Vertical Farming

Here are some nice examples of vertical farming designs

clipped from www.verticalfarm.com

AB 811 - Funding for Residential Renewables

Government Funded Residential Renewable Energy Projects

Introduced by Assembly Members Levine and Beall, AB 811 is a bill that would promote residential installation of renewable energy systems by connecting property owners to financing arrangements within all California cities and counties.

Financed through low interest loans, these contractual agreements would allow residential property owners to finance the installation of renewable energy generating systems as well as energy efficiency improvements. The loans would be repaid as an item on the property tax bill.

While California residents are likely to be eager regarding installation of solar panels, this bill removes the obstacle of financing.

The bill reads: "This bill authorizes California cities and counties to designate areas within which city officials and willing property owners may enter into contractual assessments to finance the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources, including solar, and energy efficiency improvements."

Find out more

Real Estate Leader's Sustainable Initiative

Enterprise, a large scale developer of low-income communities that provides "financing and expertise to community and housing developers" issued a press release today announcing a new initiative in sustainable development:

Enterprise Helps Make Urban Land Institute Annual Meeting Carbon Neutral, Offsets Pollution to Create Green Affordable Homes through Enterprise

October 29 2008 - Enterprise, today, announced that the 2008 ULI Fall Meeting and Urban Land Expo will be completely carbon neutral as a result of funding from the Enterprise Green Communities Offset Fund(TM).

Enterprise will “offset” all the emissions of carbon dioxide generated by the meeting by providing funds to reduce an equivalent amount of emissions in environmentally sustainable affordable housing developments participating in Enterprise’s Green Communities(R) initiative.
“ULI’s commitment to offset its annual meeting means first and foremost that low-income families will experience the benefits of living in a green affordable home,” said Dana Bourland, senior director of the Enterprise Green Communities initiative and managing director of the Offset Fund. “It’s also a strong statement by the leaders of the real estate community that green buildings can and must be part of the solution to climate change.”

More than 5,000 real estate industry leaders from around the world are attending the ULI meeting, which will run Monday, October 27 through Thursday, October 30 in Miami, Fla. Enterprise estimates that the attendees will generate more than 5,500 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from their travel as well as the energy use associated with the hotels where attendees are staying and the convention center where the meeting is being held.

Through the Green Communities Offset Fund, Enterprise will provide funding by purchasing an offset from affordable housing developers to increase energy efficiency and utilize renewable energy technologies in their projects.

“The developments we will assist to offset the ULI meeting would have included energy-efficiency and environmental features anyway as a result of participating in the Enterprise Green Communities initiative,” Bourland said. “The additional funding we will provide through the Green Communities Offset Fund will enable the projects to achieve deeper carbon emissions reductions than they otherwise would have been able to realize.”

Among the contributors to the Green Communities Offset Fund that funded the ULI meeting offset were Bart Harvey, who donated a portion of his prize from the Urban Land Institute J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development to the Fund, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design Advanced Management Development Program in Real Estate Class VII.

The ULI J.C. Nichols Prize, which includes a $100,000 prize, recognizes a person or a person representing an institution whose career demonstrates a commitment to the highest standards of responsible development. Harvey shares the honor with Enterprise, for which he worked for 23 years, serving as board chairman and chief executive officer.

Since the inception of Green Communities in 2004, Enterprise has invested more than $570 million in grants, loans and equity to create more than 13,500 highly sustainable homes that are either complete or in development in more than 300 communities; trained more than 3,000 affordable housing professionals in sustainable design and development practices and influenced more than 20 city and state affordable housing policies to support green affordable development.

Enterprise is a leading provider of the development capital and expertise it takes to create decent, affordable homes and rebuild communities. For 25 years, Enterprise has pioneered neighborhood solutions through public-private partnerships with financial institutions, governments, community organizations and others that share our vision. Enterprise has raised and invested $9 billion in equity, grants and loans to help build or preserve 225,000 affordable rental and for-sale homes to create vital communities. Enterprise is currently investing in communities at a rate of $1 billion a year.

Visit http://www.enterprisecommunity.org and http://www.enterprisecommunity.com to learn more about Enterprise’s efforts to build communities and opportunity, and to meet some of the half a million people we have helped.

God Save the Queen!

We are please to report that our friends across the pond (the other pond...) have followed our great state in pledging to cut carbon carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. The Guardian reported that the government is taking a serious stand to combat climate change despite tough economic conditions.

Ed Miliband, the new energy and climate change secretary, affirmed the UK's commitment to meeting the recommendations of the government-appointed Climate Change Committee, which called for the UK to reduce its emissions by 80% from 1990 levels for all greenhouse gases and covering all sectors in order to avoid catastrophic climate change.

We applaud their resolve. Now if only the US would follow suit...

FedEx goes Solar - Is that Enough?

Federal Express announced that it broke ground on it's largest solar facility in Cologne, Germany. The 1.4 mW solar power facility is expected to be completed in 2010, and capable of generating 1.3 gW hours electricity/year and will cover a surface area of 16,000 sq meters.

FedEx has an excellent history of dedication to renewable energy investments. This site joins three existing solar facilities in California and a geothermal system in Geneva. The three California systems generate 1.5 mW of energy, preventing 2.9 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

The company seems dedicated to principles of environmental conservation, such as clean technology vehicles, energy conservation in office lighting systems and renewable energy purchases, however there is no mention of purchasing carbon offsets or exploring alternative energy sources for the company's aircraft emissions, which must rival any major airline carrier's. This highlights a fundamental crisis of the company's business model - if the service provided inevitably emit greenhouses gases, is it FedEx's responsibility to factor that into the cost of shipping a package with them? As a major global conglomerate, the company has the potential to be a very effective lobbyist for new technologies and change, yet its primary interest is maintaining profitability. Should we applaud FedEx for it's energy saving initiatives, or demand that it raise the bar to offset the carbon emitted in shipping?

Election Week

With a week to go before the election, the campaign trail is heating up. Both candidates have pledged to support renewable energy, although with various loopholes.

A handy chart for comparison

Plenty Magazine has created another handy little chart for easy comparison between vice presidential candidates


And for a laugh

Happy Halloween from Google

The folks at Google have created a Halloween-themed calculator that provides energy saving tips and lets you figure out how much candy money each tip saves.

"If you're haunted by... Take this action... And save...

Ghosts
Hear that eerie moan? That's the sound of warm air escaping up your chimney.

Close flue damper when fireplace isn't in use.


Try it out


Happy Halloween!

Topic of the Day: Microturbines

Topic of the Day: Microturbines, combined heat-and-power units, able to produce both electricity and heat through on-site units that operate at nearly full efficiency. (Compared with traditional electricity, of which up to 80% can be lost in transmission from plant to homes, "line loss")

What are microturbines? - Check out Marathon Energy

Can we get them into people's homes? - Distributed Energy: "Microturbines, Power to the People"

What is the global demand? - Distributed Energy: Microturbine Market Growing Globally but Locally at Home

Government Extends 10% federal tax credit for microturbines on October 15, 2008

Clean Tech Creates Jobs

Articles in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times today cite a study, conducted by David Roland-Holst, an economist at the Center for Energy, Resources and Economic Sustainability at the University of California, Berkeley, who found that energy reducing legislation has saved California over $56B since 1972, which was spent on the local economy and jobs. Roland-Holst found that diverted energy spending created other demand. The study claims that energy-efficiency policy created 1.5 million jobs over the past thirty years.


- New York Times: Green Policies in California Generated Jobs, Study Finds

- Los Angeles Times: State Green Plan Called Job Creator

Carbon Offets - Too Legit to Quit

An article in today's Wall Street Journal raises the question of legitimacy in the carbon offset market by the practice of double payment for offsets. The larger issue here is that of ensuring the legitimacy of offsets through a trusted and well-regulating oversight agency. Since the intent is to encourage pollution cuts that wouldn't pass without economic incentive, it is essential that those purchases are guaranteed. The article mentions the potential of double paying - payment made for cleanups that have already happened, an instance that hinders the effectiveness of exchanging carbon credits. Even when this is the case, "the intent of carbon offsets are still valid and can make real progress counteracting climate change," said Joe O'Connor, VP at Sustainable Energy Partners. "Although, there are times when the original intent of carbon offsets can get lost or blurry. The industries in place, such as Chicago Climate Exchange, are the responsible parties who qualify carbon offsets. In the cases where the carbon offsets may not be legitimate, they need to remove the incentive for the offset project." As relatively little is known about the offset industry, these questionable scenarios run the risk of bringing a bad name to an important and progressive movement if the CCX doesn't work quickly to instill trust.

The topic faces two problematic scenarios- the first being that the legitimacy of offsets cannot be questionable in order for the practice to take more mainstream acceptability. The second is that it been criticized as being a free pass for companies to go on polluting as usual. While these are both potentially troubling scenarios, the reality is that this might be the unpleasant side effects of a necessary and realistic solution. Routing capital and attention through the murky waters of carbon offsets has its drawbacks, but the critical point is that we're flowing in the right direction.

On a consumer level, the practice of purchasing personal offsets is critical into considering the impact of our actions. The standardization of factoring offsets into travel and event decisions means that we are increasingly aware that each decision we make has a direct correlation to our carbon footprint. Perhaps rising gas prices has softened the blow, but it seems that we are becoming more comfortable with the idea of paying to account for our impact on the environment. As we become more educated, for example by seeking out offset services such as Carbon Harmony, that are regulated by the Chicago Climate Exchange or supporting companies such as Tom's of Maine that offset their own energy usage through energy reducing technology and offsets, we make decisions with our loudest voice, that of a consumer. The WSJ argues the point that everyone needs to be on board for carbon credits in order to encourage climate-change legislation to pass, a valid point and an effective way to ensure the legitimate oversight of this process. Carbon offsets are not the perfect solution, but they are certainly a step in the right direction. Decisions follow dollars, so as long as companies and consumers are spending towards reducing the impact of climate change, regulation is certain to follow.

String Ribbon Solar Panels

SOLAR DAILY

Evergreen Solar Introduces String Ribbon Solar Panels

All Evergreen Solar panels are constructed using proprietary, low-cost wafer manufacturing technology which is the most environmentally-friendly process in the industry with virtually no wasted silicon. The carbon footprint of these panels is up to 50% smaller than that of its competitors'.

by Staff Writers
Marlboro MA (SPX) Oct 15, 2008

Evergreen Solar has introduced its new American-made ES-A Series Solar Panels during Solar Power International in San Diego.

This new line of 200, 205 and 210 W solar panels features the most powerful products Evergreen Solar has ever produced. With a -0, +5W power specification, the ES-A Series also provides the best power tolerance currently available in the industry.

The ES-A Series is a range of high quality String Ribbon solar panels offering exceptional performance, cost effective installation and industry-leading environmental credentials.

With a design driven by customers, these panels feature new extended length cables that can eliminate home-run wiring, new clickable connectors that make connections between panels quick and reliable, and a new low-voltage configuration that enables the most cost-effective commercial-scale installations.

These new panels, made in the USA at the company's new flagship production facility in Devens, Massachusetts, recently received both CEC recognition and ETL Listing to the American and Canadian UL Standard 1703. The new ES-A Series panels also have a CEC approved 90.4 percent PTC/STC rating, compared with most other major brands of multi-crystalline silicon panels which have ratings under 90%.

"Our American-made ES-A Series panels further position Evergreen Solar as a leader in producing powerful, efficient, and environmentally-friendly solar panels," said Dr. Terry Bailey, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales.

"These panels are our most powerful solar panels to date with the tightest power tolerance in the industry meaning our customers get optimal system performance right out of the box. At the same time, we are proud to lead the industry in environmental credentials with the smallest carbon footprint and the quickest energy payback available today."

All Evergreen Solar panels are constructed using proprietary, low-cost wafer manufacturing technology which is the most environmentally-friendly process in the industry with virtually no wasted silicon. The carbon footprint of these panels is up to 50% smaller than that of its competitors'.

These solar panels also have the quickest energy payback, now as fast as 12 months for installed panels. And to round out the Company's leading environmental credentials, the new ES-A series also uses 100% cardboard-free packaging to minimize job site waste and disposal costs.

The new ES-A series panels are the first production using the Company's revolutionary Quad furnace which creates four silicon wafer strips that are then cut using Evergreen Solar's proprietary "Cut on the Fly" laser systems.

The Company's new Quad furnace was also on display at Solar Power International. The Quad furnaces are being used for all of the company's production in its new manufacturing plant in Devens, Massachusetts which started panel production in July of this year.

http://www.solardaily.com/reports/Evergreen_Solar_Introduces_String_Ribbon_Solar_Panels_999.html