3p Contributor: Amelia Timbers
Recent Articles
Cherrypicking Solar Stocks Could Be Rewarding
Analysts ganging up on solar stocks are worried about the insecurity of demand in the wake of cheaper conventional energy prices. Reduced government subsidies for the photovoltaic solar industry in Germany and Spain are also frequently cited as a reason to downgrade solar stocks. But it’s not all doom and gloom. There still are exceptional companies to be found.
Research house iSuppli recently put out a report estimating that worldwide turnover of solar PV panels will decline by 20% this year. Turnover of solar panel sales will dip from over $15 billion in 2008 to $13 billion in 2009 – marking the sector’s first ever contraction. The reason they say? Overproduction in 2008. Solar panel manufacturers produced 7.7 Gigawatts of solar capacity last year but only half of that production was actually connected.
What Can Jobseekers Expect From Obama’s $30 Billion Incentives Package To The Renewable Energy Sector?
President Barack Obama’s plans to increase the production of renewable energy to double the current levels by 2012 and one of his first acts has been to provide $30 billion in tax incentives to this industry. That was $10 billion more than had been anticipated. The move supports the optimism of the people who anticipate surging growth in the green jobs market.
Recent research by think tank and academic institutions shows that significant job increases in the green sector is expected. The reports provide helpful information for people interested in employment in a green job. Many of them offer detailed information of anticipated growth per sector and region, which is exactly what job seekers need.
A recent survey of the Academy for Educational Development (AED) advises green job seekers to consider a community college as their ‘dream school’.
Rent Out Roof Space To Energy Companies
All around the US, homeowners are getting paid by their energy utility to have solar panels installed. That’s because power companies have an urgent need for roof space. They’re in a race against the clock to replace ever greater portions of the regular energy supply by power sourced from renewables.
The trend began with deals between energy companies and various large companies and local municipalities to install solar panels on large premises in return for a fee. One example is ProLogis, a large distributor in California, getting solar energy from systems installed and run by outside energy companies. The first such deal was when General Motors got solar panels installed on the roofs of its Spain production facilities (see picture).
Now the energy companies are beginning to tap the residential sector. The inherent logic of this development is obvious; once they’ve got local authority approval, energy companies can extend their ’solar parks’ quickly and with relatively little hassle by fixing normal residents up with solar power. Home owners are interested because they get a fee for renting out their roofs to professionally managed solar panels. It’s hard to imagine a better way to reduce your footprint. Or is there?
Despite the compelling logic of the roof rental schemes, the cost/savings equation of the plans of Duke Energy in North Carolina aren’t immediately sky rocketing. Duke recently became the latest in a spate of energy companies to announce it would start renting the roofs of ordinary houses for solar power generation. The energy giant will rent 425 roofs across the state as early as next year.
Governmental Climate Change Mitigation Efforts Are Less Costly When They Target Temperatures Rather Than CO2 Emissions Reductions
Climate change mitigation packages should be aimed at reducing temperatures rather than lowering carbon emissions. This makes global government investment in protecting the environment a lot less expensive, say European scientists.
The researchers, in the Netherlands and Germany, have found scientific grounds for the commonly held opinion that high initial costs of eco-friendly solutions are rewarded in the long term by savings from lower energy usage.
Rather than focus on a CO2 emissions cap which is the common approach to climate solutions, the researchers modeled changes based on a cap for future temperature rises.
Working with a temperature cap makes sense in many ways, especially financially, says Michiel Schaeffer of Wageningen University in the Netherlands and lead author of the study. This is because the cost estimates associated with limiting a pre-determined level of carbon emissions often rise rapidly, even exponentially, as the scale of emission reductions to be reached increases.
(Near) Carbon Neutral Communities
Europeans are far ahead of North Americans when it comes to adopting green living standards by large groups and local communities. The Danish Island of Samso is a brilliant example of how a community can adopt a self sufficient lifestyle within a relatively short space of time. North America is beginning to catch up with Europe. The case of a brand new Alberta community living on solar energy shows a unique approach to a sustainable lifestyle.
The Danish island is located in central Denmark, and home to 4,000 people who have spent the last ten years collaborating intensively to achieve self sufficiency and carbon neutrality. Samso’s energy needs are generated by wind turbines, eleven of which are placed in green fields and ten in the surrounding coastal waters of the North Sea. Visitors to the island will agree that if any place deserves carbon neutrality it’s Samso. It’s a romantic place which in 1214 was given by King Valdemar the Victorious to his new queen once they got married. There are plenty of goats grazing in the fields underneath those wind turbines and a photovoltaic panel array at a solar heating plant. Most farmers rear organic pigs below the unsynchronized rotating blades of the wind turbines.
The houses in which the inhabitants live are 70% heated with natural resources such as rye, wheat and straw. The roofs are paneled neatly with solar panels. There are cars and thirty percent of the houses are dependent on oil for their heating yet all the carbon emissions are more than offset. What’s the most amazing is that it all has been achieved in under ten years’ time.
Alternative Energy – The Importance of Community Projects
Alternative energy schemes are going to be making important inroads around the globe. But the social implications of this should not be underestimated. A recent study by the Energy Savings Trust in the UK outlines how the scenario is likely to unfold in Britain.
The study, entitled Power in Numbers, underscores the vast untapped potential of schemes that are organized at local and community level. “Today energy generated by communities could produce about 13% of all household needs. With the right policies in place this potential could rise to 54%,” according to the report.
CleanTech Goes Through The Roof
Investment managers at cleantech funds are looking at the world with totally new eyes these days – the financial crisis, which has ravaged stock prices and wiped out major financial institutions, offers buying opportunities that are unprecedented. Now’s the best time to snap up bargains, they say.
The hard numbers prove this ain’t illogical. Investment in the US clean tech sector rose 55% to more than $2.4 billion over the past twelve months. One of the main drivers of this could be the US government’s $700 billion Housing and Recovery Act stimulus package. The tax concessions boosted wind energy, geothermal and biomass projects and are expected to have a long lasting effect on the capital markets.
Holy Solar – Vatican Installs 2,400 Panels
The German solar panel company SolarWorld has installed solar panels on the roofs of the Vatican. The Pope switched to the system earlier this week and is expected to announce drastic plans to expand on the project. The solar panels are placed on top of the massive roof of the Vatican’s Nervi Hall, where the pope receives general audiences.
A total of 2,400 photovoltaic panels have been attached to this 5,000 square meter roof. They are not noticeable from the ground below and can provide all of the energy for the hall and a few other buildings adjacent to it. Exact output is 300 kilowatt hours (kWh) annually.
Geologists Say Rock Laid Bare Under Omani Desert Can Absorb 4 Billion Tons Of CO2 a Year
Petroleum Development Oman, the state owned oil company of Oman (partly controlled by Shell), is in discussions with geologists who claim they’ve found a type of rock that can be used to soak up huge quantities of carbon dioxide.
The rock, known as peridotite, is layered just under the surface of a desert in Oman. The peridotite was found to react chemically with CO2, forming solid minerals. What’s more, it absorbs hot water infused with a concentration of CO2 that engineers can drill deep into it.
Theoretically, the peridotite in Oman alone could take in 4 billion tons of atmospheric carbon a year and transform it into marble and limestone. Total global annual carbon emitted is around 30 billion tons.
In most places in the world, peridotite usually resides some 20 kilometers or more below the earth’s surface. But in Oman, it’s been pushed upwards due to geologic activity making it far more accessible.
Dark Economic Cloud Throws Shadow Over Upcoming COP14 Climate Talks
The COP14 climate talks next week are taking place amid circumstances that are drastically changed compared to the last round of negotiations; the world’s economy is in severe turmoil. That means one thing – global leaders’ resolve to combat climate change will be put to the test.
The talks, which will take place December 1-12 in Poznan, Poland, could be the scene of intensified difficulties and any climate action may be seen as a trade off against economic growth. The experts at the United Nations are prepared for it. In a recent interview with Reuters news agency, they said their calculations show that the maximum sacrifice rich nations will be making to avert the worst effects of global warming is less than 0.12 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) annually until 2030.
Eskimos Sue 23 Energy Companies For Global Warming Related Damages
The first major global warming court case has yet to take place, but various attempts at landmark cases that will make litigation history have been made in the last year or so. Now a new case featuring a community of Alaskan Eskimos could move into the spotlight. Not least because the lawyers involved are the same as those that broke the tobacco industry ten years ago.
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