US Clean Energy Facts From Obama's 1st Term

There is no doubt that clean energy sources increased significantly in President Obama's first term in office. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Boosted fuel standards for cars and trucks that is expected to reduce climate-warming pollution (like CO2) by 6 billion metric tons.
2. Wind energy production has doubled in the last 4 years.
3. Solar installations have increased 6-fold in the last 4 years.
4. In 2007 the Supreme Court ruled that carbon emissions are indeed a pollutant as defined by the Clean Air Act.

However, despite the advances in clean energy right now in the US "Energy Independence" is still code for more mining and more drilling but it doesn't need to be so in the future. Energy independence needs to become more interrelated to weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels with renewable energy. Subsidies for renewable energy are being reduced and in some cases coming to an end.

On the other hand, oil subsidies remain stronger than ever even after decades of exponential industry growth and multiple economic downturns and hardly come into to question. Moreover with all of the big craze around natural gas in the US, many are forgetting that methane that escapes from drilling and pumping natural gas is 70 times more harmful than CO2 emissions.

In fact the head of the Environmental Defense Fund, Fred Krupp says that "Fugitive gas is the biggest unknown of all the US emissions sources."

Envision Solar set for partnership with Al Habtoor | utilities-me.com

Envision Solar set for partnership with Al Habtoor | utilities-me.com

Excerpt:

Aconfort president and CEO Aquilino Ornia, speaking on the deal, said, “It is a tremendous opportunity to partner with Envision Solar to expand the Solar Shaded Parking market in the UAE, Qatar and Spain. In the Middle East, the sun shines almost 365 days a year – we must take advantage of this opportunity to capture so much free energy and to also generate clean electricity that will help protect the environment. We selected Envision’s Solar Tree arrays because they are the best and will be most appealing to the market where we operate.”

The ACEEE 2012 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard

The ACEEE created an interesting map that ranks countries on overall "energy efficiency" and across sectors.

However, in this map the energy efficiency innovating countries Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden or Spain are not necessarily ranked.

Great interactive data visualization of energy consumption and production by The Guardian courtesy of data from BP.

Ponder the Trade-Offs of Streamlining the Solar Panel Installation Codes

Solar panel installation code streamlining sounds like a great idea, but as with many other standard code implementation campaigns standardization may not truly mean standardization in its pure sense not simply because one city may want to be the exception but because different cities have different needs and knowledge of solar. 

Plus on from a more realistic and historical point, the “all politics are local” mantra of the U.S. and the historical autonomy given to cities dating back to the founding days of the nation leads me to believe that even if the federal government chooses to implement basic solar installation standards, some cities will still have additional permitting forms. For some more progressive cities, which in the case of Solar tend to be located in California, the national negotiated and consensus “standards” will be basic at best, and thus they may still choose to implement their own requirements. However, isn’t the permitting process just part of the cost of doing business in the construction industry?

As the New York Times article, “Solar Firms Frustrated by Permits” by Tom Zeller Jr.  reports: a recent report released today by SunRun, one of the nation’s largest solar leasing companies (& endorsed by numerous solar service and installation firms) “urges the Obama administration to do more to encourage local officials to adopt the codes and procedures outlined by the solar ABC’s — including the creation of a prize program similar to the Race to the Top Fund, a $4.35 billion program created as part of the 2009 stimulus package to encourage and reward states for efforts to reform education.” Though this suggestion sounds like a stimulating recommendation with lots of potential, it should be taken with a grain of salt. Solar panels are only one component of the solar industry that by the way is loosing market power because of solar power technology innovation and not the permitting process. In the same vein, the solar industry is just one component (and solution) on the renewable energy spectrum. The bigger concern and probably the reason why a doing a similar program to the Race to the Top Fund for solar panel installation is controversial is such a narrowly focused program may be exclusionary and discourage innovation in other renewable energy sources that may be more cost-effective and greener.

"Smart from the Start," Salazar Promotes Offshore Wind Energy

This past spring I worked on a project, project managing a delegation of Spanish renewable and transportation companies with the Madrid Chamber of Commerce. The delegation got the brief tour of the renewable energy and transportation world in California visiting my hometown San Diego, my other home base Los Angeles and of course San Francisco and Sacramento. It was an action packed week meeting with commissions, agencies and potential private sector partners. More importantly everyone left very happy and with a better sense of how things work in California and made some good connections.

From this project I learned that the renewable energy sector is a lot more dynamic than I had originally thought and it spurred an interest in the renewable energy sector. This was the first time I learned about offshore wind energy, which is basically wind turbines out in the ocean, one of our delegates specialized in ocean platforms for wind turbines. Thus, I was very excited to see the NY Times article: Salazar Aims to Streamline Offshore Wind. On Tuesday, November 23, 2010 Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced a new program, "Smart from the Start," that will accelerate the adoption wind energy. This is great news for most in the wind energy business and a very big win for the renewable energy sector. Go Green!

President Obama Oct. 4th Weekly Solar Power & a Clean Energy Economy Address

Greening the White House

Walking the Green Walk: Today, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, announced that in the very near future the White House residence will be installing solar panels and a solar hot water heater.

The aim is multi-purposed. On the one hand, this is clearly a step in the right green sustainable direction as the administration explicitly shows its commitment to renewable energy. Secondly, this also demonstrates that American solar technologies are "available, reliable, and ready for installation throughout the country." As a result, as Secretary Chu puts it, the nationwide deployment and implementation of clean energy technologies will help "America lead the global economy for years to come" and create more local clean energy jobs.

For more info on state, local, and utility rebates for renewable energy generation throughout the country visit the Database of State Incentives for Renewable and Efficiency website.

This is just another reason Obama still Rocks!