe earning and no motivation in anyway to, and not enough competition to,
innovate and to make things better.”
But even if in the long-term some feel a feed-in tariff slows innovation and
growth, it’s proven that in a short period of time it can drive energy consumers to
become producers.
Experts say one of the main reasons solar is cheaper is because of Spain.
(Photo courtesy of National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
There’s a big push to find alternative sources of energy. Problem is, a lot of alternative energy is just too darn expensive. The cost of solar energy, however, is on the decline. Jennifer Guerra reports:
Transcript
There’s a big push to find alternative sources of energy. Problem is, a lot of alternative energy is just too darn expensive. The cost of solar energy, however, is on the decline. Jennifer Guerra reports:
The price of solar panels took a huge drop this year.
Experts say one of the main reasons solar is cheaper is because of Spain.
The country is a big buyer of solar panels, or what are called PV modules, largely because Spain offers generous incentives for people who buy them.
Galen Barbose is with a federal research lab in Berkley, California. He says, because of the economic crisis, Spain had to slash those incentives.
“And so demand in Spain dropped fairly significantly. And so what we’ve seen over the past year is a glut in the global supply of PV modules. And that has led to a fairly significant drop of the wholesale price of PV modules.”
The cost of solar still isn’t on par with conventional energy, but Barbose says things are headed in that direction.
Solar panels were recently stolen off the community rec center in Carbondale, Colorado. The building is one of the greenest building in the state. (Photo courtesy of Lynn Burton)
Solar panels are expensive and
increasingly in demand. And now,
many communities are learning of
their solar array’s value the hard
way – they’re being stolen. Conrad
Wilson tells up about this new type
of “green crime:”
Transcript
Solar panels are expensive and
increasingly in demand. And now,
many communities are learning of
their solar array’s value the hard
way – they’re being stolen. Conrad
Wilson tells up about this new type
of “green crime:”
Solar panels are expensive and they’re increasingly in demand throughout the
world, so it sands to reason solar panels have become an attractive target for
criminals.
Recently, 30 panels were stolen from one of the “greenest” buildings in Colorado.
Ninety solar panels valued at $135,000 were swiped off a waste water treatment
plant outside San Francisco.
Monique Hannis is a spokesperson for the Solar Energy Industries Association.
She says, over the last year, solar theft has become a greater concern.
“It’s really just emerged as an issue we need to be watching, really, in the last
year. And the reason is, as solar becomes more prevalent and people
understand the value of the solar panels, it’s just like any other target for theft.”
Currently the group doesn’t track the crimes, but since more panels are
disappearing Hannis says they’ll likely start.
This type of “green crime” is nothing new in developing countries. Lori Stone is
international program manager for Solar Energy International. It’s a Colorado-
based nonprofit that trains students world-wide for careers in the solar industry.
Stone says in some cases the solar panels are gone just days after they’re
installed.
“If somebody really wants to steal solar panels, it’s pretty hard to keep them from
doing it. You know, there’s some new things that are coming out now with ways
to lock them and stuff, but they’re costly and so a lot of these developing country
systems, solar home systems, are pretty easy to take.”
In Kenya, last September, thieves unsuccessfully tried to swipe solar panels on
the house belonging to President Obama’s 86 year-old step-grandmother.
As the solar industry becomes more established, security is gearing up. It’s
becoming part of installing a solar array.
The Solar Industry’s Hannis says manufactures are making things harder for
thieves by adding tracking numbers as part of a recycling program.
“This same system could be used to at least track the location of panels, the
rightful owner of panels going forward, similar to a VIN number of a car.”
Hannis says consumers should be wary of purchasing panels from online sites
such as eBay or Craigslist because they could be buying stolen panels.
To ward off thefts, some go so far as to post night watchmen. Other larger arrays
are equipped with cameras and fences. But there’re also more affordable
options.
Bryce Campbell is president of Bryce Fastener Company, an Arizona based
business that specializes in a unique type of security bolt that acts like a key. The
bolts cost about two dollars per panel.
“The solar industry is starting to say, ‘Hey, what do we do?’ Ha ha. Are we going
to up security systems up here, cameras? Not really effective in places where
most of these solar arrays are laid out.”
Campbell says solar companies began contacting him about a year and a half
ago. Now he gets orders daily.
For Campbell, it makes sense considering people are parking thousands of
dollars on roof-tops and in fields.
(Photo courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
Whenever solar power is mentioned,
critics are quick to note – when there’s
no sun, there’s no power. Lester Graham
talked with the author of a report who
says one type of solar power can store
energy:
Transcript
Whenever solar power is mentioned,
critics are quick to note – when there’s
no sun, there’s no power. Lester Graham
talked with the author of a report who
says one type of solar power can store
energy:
Lester Graham: Concentrating solar thermal, or CST, can store power. Basically, mirrors are used to concentrate solar rays, heat up water, generate power. The heated water can be stored as heat in tanks – like coffee in a thermos – and produce electricity when needed. Britt Staley is with the World Resources Institute. She’s the lead author of a new report on concentrating solar thermal. So, you found, if it’s done right, CST could be built instead of coal-burning power plants. How practical is that?
Britt Childs Staley: We think that concentrating solar thermal is a very exciting renewable energy technology precisely because of this potential for storage. If you incorporate thermal energy storage, or fossil fuel backup, with your concentrating solar thermal, you can actually use the power of the sun around the clock.
Graham: Now, the CST plants are expensive – they’re more expensive than building a coal-burning power plant. So, why build them if that’s the case?
Staley: With climate change as a major concern in the US and around the world, we are going to need to reduce our dependency on coal in the power sector. And currently, as you said, concentrating solar thermal power is more expensive than coal, but in this report we’ve identified several policy interventions that could help reduce costs. For example, a price on carbon such as the cap-and-trade mechanism in the current Waxman-Markey Bill, and then some solar-specific policy interventions would help as well.
Graham: Now, when you say ‘policy interventions’, really you’re talking about government subsidies, right?
Staley: Yes. Support for R-and-D, for deployment such as the investment tax credit that’s currently in place.
Graham: Obviously, the most sunny places would be the best location for a concentrating solar thermal plant.
Staley: Mm-hmm.
Graham: And the most sunny places are often in arid places, such as the US Southwest. So, they’re the driest places, and CST relies heavily on water. So, in the long term, what’s the solution?
Staley: There are several alternative cooling technologies that are available and that can cut water by up to 95% to 98% in places where that is a concern.
Graham: Is this completely experimental, or have we seen this done anywhere in the world successfully?
Staley: It’s absolutely been done successfully. Here in the US, we have some of the longest operating CST plants. And Spain is another good example of where CST deployment has been particularly successful to date.
Graham: How long would it take to build one of these, and how soon could they contribute, and how likely is it to happen, given the cost?
Staley: A lot of the plants that we see on the drawing board right now are expected to be in operation in the next 2 to 5 years. With climate change concerns, with climate change legislation working its way through the House and Senate, coal plant investments are not particularly attractive right now. And investors are very wary of putting their money into something that’s going to be significantly more expensive in the coming years. Concentrating solar thermal, on the other hand, is a zero-emissions power resource. Also, it has zero fuel costs.
Graham: Britt Staley is the lead author of a report on concentrating solar thermal power plants. She’s an associate researcher with the World Resources Institute’s Climate Policy Team. Thanks very much for talking with us.
An artists rendering of the solar cells on Babcock Ranch in southern Florida (photo courtesy of Babcock Ranch)
A former NFL player wants to build the world’s first 100-percent solar-powered city. He’s billing it as the world’s most sustainable city too. Rebecca Williams visited the planned site of the new city to find out how green real estate can get:
Transcript
A former NFL player wants to build the world’s first 100-percent solar-powered city. He’s billing it as the world’s most sustainable city too. Rebecca Williams visited the planned site of the new city to find out how green real estate can get:
Syd Kitson used to be Number 64… an offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers. Now… he’s a developer… with a even bigger dream for fame.
He bought a 90-thousand acre ranch in Southwest Florida… called Babcock Ranch. He sold more than three-quarters of it back to the state as a nature preserve. The rest will become a city of 45-thousand people.
(video clip)
“It’s a place where business, education, technology, energy, transportation, and safety all merge into an exceptionally livable, environmentally sensitive community.”
It might sound like he’s packing a lot in… but the plans don’t end there. The video tour shows you a glittering utopia. Little animated people glide by on sailboats and Segway scooters. You’d get to work in your electric car, and plug it in while you’re at work. You’d be harvesting rainwater. You’d go camping on the nature preserve. And pretty much everything would run on the sun.
Syd Kitson says what’ll make the city even greener… is that it’ll meet all of your needs.
“The whole idea of Babcock Ranch is that you don’t leave. That you have everything you need in Babcock Ranch. That’s not to say people aren’t going to go to Disney World or the beach but for daily needs, go to work, shopping, normally have to get in their car and drive an hour, or 20 minutes – they can do that right there in their hometown.”
Kitson’s proud to say he’s won over a lot of local environmental groups. But his city of the future has its skeptics.
The Florida Sierra Club sued to stop the sale of the land. Kitson and Partners ended up settling the lawsuit… and the deal went forward.
Frank Jackalone is with the Sierra Club. He says he does like the plans for solar power… and the city looks pretty well-planned out. But he says once development starts it usually doesn’t stop.
“Even the best planned community could be swallowed up by a sea of urban sprawl… of roads, of shopping malls, of poorly planned development that surrounds it that creates the very nightmare that environmentalists fear the most.”
Jackalone says it’d be better to invest in older cities and retrofit for solar power. He says it’d be better to keep the land intact for Florida wildlife – like bears and panthers.
Syd Kitson says he does respect that point of view.
“And we hope at end of the day they’ll look at it and say you know we would’ve loved to have it all preserved but they did a great job here.”
The solar city is supposed to get underway within the next couple years.
But reality is blocking the dream. Right now… Babcock Ranch is still just a ranch with grazing cows and watermelon fields. The huge 75-megawatt solar plant that would power the city hasn’t been built yet. The Florida legislature still has to approve it.
And of course… there’s the little issue of the recession. The solar city’s planned in a county with one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.
Kitson says these are just temporary hurdles.
“It’ll take time but we think eventually the housing market will come back and this’ll be a place we think people will look first to live.”
In fact… he thinks all developers are going to have to build in a greener way.
“I think if any developer, any builders who aren’t thinking about doing it in an environmentally responsible way are really going to miss the boat on what’ll be happening when we come out of this recession.”
But as Kitson himself has found… even the world’s most sustainable city is still a city. There will always be opposition from someone who thinks the greenest kind of city is rebuilding our old cities.
North America's largest solar plant, covering 140 acres, is located near Las Vegas (Photo courtesy of the Nellis Air Force Base)
Environmental groups have pushed for decades to get the federal government solidly behind solar energy. Shawn Allee reports some of them don’t like the government’s most recent effort to promote it:
Transcript
Environmental groups have pushed for decades to get the federal government solidly behind solar energy. Shawn Allee reports some of them don’t like the government’s most recent effort to promote it:
The Federal Bureau of Land Management developed 24 “solar energy study areas” in Western states.
The idea is to identify federal land that might be be good for solar power plants.
Some environmentalists scoured maps of these solar study areas and got concerned.
Jeffrey Morgan is with Tahquitz Sierra Club in California.
Morgan says a solar plant can take up hundreds of acres, and construction could disturb desert tortoise and cactus habitat.
“They have no concept the desert is a vital, living place with a vast diversity of species, unspoiled landscapes and many, many other things. They they just see it as a waste-land. That’s just not true – it’s not a waste-land.”
The Bureau of Land Management says the “solar energy study areas” are just that – they’re for study – and the government would not let solar energy developers disturb critical wildlife habitat.
Eric Lindstrom, Vice President of Cannon Design, stands next to the building's 140 new solar panels (Photo by Joyce Kryszak)
Joan Bozer at the American Solar Energy Society Conference, next to pictures of her home's solar system (Photo by Joyce Kryszak)
Neal Lurie, with the Solar Society, says tax incentives are creating demand and that's driving down the cost of solar systems (Photo by Joyce Kryszak)
Buying a solar system for your home still is not as simple or inexpensive as say picking up a new water heater. But solar energy advocates argue that the systems are affordable and obtainable for just about everyone – right now. Joyce Kryszak checked out that claim:
Transcript
Buying a solar system for your home still is not as simple or inexpensive as say picking up a new water heater. But solar energy advocates argue that the systems are affordable and obtainable for just about everyone – right now. Joyce Kryszak checked out that claim:
You might say that sunlight is a trade mark for Cannon Design. The Western New York based firm designs some of the most solar friendly buildings in the world. But only now is Cannon using the sun for its own building.
Eric Lindstrom is Vice President of the company. He says it’s what their environmentally savvy clients expect.
“You know there’s a huge P.R. factor here that we can bring our clients in and say, you know, this is what we’re recommending to you, but we’ve done it ourselves and it works. That we didn’t just read it in a magazine somewhere and say this is what you should be doing.”
Lindstrom takes us up on the roof of the company’s building to have a look at the new system.
Up here we find solar panels. 140 of them. They’re stretched out from edge to edge, soaking up the rays.
Lindstrom says they generate about 5% of the energy the building needs. But he says even at that small percentage the company will recoup the roughly $17,000 investment in about three years.
The system’s total price tag is actually about $170,000. But Cannon Design got corporate tax credits and incentives that covered roughly 90%. After the pay-back period, Linstrom says the company will actually pocket money.
Back in the building they can watch the savings add up on the inverter meters inside. That got Lindstrom thinking. He got a bid on a system for his home. He’s decided against it for now because the payback would take about eight years. You see, businesses get more tax breaks than homeowners.
But some people say the payback time can be less. And sometimes it just doesn’t’ matter to them.
Joan Bozer was at the American Solar Energy Society Conference held in Buffalo, New York. Bozer was showing off pictures of her home’s $30,000 solar system. It cost her half that after incentives. The payback will take a while—about eight years. But Bozer says that’s okay.
“Because it doesn’t make any difference to me if it’s five years or ten years what the payback period is. I want the solar panels, like people in their house they put on the roof they want, or they put on what they want and this is what we want – solar panels on the roof. That’s how we want to do it.”
But as green-minded as she is, Bozer admits that federal and state incentives gave her the final push.
While everybody can take advantage of recent federal tax credits, state incentives vary. Some are generous, and some offer homeowners nothing. Some local governments are offering low-interest loans on top of the federal and state incentives.
Neal Lurie is with the Solar Society. Lurie says incentives are creating demand and that’s driving down the cost of solar systems.
He says systems cost about 30% less than last year.
Lurie says with lower prices and tax incentives, some homeowners can have solar without much – or no – money out of pocket.
But how soon will solar catch on with the masses? Lurie predicts in less than six years.
“We’ll see solar technology a low-cost provider of electricity, even lower priced than fossil fuels without incentives. I think that when that happens we’re going to see it go from being something that people are looking at and starting to do to something that is truly common-place, much more than people may actually expect today.”
Others think solar will really take off in just three years. Solar installers are already gearing up. Some say they’ll double their workforce by the end of this year.
One paint technology that GM is developing uses quantum dots - shown here irradiated with ultraviolet light (Source: Walkman16 at Wikimedia Commons)
Even though General Motors has filed for bankruptcy, Rebecca Williams reports the company is still dreaming big:
Transcript
Even though General Motors has filed for bankruptcy, Rebecca Williams reports the company is still dreaming big:
Someday you might be able to power your radio through your car’s paint.
Christopher Webb is GM’s senior creative designer.
He says GM’s research teams are giving some thought to solar powered paint. He says it might start with tiny solar cells called quantum dots.
“You could suspend these solar cells in a resin system or a waterborne or solvent carrier and spray it over the surface of the vehicle. Technically the entire surface of the vehicle could become almost a solar conductor.”
Webb says nobody knows exactly how this might work yet. But he says he’s confident that GM will continue their research into new technologies like this even with the bankruptcy announcement.
Something else that’s being talked about is using volcanic rock in paint. It could be a coating that would reduce a car’s interior temperature by reflecting heat – so you could use the air conditioning less often.
North America's largest solar plant, covering 140 acres (Photo courtesy of the Nellis Air Force Base)
President Barack Obama’s visit
to Nellis Air Force Base near
Las Vegas has more to do with
what’s on the ground than it
does the fighter jets in the air.
Lester Graham reports on the base’s
solar energy project:
Transcript
President Barack Obama’s visit
to Nellis Air Force Base near
Las Vegas has more to do with
what’s on the ground than it
does the fighter jets in the air.
Lester Graham reports on the base’s
solar energy project:
Nellis Air Force Base is home to the nation’s largest solar photovoltaic power plant. The system generates enough electricity to power the equivelent of more than 13,000 homes.
The Air Force’s partner in the solar plant is MMA Renewable Ventures. Matt Cheney is CEO.
Cheney says there are lots of advantages, starting with no need for foreign or domestic fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases.
“It gets its energy from the sun. And, by the way, the sun is pretty predictable and effectively the energy we get from it is free.”
That’s not to say solar energy is free. The array at Nellis Air Force Base cost 100-million dollars to build.
The Air Force saves about a million dollars a year. So, it’s going to take a while to break even.
But as the demand for more solar goes up, the technology gets cheaper, in just a few years you might be able to get solar energy for about the same price as from coal-burning power plants.
Hawaii has the highest energy prices in the nation. (Photo courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
