Solar Energy

Canadian Doctors Have A Plan To Save Gazan Lives: Solar Power

June 10, 2015 Paul Weinberg, www.rabble.ca Create! Canada, Gaza, Palestine, Solar Energy

By Paul Weinberg in Rabble - The tragedy of Gaza has largely faded from the spotlight even as the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory of 1.8 million continues to worsen following last summer's military assault by Israel. "Blockades, war and poor governance have strangled Gaza's economy and the unemployment is now the highest in the world," reports the latest World Bank May 2015 study. Power outages lasting more than 16 hours a day continue to ravage Gaza and make sick patients in hospitals especially vulnerable as insufficient power often decides between life or death. EmpowerGAZA is an organization that wants to provide reliable power to hospitals.

Newsletter: See You At The Barricades

June 6, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese at Popular Resistance, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter #BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Coal Mining, fast track, Fracking, Human Right, Human Trafficking, Indigenous People, Militarization, NSA, Patriot Act, Slavery, Solar Energy, TISA, TPP, TTIP, USA Freedom Act, Wikileaks

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese at Popular Resistance. We are at a crossroads to either a future of global corporate governance or a chance for democracy. As Chris Hedges writes in his new book, "Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt," a revolution is coming but we can't guarantee which way it will go. Will you be there to fight for justice? You have an opportunity to do that now. This is the critical week to stop Fast Track legislation from passing in Congress. Fast Track could last for the next six years and would enable passage of not just the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but also the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA). There are different ways to define security. Some would say that security means a police or military force to protect people from those who might cause harm. Others would say that security means the government has a responsibility to make sure that the basic needs of its people are met which in itself would reduce crimes and the need for a violent security force. This is your food for thought for this week. How do you define security?

Missouri Supreme Court Decision Is A Victory For Solar Industry

June 5, 2015 Renew Missouri, www.earthisland.org Create! Environment, Law, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy

By Renew Missouri in Earth Island - In February, Missouri’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of Renew Missouri, a project of Earth Island Institute, and against Missouri-based Empire District Electric Company in a contentious case about solar rebates. Under the ruling, Empire must begin complying with a key component of a state law that Renew Missouri helped create and begin offering rebates to customers who install solar rooftop systems to offset some of the installation costs. With this latest victory for clean energy under his belt, Renew Missouri co-founder PJ Wilson reflected on all that’s happened over the past few years, including his path towards becoming a renewable energy advocate. Back in the late 1990s, when he was studying civil engineering at the University of Southern California, Wilson didn’t think much about where energy came from.

Florida Court Rules ”Off Grid” Living Illegal

June 4, 2015 Joshua Krause, www.activistpost.com Resist! Energy, Law, Solar Energy

By Joshua Krause in Activist Post - Robin Speronis had been living in an off-grid home for many years without incident, until she was interviewed by a local FOX affiliate in November of 2013. Shortly thereafter, the city of Cape Coral tagged a “notice to vacate” on her property, due to multiple code violations, all of which stem from the fact that her home isn’t connected to water, sewage, or the electrical grid. The city has tried to argue that she is in violation of the International Property Maintenance Code for relying on rainwater and solar panels, instead of utilities. Since that time, Speronis has been fighting the courts for her right live off the grid. Magistrate Harold Eskins recently ruled that she can live without using water or electricity, but she still has to be connected to these utilities no matter what.

Current Solar Technology Good Enough For Clean Energy Future

May 17, 2015 Megan Treacy, www.treehugger.com Create! Energy, Solar Energy

The authors say that large-scale solar installations are needed to curb our carbon emissions in the future, but the only way to get more and better solar is for it to be more cost effective and that will come down to better investments and government subsidies. Currently, solar receives far fewer subsidies than fossil fuels, but a shift in those policies could transform the energy mix of the U.S. Meanwhile, greater investments would help to develop technologies that cost less to produce and install like thin-film wafers. The other major hurdle is funding technologies that would ease the integration of solar power into the grid, like smart grid infrastructure and energy storage technologies that could provide clean energy during peak demand hours and at times when the sun wasn't shining. The good news is that current solar resources dwarf current and projected future electricity demand. If we can remove the roadblocks, especially fossil-fuel-leaning government policies, solar is ready for prime time now.

Solar Power Is Shaking Up The Energy Markets

April 27, 2015 Henning Gloystein and Aaron Sheldrick, www.in.news.yahoo.com Educate! Japan, Solar Energy

One by one, Japan is turning off the lights at the giant oil-fired power plants that propelled it to the ranks of the world's top industrialised nations. With nuclear power in the doldrums after the Fukushima disaster, it's solar energy that is becoming the alternative. Solar power is set to become profitable in Japan as early as this quarter, according to the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF), freeing it from the need for government subsidies and making it the last of the G7 economies where the technology has become economically viable. Japan is now one of the world's four largest markets for solar panels and a large number of power plants are coming onstream, including two giant arrays over water in Kato City and a $1.1 billion solar farm being built on a salt field in Okayama, both west of Osaka.

20-Mile Bike Lane Is Also Massive Solar Array

April 20, 2015 Lorraine Chow, www.ecowatch.com Create! Environment, Solar Energy, Transportation

Until it’s actually possible to pave our parking lots and roads in solar panels, here’s a promising compromise from South Korea. In between the cities of Daejeon to Sejong, there’s a 20-mile bike lane that’s covered by an impressive solar array. The overhead solar panels not only generate renewable power but also provide shade and cover from rain for the bicyclists. A bike lane that’s also a solar farm is a wonderful concept, but does it have to be smack in the middle of a busy highway? Some have pointed out that cyclists are exposed to vehicular fumes and emissions of the fast-moving cars and trucks zipping down the road. And although bikers are protected by a barrier, a BBCarticle once observed that Seoul drivers are “notorious for ignoring any traffic rules, especially red lights, and will drive across intersections over red lights.”

France: New Rooftops Must Be Covered In Plants, Solar Panels

March 23, 2015 Agence France Press, www.theguardian.com Create! Environment, France, Solar Energy

Rooftops on new buildings built in commercial zones in France must either be partially covered in plants or solar panels, under a law approved on Thursday. Green roofs have an isolating effect, helping reduce the amount of energy needed to heat a building in winter and cool it in summer. They also retain rainwater, thus helping reduce problems with runoff, while favouring biodiversity and giving birds a place to nest in the urban jungle, ecologists say. The law approved by parliament was more limited in scope than initial calls by French environmental activists to make green roofs that cover the entire surface mandatory on all new buildings.

Utilities Wage Campaign Against Rooftop Solar

March 9, 2015 JoWarrick, www.washingtonpost.com Educate! Environment, Oil & Gas, Solar Energy

Three years ago, the nation’s top utility executives gathered at a Colorado resort to hear warnings about a grave new threat to operators of America’s electric grid: not superstorms or cyberattacks, but rooftop solar panels. Three years ago, the nation’s top utility executives gathered at a Colorado resort to hear warnings about a grave new threat to operators of America’s electric grid: not superstorms or cyberattacks, but rooftop solar panels. SolarCraft workers install solar panels on the roof of a home in San Rafael, Calif. According to a report by the Solar Foundation, the solar industry employs more workers than the coal-mining industry.

West Virginians Look Toward The Sun: No To Coal, Fracking

February 20, 2015 Mikala Reasbeck, www.mintpressnews.com Create! Environment, Fracking, Oil & Gas, Solar Energy, West Virginia

At just 9.70 cents per kilowatt hour, West Virginians pay the third-lowest electricity rates in the nation. Yet they don’t enjoy the nation’s lowest electricity bills, and they’re not likely to in the future, either. Indeed, from 2007 to 2011, electricity rates jumped an average of 50 percent across the state. And on Feb. 3, the state’s Public Service Commission approved another rate increase for Mon Power and Potomac Edison, subsidiaries operating under the Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. Together, these subsidiaries serve over 520,500 customers in 34 counties and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. This latest hike is “just 7.4 percent more reason to go solar,” according to Joey James’ reading of the document from the commission.

Solar Village: Produces 4x More Energy Than Used

February 4, 2015 Minds, www.minds.com Create! Energy, Environment, Renewable, Solar Energy

After architect, Rolf Disch, built the Heliotrope (the first building in the world to capture more energy than it uses) he set his sights higher. He successfully created a retail, commercial and residential space called Sonnenschiff, translating to "Solar Ship," that was energy net-positive in 2004. The building was a hit, and over the following years 60 more residential buildings have been constructed surrounding the solar ship, all with energy positive electrical systems. Today the village, dubbed Solarsiedlung (Solar Village), is producing 4x more energy than it consumes. Solarsiedlung is located in Freidburg, Germany, which is known as the ecological capital of the country. It is the home of Europe’s largest solar research center.

The First Four-Seater, Solar-Powered Vehicle Hits The U.S. Road

January 23, 2015 Sarah Buhr, www.techcrunch.com Create! Environment, Solar Energy, Transportation

Stella, the first ever family sized road vehicle that runs on the sun has made its U.S. debut. The car took first place in the World Solar Challenge and won the Michelin Cruiser Class for completing a 3,000 kilometer journey from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia last fall. While other solar-powered vehicles have been made for racing, the solar-powered Stella is the first vehicle made for road travel. A large solar panel sits atop the roof to power the car up to 500 miles on a single charge. Compare that to a Tesla Roadster, which can run on an electric charge for 245-300 miles. The Netherlands team that designed the vehicle took Stella for a U.S. tour to help kick off National Drive Electric Week.

In US, There Are Twice As Many Solar Workers As Coal Miners

January 20, 2015 Kirsten Korosec, www.readersupportednews.org Educate! Energy, Environment, Labor, Solar Energy

SolarCity, the largest installer of residential solar systems in the U.S., nearly doubled its workforce last year, hiring 4,000 people to do everything from system design and site surveys to installation and engineering. The hiring spree at SolarCity isn’t slowing; it’s picking up speed as the company attempts to install twice as many rooftop solar systems than last year and readies its 1.2 million-square foot factory in New York, which is scheduled to reach full production in 2017. SolarCity SCTY -2.21% plans to eclipse 2014’s hiring numbers, CEO Lyndon Rive tells Fortune. In 2016, SolarCity will hire “quite a bit more” than it will in 2015, Rive says, though he didn’t provide specific numbers.

Next Steps in Solving the Climate Crisis

September 24, 2014 Podcast Climate Change, Solar Energy, Sustainable energy

Following the events around the UN climate summit including the People’s Climate March and #Flood Wall Street, we discuss what

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