Here is an amazing talk about the energy revolutions happening throughout the planet. Paul Hawken’s talks about an energy movement without a name, lead by no one, that is the largest in recorded history, and is analogous to the complexity and function of our body’s natural immune system. He relates the ground swell of organizations addressing issues that benefit mankind and the planet and tries to connect the dots. He cites his new book “Natural Capitalism” which has received much attention. He speaks about everything to do with our connection to the earth and each other. From small community outreach groups to the formation of large NGO and Non-Profits. Including how the LEED certification program from USGBC is changing the way we interact and live in our buildings and cities.
In a recent 2009 Commencement speech Hawken’s said:
“The living world is not “out there” somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. Think about this: we are the only species on this planet without full employment. Brilliant. We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time than to renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can’t print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.”
I would like to share a poignant story with you about how a people from a very small and humble village benefited from upgrading to solar power. And how the delays in getting their solar panels were met with patience, grace and wonder.
This story can give another perspective upon our own feelings about our delays in funding and launching of what I feel is the most important opportunity for the solar industry. And through our broader vision of the world, impact millions of lives.
This is “where the radiant light of the universe meets the inner light of wisdom, compassion and tolerance”.
The video is in two parts, so I put the second part first, just in case you don’t have time for both.
Part 2
Part 1
Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
85% of our world is without electricity. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names. And even if they had a book to study, they had no light to read by at night, or in their homes.
We are about to shift the world with our solutions!
From RenewableEnergyWorld.com
2.12.09
Washington, D.C., United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]
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The House and Senate conferees have reached a deal on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The agreement was reached late last night and has cut the total value of the bill to US $789 billion. The bill will be a boon for the renewable energy industry. All of the provisions that were contained in the Senate version of the bill were retained. In addition, the grants in lieu of tax credits clause that the House version of the bill contained made the final package.
The renewable energy, transmission and energy efficiency measures of the bill are outlined below.
The new bill contains $20 billion for tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency over the next 10 years including:
A three-year extension of the production tax credit (PTC) for electricity derived from wind (through 2012) and for electricity derived from biomass, geothermal, hydropower, landfill gas, waste-to-energy and marine facilities (through 2013).
Grants of up to 30 percent of the cost of building a new renewable energy facility to address current renewable energy credit market concerns. The grant money was originally slated to go through DOE, but RenewableEnergyWorld.com is now hearing that the money will be distributed through the Treasury Department.
Establishment of a new manufacturing investment tax credit (ITC) for investment in advanced energy facilities, such as facilities that manufacture components for the production of renewable energy, advanced battery technology and other innovative next-generation green technologies.
Clean renewable energy bonds for state and local governments.
Extensions for tax credits through 2010 for purchases such as new furnaces, energy-efficient windows and doors or insulation.
A tax credit for families that purchase plug-in hybrid vehicles of up to $7,500 to spur the next generation of American cars.
In additon, $30 billion will go to smart power grid, advanced battery technology and energy efficiency measures including the Smart Grid Investment Program to modernize the electricity grid to make it more efficient and reliable, U.S. development of advanced vehicle batteries and battery systems through loans and grants.
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Well folks, this is a huge boon for the renewable energy and green building industries! We are moving forward and good new abounds.
This ingenious, simple and amazing invention uses, otherwise wasted, plastic bottles to cleverly harvest the sun light to illuminate windowless rooms in poor countries.
Back in December we reported on RSi-Solar announces the world’s first, transparent, photovoltaic-glass window which generates 80 to 250 watts of electricity. Here
It was hard to top that exciting news but this new announcement shines new light into silicon wafer efficiency. At the GoGreen EXPO (Los Angeles)… RSi-Solar just unveiled the most powerful solar panel in the world. The DSO SUPER-PV™, a 60-cell, standard-size, mono-crystalline photovoltaic-module with a 350 watt-OUTPUT rating, an incredible 160 to 200% power-output over industry’s top 220 watt-peak modules.
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From (Business Wire) Rainbow Solar Inc. (RSI)
2009 Production capacity of 120 megawatts, at conventional Photovoltaic pricing. RSi believes this will become the standard for all future photovoltaic systems. RSi plans to license the SUPER-PV™ technology to PV and module companies globally.
DSO is working with LEED-AP and AIA professionals to realize ‘self-powered-buildings’ (SPB), by converting the entire building surface into an energy-collector, utilizing advanced technologies such as the PV-Glass-Window and SUPER-PV™.
DSO, the BIPV division of RSi, is dedicated to the realization of a gridless future, where power will be embedded into buildings and freely accessible, like air - wherever there is sunlight, there will be power.
New U of T research looks to create organic solar cells by using special quantum effect
DailyTech/Jason Mick/1.18.09
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Imagine having cheap, printable solar cells at your fingertips, woven into your clothing,streaming power into your mobile electronics. Organic electronics, a field which includes organic solar cells and organic transistor circuits, has many advantages, the biggest of which is the ability to be printed easily, and the ability to flex without breaking.
The team looked at conjugated polymers, one of the most efficient organic materials available for solar power production. These long molecules can be also used in transistors and LEDs. They behave roughly like semiconductors, while retaining important organic characteristics. When exposed to light, they produce energy, which is transferred down their chain, eventually reaching other molecules and finally leaving the cell.
The findings are reported in the Jan. 16 edition of the journal Science. The work was sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Here is the short version of “Playing for Change - Stand By Me”
“Through inspiring each other we will create a better world…
for us now and for the kids tomorrow…
we don’t even know how long we are in this world, so there really is no reason to fear anything…
the important thing is while we are here let’s make a difference together…
that is what playing for change is trying to represent.”
-Mark Johnson
Music… a universal language that transcends politics and religion.
The folks at the Playing for Change Foundation are building music schools around the globe. Spreading a universal message of hope and connection through a common bond of music.
Creating an opportunity to have them solar powered and energy independent could add to the vibration of the planet and the universal song of love we all share.
Hopefully, very soon, Citizenre will have the social funding options to bring support for solutions and global social programs like this.
One love… One heart… Many Solutions…
Making a difference together,
In-joy,
Bruce
And a second video with a delightful interview by Bill Moyers (PBS) of Mark Johnson with a moving rendition of “One Love” at the end…
(Rocky Mountain News) -Gargl Chakrabarty
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On Friday, the utility sought competitive bids for up to 600 megawatts of solar power projects with capacity for storage - power that would serve roughly 150,000 customers in the Front Range.
The price tag: about $3 billion.
If Xcel selects a single plant generating the entire power, it would be the world’s biggest solar project.
“We can do it,” said John Czingula, one of the biggest shareholders and founder of Solargenix Energy.
DENVER – Xcel Energy will seek to acquire approximately 2,200 megawatts of electric generation supply for its Colorado customers between now and 2015, through an all-source request for proposal (RFP) issued today by the company. The RFP is part of the most recent 2007 Colorado Resource Plan (CRP) approved by state regulators in December.
Xcel Energy is seeking to add up to 700 megawatts of additional wind and solar generation through the RFP. In addition, the company will consider acquiring up to 600 megawatts from solar thermal generation with storage capability or natural gas backup.
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(1.8.09 - Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday said an economic stimulus package should include building a new electricity “smart grid.
“Smart grid” describes a more efficient, cost-saving method of moving electricity along major long-distance transmission lines to local distribution power lines and disparate end-users in homes, businesses and schools.
The estimated cost of creating a nationwide “smart grid” by investor-owned utilities in the United States is $50 billion over 10 to 20 years, said Ed Legge, an analyst with the Edison Electric Institute, a power industry lobbyist. Adding federally and locally owned utilities, the full cost would be about $65 billion.
Smart grid advocates say utilities and customers will realize cost savings in the long run, despite the high roll-out costs.
In a smart grid, computers and sensors, installed at power plants, substations and along power lines, would signal control centers that would better manage the flow of electricity. For instance, computers would detect transmission bottlenecks and direct power around them.
Power outages are now monitored as customers call local utilities to report them. Smart grid computers would discover outages automatically.
“Smart meters” would be installed to replace conventional electricity meters. These would facilitate communication between utilities and their customers, letting them curb power use when demand peaks and prices are high.
Cutting demand during peak hours would reduce the need for capital spending on more power plants, substations and power lines. Proponents say it also will cut greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
The meters combined with smart appliances would make it possible to control and regulate appliances remotely.
Proponents say “smart” technology also will help renewable power sources like solar panels and solar power plants and wind farms integrate into the overall transmission system.
Conventional power grids have difficulty with the intermittent nature of solar and wind power.
Smart grid technology is in various forms of planning and implementation depending on the utility or state jurisdiction.
Investor-owned utilities account for about 70 percent of U.S. electricity use. Several utility companies have begun replacing conventional electricity meters with “smart meters” that receive signals from the grid and send signals back to grid operators.
After year-long study of smart grid technologies in the Pacific Northwest, U.S. officials and IBM estimated customers saved 10 percent on monthly power bills and cut power use by 15 percent.
If those figures could be realized nationwide, it could save between $70 billion and $120 billion in spending on new power plants and transmission lines, the study found.
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PRESS RELEASE
RSi-Solar Unveils the Windows of the Future
World’s First Power Generating Glass Window
Last update: 3:35 p.m. EST Dec. 10, 2008
HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Dec 10, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Rainbow Solar Inc. (RSi) announces the world’s first, transparent, photovoltaic-glass window which generates 80 to 250 watts of electricity.
This is the next-generation of BIPV (building integrated photovoltaic), an enclosed super-tempered glass window system, with a patent pending, fully integrated, multi-tier PV and heat insulation technology. Up to 9′ x 9′ size with comprehensive options to meet design, weather, climate, and building code requirements.
The RSi Power Independence Evolution:
Rising energy prices initiated the renewable energy revolution, moving from centralized-grid infrastructure to self-sustaining energy, a Power Independence evolution. Of all the renewable energy solutions, solar is the only affordable solution that can be applied on an individual’s property that is truly self sustaining and low maintenance.
Website: www.solar.tm
SOURCE: Market Watch & RSi Energy Group
Our site is powered completely by solar, wind and renewable energy to the tune of 130% of the data center power consumption, so we're not only neutralizing our carbon footprint, but also pumping an extra 30% of green energy back into the power grid! A light footprint.
Random Quote
Be conscious of yourself, but don’t be self-conscious. — Mike Lipkin
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