There is much talk about alternative (or “green”) energy sources these days. Although there a several different types-ethanol, biomass, hydroelectric, and geothermal heat pumps, to name just a few-two types have risen to prominence in the political debates: solar cells and wind turbines. Opponents of these renewable energy sources point out that wind and solar power combined currently provides less than 1% of America’s energy needs. But don’t let this fool you. America’s capacity to harness these energy sources is rapidly growing. As more and more wind farms are being built, electricity generated by wind turbines has risen to two and a half times the amount produced just five years ago. Photovoltaic solar cells now generate sixteen times the amount produced ten years ago!

There’s a reason these two particular green energy sources have been growing so fast. Other green energy sources, like gas captured from landfills and hydroelectric dams, and limited by geography. There are only so many landfills to tap into, and a limit to the number of rivers that can be dammed. Geothermal heat pumps, solar cell arrays, and wind farms, in contrast, can be built almost anywhere. Sure, some locations are better than others-the Southwestern USA gets more sun and the Great Plains gets stronger, steadier winds-but the truth is the sun shines, the wind blows, and the earth is warm no matter where you are. Geothermal heat pumps, however, are more difficult and expensive to construct. This leaves solar and wind energy as the power sources most economically to capture and turn into electricity…

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President-elect Barack Obama’s 30-point energy agenda asks for prominent changes to address carbon emissions, fuel efficiency, renewable power and efficiency.

If Obama acts out the energy plan he laid out during his campaign, American taxpayers will each get a $500 discount check — funded by a windfall profits taxes on big oil companies.

In addition to taxing oil giants more, Senator Obama’s detailed 30-point energy agenda demands big changes to address carbon emissions, fuel efficiency for vehicles, and domestic and renewable power and efficiency.

While many candidates’ platform assures are cast away when political opposition looms, the Obama energy plan seems constitutional to his promise to get the economy restarted, some experts say.

Some of the highlights of Obama’s energy plan includes:

·         Putting 1 million plug-in-electric hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) on the road by 2015 — cars that can get the equivalent of 150 miles per gallon.

·         Creating 5 million new green jobs by investing $150 billion over 10 years to stimulate clean-energy infrastructure and manufacturing such as wind-turbine plants and solar panels carpeting the nation’s rooftops.

·         Cutting US oil consumption, within 10 years, by the amount currently imported from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.

·         Requiring 10 percent of the nation’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass by 2012. By 2025, raise that to 25 percent.

·         Establishing an economy-wide cap-and-trade program that cuts US greenhouse gas emissions by charging for every ton of carbon dioxide that goes into the sky from coal- and natural gas-fired US power plants.

Can Obama do all that and more — or will governmental and economical obstructions ultimately turn the plan into a much more humble effort? How much was campaign window dressing, and how much energy shift will the US undergo?

Some components of Obama ’s energy plan are costly, but also vital to the rest of the plan. For instance, sales of pollution permits from the cap-and-trade program to limit CO2 emissions across the economy are key to helping fund the plan’s $15 billion per year (for 10 years) expenditure on renewable energy research and development.

But some say rising electric rates — the result of costs involved with greenhouse-gas emissions — could stir political opposition and derail implementation, especially given the economic depression.

While no one has recalculated the cost-benefit for Obama’s official energy plan, some earlier calculations for similar — albeit rosy — plans suggest that the net effect would still be an addition for green jobs and the economy.

The Apollo Alliance, a labor-environmental alignment, has put forward a proposition that contains proposals similar to those in the Obama plan. The alliance calls for a federal investment in clean-energy technology and green building that’s twice as large ($300 billion) as Obama’s. Their analysis calculates more than $1.4 trillion in savings and economic growth.

The pedigree of Obama’s plan also suggests that it is more, not less, likely to be implemented.

Much of the Obama plan accompanies the National Commission on Energy Policy’s (NCEP) 2004 plan, a consensus document in which — as in the SAFC plan — energy-security hawks joined environmentalists and industry. In fact, NCEP director and plan coauthor Jason Grumet is a likely candidate for an energy post in the new administration.

Besides the advantage of having been pre-vetted by energy, foreign policy, and industry experts, the plan also has something of an authorization. Obama often touted the need for a new energy equation during the campaign. Renewable-energy tax credits were blocked regularly in the US Senate this year. So an Obama mandate could help win over a Senate in which Democrats are now just three votes short of a filibuster-proof majority — with three races still in contention.

One of the fastest ways to lower energy costs is efficiency. Obama’s energy plan touts tougher efficiency standards and decries the Bush administration for missing 34 deadlines for improving energy-efficiency requirements for appliances and electrical equipment.

During its term of office, the Bush White House enacted just two new energy-efficiency standards, one for electrical transformers and one for home furnaces, both of which were considered too weak and are now being challenged in court by states and environmental groups.

If all 25 Obama-proposed energy-efficiency standards were acquired, they could economize the yearly equivalent of all the power produced by 57 large power plants.

An early test of the new administration — and its willingness to risk industry displeasure — will come in June. That’s when a new rule on commercial lighting — to improve the efficiency of those ubiquitous four-foot-long fluorescent tubes used in office buildings nationwide — comes up for final approval.

It’s a big deal. If the Department of Energy enacts a tough rule, it could have one of the most significant energy-efficiency impacts in US history, saving the equivalent of $66 billion in power costs over the next 30 years. That’s enough to power every home in the US for one year.

A strong rule could mean that the US could essentially replace 15 large power plants with the energy savings and slash carbon dioxide emissions by 950 million tons. The Bush administration could still propose a weaker rule in its waning days.

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You may think of people living “off the grid”, perhaps in the deep woods when you think of residential solar panels. This was something which was more or less true at one time, but the use of residential solar panels is rapidly entering the mainstream.

Residential solar panels are increasingly being seen in suburbs; this is a clean source of energy, causing no pollutions and is very cost effective. Given the rising cost of fuel, residential solar panels have proliferated in the last few years and the systems are cheaper than they have ever been.

The demand for alternative sources of energy is being answered with solar power. There are options for homeowners other than fossil fuels - residential solar panels can be linked into the local utility company’s power grid or used as a standalone system powering a single home. When tied into the power grid, residential solar panels can provide backup power and profit for the homeowner, who can sell excess electricity to the local utility.

Residential solar panel systems generally have four parts - the solar array (the panels themselves), the mounting structure, the DC disconnects and an inverter. The panel need to be mounted and connected to the inverter; after this, the only further requirement is an AC disconnect and the consumer can sell power back to their utility company.

The system is simple, yet until recently the cost of these systems prevented many who would otherwise be interested in their use from purchasing and using residential solar panels. The federal government now provides a tax credit for up to 30% of the cost of residential solar panels - up to a cap of $2,000 in an effort to get the public to adopt them. There are also incentives offered by individual states for consumers who use residential solar panels.

In the last ten years, there have been many developments in the solar power field, such as solar shingles, which allow your roof to be used as a solar panel.

Any consumer who is interested in solar energy should investigate the options available to them on terms of residential solar panels, as well as the federal and state tax incentives which are offered for their use. After installing such a system, the homeowner will benefit from energy which is essentially free- something well worth investigating.

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Solar shingles (also known as photovoltaic shingles) are photovoltaic cells configured to appear like conventional asphalt shingles. There are a lot of kinds of solar shingles, including shingle-sized solid boards that take the place of a number of established shingles in a strip, semi-rigid blueprints bearing numerous silicon solar cells that are sized more like conventional shingles, and fresher schemes utilizing several thin film solar cell technologies that correspond with conventional shingles both in size and flexibility.

They are fabricated by only a couple of companies globally including SunPower Corporation, Solar Components Corporation, and Atlantis Energy Systems.

The technology has arisen substantially because of their origin for usage for solar water heaters during the 1920s in Florida and California. Lately there has been an upsurge towards mass output of PV systems. In certain parts of the world with significantly high insolation levels, PV output and their economics are enhanced. PV (Photovoltaic) modules are the primary component of most modest solar-electric power generating installations. Since the turn of the century, there have been outstanding progressions in solar power and their efficiency; this includes the 2005 release of solar shingles.

Solar shingles are photovoltaic cells, captivating sunlight and translating it into energy. Most solar shingles are 12 inches wide (when heaped have 5 inches of exposed area) by 86 inches long and can be fastened straightaway to the roofing cloth. Assorted models of shingles that are produced have dissimilar mounting requirements. Some can be employed immediately onto roofing felt intermingled with regular asphalt shingles although others might require special installation. Roof tiles allow for optimal solar cell placement and eliminates shading from upper roof tiles. They also call for less roof space and provides for optimal system arrangement.

Solar-shingled roofs have a deep, dark, purplish-blue color, and consequently look similar to other roofs in most situations. Home-owners may be attracted to solar shingles because of their aesthetic value, allowing for homeowner to employ solar arrays without large panels on their roofs. Contrary to other forthcoming alternative resources for the home, such as wind turbines or home diesel generators (to bring down transmission system costs), they are not evidently solar collectors. Some producers produce solar shingles made of POLYMATRIX. These shingles integrate well into existing roofs and are even compliant to some countries’ historic preservation rules.

The more common setup is photovoltaic shingles with mono or polycrystalline solar cells instantly incorporated with regular asphalt shingles. The primary blueprint of photovoltaic cells, comprise of a large-area, an exclusive layer p-n junction diode, which is capable of engendering functional electrical energy from light reservoirs with the wavelengths of sunlight. These cells are generally made using a silicon wafer. First generation solar cells (also known as silicon wafer-based solar cells) are the dominant technology in the commercialized output of solar cells, accounting for more than 86% of the solar cell market. The typical power output bridges several watts (roof shingles) to about 50 watts (roof tiles with crystalline solar cells).
PV systems connected to the grid can have battery backup systems. PV systems that lack a battery backup are integrally connected with utility power. The system’s power output goes straight into the grid; as a result, this type of system usually saves the owner the most money on electric bills. The other type of PV systems are those that are equipped with battery backups. In these systems, extra power is utilized to charge up backup batteries which can provide equal to eight hours of power in the event of a power failure.
As would be anticipated, these systems call for different hardware in order to serve different functions. Non-battery backup units necessitate an inverter which converts the direct current output from the shingles into alternating current that most home appliances use. A meter would also be beneficial to allow one to track the system’s performance. Then again, battery backup units require an array of additional hardware. This includes batteries, battery enclosures, battery charge controllers, and differentiate sub panels for vital burden circuits.

Solar shingles are less affordable to establish than typical PV panels, but the additional cost is sometimes considered a small price to pay for the aesthetic benefits. Also, the solar shingles offset the cost of traditional shingles for that section of the roof.

Large homebuilders in California like Lennar are partnering with SunPower to provide new construction solar homes that have solar systems installed before moving in. Scaling down the overhead and utilizing solar roof tile technology creates solar a standard option like granite countertops, making solar a low-cost solution to reduce electricity costs.

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Following the disaster show at Wall Street in the last few weeks, the renewable energy industry has finally emerged as a winner with the approval of the long-awaited extension of the Production (PTC) and Investment Tax Credits (ITC) as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (H.R. 1424). The extension has now been signed into a law by President George Bush. The tax credit packet, which is the same that cleared the Senate on September 24, will expand the PTC for one year and the ITC for eight years. The extensions would be at the least partly paid for by an alteration in the tax code for the oil and gas industry.

The bill also comprises of the removal of the US$2,000 cap for residential solar facilities. The debatable US $700 billion bailout package has been in the works in Washington since last week due the failure of numerous major U.S. banks and financial institutions. The bill was at first defeated in the House and was re-worked and re-introduced by the Senate this week.

“The American solar energy industry received a boost today with the passage of H.R. 1424, which included a provision to extend the tax credits for renewable energy by eight years. This legislation will enable companies like SCHOTT Solar to continue to invest in American production, American jobs, and America’s energy independence,” said Mark Finocchario, president and CEO of SCHOTT Solar.

Ron Kenedi, vice president of Sharp Solar said that the tax credit extensions will help the U.S. solar industry become a bigger part of the generation picture and bring down its costs.

“Solar is becoming a competitive energy source that can address our nation’s growing energy demands with a clean, reliable and renewable source of power. The solar industry is now scaling up to bring down manufacturing and installation costs, build its infrastructure, grow public awareness, and attract customers. The 8-year extension of the solar investment tax credit will help the solar industry flourish to its full potential,” Kenedi said.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) also voiced its approval for the vote.

“We salute Members of Congress in both parties who fought under difficult conditions to keep the renewable energy production tax credit and small turbine investment tax credit on the agenda until the very end, and then pushed them across the finish line,” said Greg Wetstone, senior director of governmental and public affairs for AWEA. “These tax credits are essential to the continued growth of wind energy, to the economic and energy security of the United States, and to a successful beginning in the fight against global warming.”

“The extension of the production tax credits encourages aggressive growth in renewable energy development and supports our rapid deployment strategy for building a number of geothermal power plants over the next decade,” said Brent Cook, Raser’s CEO.

Spotlights of the package include:

· An 8-year elongation of the residential and business ITC for solar, small-wind and geothermal systems

· An elimination of the US $2,000 cap on the residential ITC

· Elimination of the forbiddance on utilities from getting the ITC

· Authorization of US $800 million for clean energy bonds for renewable energy generating facilities

· A 1-year elongation of the PTC for wind projects

· A 2-year elongation of the PTC for geothermal facilities

· Makes a two year ITC for marine energy technologies (tidal, wave, current, ocean thermal)

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Read more about Solar Photovoltaic Market Potential-2008 —

In latest technological developments, engineers at the University of Utah have developed a novel way to slice thin wafers of the chemical element germanium for usage in the most efficient type of solar cells. According to them, this new method is going to bring down the prices of such cells by lowering the waste and breakage of the brittle semiconductor.

The expensive solar cells that the engineers are now working with are mainly used on spacecraft, but with the improved wafer-slicing method, “the idea is to make germanium-based, high-efficiency solar cells for uses where cost now is a factor,” particularly for solar power on Earth, says Eberhard “Ebbe” Bamberg, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering.

The University is aiming to come up with a more efficient way of creating germanium wafers for solar cells so as to lower the price and weight of solar cells and make them defect-free.

Brass-coated, steel-wire saws now are applied to slice round wafers of germanium from cylindrical single-crystal ingots. However, the breakable chemical element breaks up easily, requiring broken pieces to be reprocessed, and the width of the saws means a substantial amount of germanium is lost during the cutting process. The sawing method was developed for silicon wafers, which are roughly 100 times stronger.

The new method for slicing solar cell wafers - known as wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) - wastes less germanium and produces more wafers by cutting even thinner wafers with less waste and cracking. The process applies an extremely thin molybdenum wire with an electrical current running through it. It has been applied previously for machining metals during tool-making.

Germanium serves as the bottom layer of the most effective existing type of solar cell, but is used primarily on NASA, military and commercial satellites because of the high expense - raw germanium costs about US $680 per pound. Four-inch-wide wafers used in solar cells cost US $80 to $100 each, and the new cutting method may reduce the cost by more than 10 percent.

Germanium is a semiconductor at the bottom of “multijunction” solar cells. Above it are layers of gallium-indium-arsenide and gallium-indium-phosphide. The layers work together to capture different wavelengths of sunlight, and the germanium also serves as the substrate upon which the solar cell is “grown.”

A patent is pending on a way of using the new method so that multiple, parallel electrically charged wires are used to cut germanium wafers.

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