Super-sunny news for California

On Tuesday, the California Assembly passed a law requiring utilities to get 33% of their power from renewable energy by 2020.  The 55-19 vote was what you’d have to call a landslide and yet another indicator of the growing power of solar (pardon the pun, but I’m giddy with excitement over the news).  Governor Brown, who campaigned on this very issue, is expected to sign the bill.

The 33% standard is second only to Hawaii, which mandates 40% by 2030. Other states with comparable standards include Colorado and New York, both of which set targets of 30% by 2020 and 2015, respectively.

Thanks to all of you who made your voices heard and to all of the amazing advocacy and industry groups who have been pushing for a more aggressive renewable energy target for years. We will all continue to work together to make our state and our nation a solartopia.

–Erica Etelson

Proud to be middlemen (and women)

Bloomberg BusinessWeek published a nice article on Friday about the new “middlemen” of solar (namely us).  It’s a good overview of how we take on a complicated, bureaucratic process and transform into something easy and affordable for the consumer. What do customers hate? Paperwork and high up-front costs.  By taking both of these obstacles out of the equation, we’re changing the way solar is sold.

Changing our future

Elephants come to water at river

You know the famous, inspirational Margaret Mead quote:

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

I was reminded of the truth of this quote when I learned about the work of the Savory Institute. It might sound like a culinary academy but, in fact, the Savory Institute (named after its founder Allan Savory) is on a quiet, humble mission to save the world from the ravages of climate change.

This blog doesn’t usually delve into topics like animal manure and wild elephants, but we like the way the Savory Institute is using social media to create a buzz around its “message of hope”. While the solar industry tackles the critical issue of domestic energy independence, we know that restoring fertility to damaged landscapes is an equally important mission and, in our small way, we’d like to give them a boost.  So roll up your pant cuffs as we take a short walk on the wild side…

It all begins at a demonstration ranch in Zimbabwe, where the Institute has literally reversed the process of desertification that threatened to render the area inhospitable to life. Using a practice known as holistic management, the ranchers use the manure and herding behavior of domesticated and wild animals to restore depleted soils. As a result, maize yields have more than tripled, the grasslands have been restored and the once-dry Dimbangombe River now flows year-round and is abundant with fish.  Best of all, no fossil fuels are used — the manure provides ample fertilizer and the natural herding and grazing activity of the animals takes the place of diesel bulldozing and tilling machines.

If all that sounds confusing, picture this: A herd of animals munches down native grasses (grazing but not overgrazing thanks to careful management by humans). They (the animals) poop all over the place, spreading grass seed and then stomping the seed into the ground with their hoofs. And voila, the soil is enriched, the grass grows, the grass is cut down and rots into the soil (creating even more fertility) and crops can be planted in the rich soil during the next season. Meanwhile, all that fertile soil sequesters a (pardon my French) crapload of carbon. Pretty cool, huh?

The Savory Institute has put out a call for help — they want to invite the 20 most influential people in the world to visit their ranch this September and see for themselves how holistic management can reverse desertification and sequester carbon in soil. They want your input– who do you think should attend?

Share your nominations here and by leaving a comment on this blog–we’d love to know who you think is super-influential.

–Erica Etelson

Making history

The nuclear crisis in Japan has many of us feeling sad and worried, and the world is standing by with hopes and prayers for the workers and residents on the front lines of the disaster. At the same time, the crisis is a global wake-up call: It’s 2011, people-powered revolutions are sweeping the world and, as we blogged last week, we have the technology to relegate dangerous 20th-century fossil fuels to the history books.

Consider:

If we cover 192,00 square miles of the earth’s surface with solar panels, we can power the entire world with solar alone (as shown in the graphic above). That’s an area a little bit larger than California but, remember, the PV panels will be distributed across hundreds of millions of rooftops. For the U.S. to meet its domestic electricity needs, we’d only need to panel over a state the size of Kentucky.

If all 50 states were as energy efficient as California, electricity consumption in the U.S. would be cut by a third. (Then, we’d only need to solarize an area the size of Maryland).  Industry geeks refer to this as “negawatts” — you can just call it smart.

With one ton of sand, we can make solar panels that will produce as much electricity as 500,000 tons of coal (according to CleanTick.com). No mountaintop removals required.

By 2030, global demand for electricity will require either 13,000 new coal-fired power plants, 500 new nuclear reactors or the following mix (from Scientific American, November 2009):

The choice is in our hands. With solar stocks soaring and uranium prices tumbling, it’s pretty clear that the forecast is sunny.

–Erica Etelson



Time-out for nuclear reactors

The nuclear catastrophe in Japan is sparking worldwide protests against nuclear power and a re-examination of the risks of a technology that officials have for  decades told us is failsafe.

This morning, Germany and Switzerland announced an immediate freeze on nuclear power plant development and licensing extensions. The decision came after 50,000 protesters formed a 27-mile human chain stretching from Stuttgart to one of Germany’s aging nuclear power plants.

The United States is home to 104 nuclear reactors, 23 of which are of the same type that are on the verge of melting down in Japan. Two huge reactors (Diablo Canyon and San Onofre) in California sit atop major earthquake faults. Officials assure us that these reactors were built to withstand a major earthquake. That’s what Japanese officials said about Fukushima.

The bottom line is this: For fifty years, the nuclear industry has glossed over the inherent dangers of radioactive power generation and waste disposal. No matter how many catastrophes occur, they just keep reiterating their mantra. But saying it a thousand times doesn’t make it true.

The U.S. is on the verge of granting $36 billion in loan guarantees to the nuclear industry.  Tell President Obama: Nuclear power is an unsafe and unnecessary source of electricity. Solar panels and windmills don’t melt down–never have, never will.

–Erica Etelson

Obama to nation: Awaken from your trance.

 

President Obama held a news conference this morning to address the issue of rising oil prices. After expressing sympathy for working families hit hard at the pump, Obama then dispensed an unusually strong dose of clear-eyed realism.

Obama seems to have taken his cue from Jon Stewart, who parodied the fact that every President since Nixon has promised to wean us off foreign oil. Yet, here we are, in 2011, acting all shocked that oil prices are topping $100/barrel (again). Obama said:

We’ve been having this conversation for nearly four decades now. Every few years, gas prices go up; politicians pull out the same old political playbook, and then nothing changes. And when prices go back down, we slip back into a trance. And then when prices go up, suddenly we’re shocked. I think the American people are tired of that. I think they’re tired of talk. We’ve got to work together -– Democrats, Republicans, and everybody in between –- to finally secure America’s energy future. I don’t want to leave this for the next President, and none of us should want to leave it for our kids.

It’s about time the President leveled with the American public: Oil, as Obama reminded us this morning, is a finite resource:

We can’t place our long-term bets on a finite resource that we only control 2 percent of -– especially a resource that’s vulnerable to hurricanes, war, and political turmoil.

Amen to that. Now, the President should go one step further and help Americans understand that future oil shortages can cause problems far more worrisome than $4/gallon gas. We’re talking about a commodity that is the lifeblood of every industry you’d care to name, including shipping, communications, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and, last but surely not least, agriculture. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks has exposed that Saudi “Days of Rage” Arabia’s oil reserves are about 40% smaller than what they’ve been telling us all these years. We can hardly count on the Saudis to fill up our SUVs much longer.

If the majority of Americans knew all this, renewable energy technologies would be sweeping the nation. Forget about iPads and smart phones–consumers would be lining up at 6 am at big box stores for solar panels and extension cords to charge up their electric vehicles.

President Obama is clearly committed to investing in clean energy. I hope he realizes that the way to generate widespread support for these investments is to keep on telling the truth–we can either make a rapid transition now or sit back and wait for the real oil crisis to unfold.

–Erica Etelson

What do we want? 33% When do we want it? By 2020.

For the last time (we hope), we’re asking you to take one minute to help secure passage of a 33% renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) for California. The bill passed the Senate and is now up for a vote in the Assembly. A 33% RPS would deliver renewable energy to six million homes!  I’m no math whiz, but that amounts to roughly a godzillian tons of carbon emissions.

Pretty please with sugar on top… Send your Assemblymember an email telling them how important it is that we get to 33% by 2020.  Thanks!

–Erica Etelson

Good ole’ PV

No one would disagree that investor-owned utilities in California, which are required to get 33% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, should procure the cheapest available renewable energy. But according to a recent analysis, that’s not what’s happening.

The California Public Utilities Commission Division of Ratepayer Advocates faults PG&E, Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric for entering contracts for large-scale solar electricity projects that cost more than natural gas-fired electricity currently costs. The big utilities seem to be lured by unproven or expensive solar technologies. For example, PG&E has a contract with a company that promises to beam down solar power from outer space. Meanwhile, SCE recently canceled a contract for a newfangled solar dish power plant in the Mojave desert.

Solar dish technology looks promising but has not been proven to be commercially scalable. As for beaming solar energy from outer space, that idea inhabits the science fiction end of the feasibility spectrum.  And that brings us around to Sungevity’s favorite clean energy technology, good ole’ photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. They’re cheap, they’re proven and by God are they sleek and sexy!  Okay, it’s a little clunky, but the humble PV panel has been quietly generating solar electricity for fifty years. The only thing that’s changed in all this time is that the panels have dropped in price while becoming more efficient. Ka-ching!

Nobody loves clean energy technology like Sungevity–provided it really works, meaning that the technological innovation functions to drive down the price of renewable energy for consumers.  The media often hypes big new clean energy innovations before they’re proven to be scalable or economical.  It’s understandable–scientific breakthroughs are exciting and inspiring and we as a society are nervously waiting to see which technology will be the silver bullet that will save us from an energy or climate crisis.

But in the meantime, let’s stick with what works. Instead of pouring money into expensive sci-fi schemes, utilities should invest in a decent net metering or feed-in-tariff program that pays homeowners a fair price for the electricity they generate on their roofs. Less carbon, more savings, starting right now.

–Erica Etelson

Sungevity on “Marketplace” radio show

Great interview with Danny Kennedy and a Sungevity customer on American Public Media’s program “Marketplace.”

Click here for a listen.

Rocky Mountain Blues No. 2

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