Solar at no up front cost accelerates adoption

Berkeley is set to approve a plan to finance solar installations for residents. This extends a concept already in use by a number of financial players like Bank of America and companies like SunEdison.

From the SF Chronicle:

Berkeley is set to become the first city in the nation to help thousands of its residents generate solar power without having to put money up front - attempting to surmount one of the biggest hurdles for people who don't have enough cash to go green.

The City Council will vote Nov. 6 on a plan for the city to finance the cost of solar panels for property owners who agree to pay it back with a 20-year assessment on their property. Over two decades, the taxes would be the same or less than what property owners would save on their electric bills, officials say.

If Berkeley's efforts are successful they could spawn a rush by municipalities which would build on the already red-hot solar market:

"In the first nine months alone, requests for [California Solar Initiative] incentives are on track to exceed California’s total installed solar from the previous 26 years," the report's authors write. The ambitious goal is to generate 3 gigawatts of solar electricity from solar arrays by the time the program ends in 2016.

If my math is correct this would be about 10% of California's current power use at any given point in time. That's huge considering that is the goal of this distributed power.

This raises another point made to me last night by Ted Nordhaus at Keplers. While wind is cheaper and probably more available, solar is easily distributed and suffers less NIMBYism.

Another local player is SolarCity in Foster City. SVLG CEO Carl Guardino recently interviewed CEO Lyndon Rive.

Mountain View Steps It Up!

In from Dave:

Step It Up in Mountain View on 11/3 from 11-1PM in Civic Center Plaza (500 Castro St.).

...
In case people want to know more about the event, here are details...

Speakers include: Julio Magalhaes (Sierra Club) on science of global warming (GW) and approach of cities signing onto MCPA , Mountain View Mayor and councilmembers on recent signing of MCPA and other steps the city is taking, Gail Slocum (PG&E) on steps people can take, Carole McClelland (Green Career Central) on how your job can contribute to solutions, Sven Thesen (Calcars) on plug-in hybrid and alternative
vehicles, a person discussing Green Building, a person from Solar Cities, , Aileen La Bouff (Ecobroker/Realtor), and Gary Bailey (Sierra Club) on Cool Cities progress locally. We also have a diverse group of tabling organizations and alternative vehicles on display.

There will be all sorts of stuff Cool Cities tabling, giving out CFL bulbs, an "Energy Bike", etc.

Super mini "Smart Car" at Santana Row

The super mini "Smart Car" is coming to the US and we are getting a preview here in Silicon Valley.

A very funny video comparing the Smart Car to the Hummer:


Hat tip Yahoo Green

San Jose's Green Vision passed!

Just in from Annie:

Just wanted to let you know that San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed's Green Vision was unanimously approved this afternoon. The audience gave them a standing ovation for their votes. David was interviewed by the press (Channel 7, I think) before the meeting and did an awesome job.

I'll update you more later tonight.

Thanks for all your wonderful help to prepare for this
event!

In 15 years:

• Cut energy use 50%
  
• No landfills
  
• 100% power from renewables
  
• Green car fleet
  
• 25,000 clean tech jobs
  
• 100,000 trees
  

And more. See the plan. Even if renewable energy hits "only" 80%, or even 60% renewables, it’s huge. At 60% it’s like taking over 160,000 cars off the road for SJ as it is today.

This is huge.

Santa Clara Students are awesome

A homegrown clip from the Solar Decathlon



Santa Clara came in third overall. A huge achievement!

$$$ pouring into clean tech

Green Tech Investment Jumps to $1.7 billion. Note the jump solar gets on biofuels. Biofuels is a mixed picture for climate change depending on the stock but it had been attracting more funds last year.

The wombat has the story

Reed's Green Vision for San Jose

This is huge. It comes up for a council vote this Tuesday October 30th. San Jose City Hall, 200 East Santa Clara Street, in the City Council Chambers (behind the Rotunda). Go and voice your support!



Click here to let us know you're planning to attend.

Something in an Oakland kid's pocket

Van Jones talks about a green wave to lift all boats

Eco-Equity with Van Jones

Belmont to form green committee

Another step on the peninsula.

Belmont’s neighboring cities, San Mateo and San Carlos, already have environmental committees to examine ways the cities reduce its carbon emission and improve its sustainability. Now Belmont is following suit.

The committee would provide input to the City Council about energy efficiency and conservation, green buildings, waste reduction and recycling, climate friendly purchasing, alternative energy and low carbon fuels and sustainable land use and smart growth, according to a report released Friday.

That brings to at least eight the number of cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties that have formed green ribbon taskforces (others being Palo Alto, Burlingame, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Portola Valley).

More in the San Mateo Daily Journal

Tour Kaneda's Z-squared building Nov 16

Tour Kaneda's zero emissions building in San Jose. Believed to be first building of kind in the U.S.

Friday, November 16, 2007
9-10:30 AM
IDeAs
San Jose, CA

No charge. Registration is required by emailing Sustainable Silicon Valley ED Rick Row. Maximum of 30 people.

Updated: More on the building at IEEE

Green Building sweeping the land

Despite the governator's unfortunate vetoes of state green building legislation, green building standards are moving quickly.

At least 24 cities and counties have passed green building requirements. Most are municipal but some are commercial, residential and some are even for retrofitting existing buildings.

And of course in San Jose we just saw the opening of the first "z-squared" zero emissions building (zero emissions for operation, not construction).

The IDeAs building is a converted bank branch billed as the nation's first "Z-squared" building, meaning it uses less energy than it generates and produces no carbon emissions. Reed said it demonstrates that his goals are achievable. IDeAs principal David Kaneda agreed.

"We're a 14-person consulting firm," Kaneda said. "If we can do it, anyone can do it."

Though clearly there's room for improvement in San Jose's planning department when it comes to supporting green building efforts.

Not quite in our region, but "next door", Patagonia's clip on its new center in Reno is an excellent primer on commercial green building techniques:

Joy on Panic

It was a talk by Bill Joy at Stanford in 1999 that scared the bejeebers out of me and prompted me to start volunteering to help the planet. Co-founder of Sun Microsystems he raised a red flag about technologies like biotech and nano-tech, which unlike nuclear power, may be far more dangerous because they will be put in the hands of many through commercialization and can be self-replicating.

He went on to write the much discussed "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" in Wired Magazine.

Turns out he's now at Kleiner Perkins, focused on clean tech:

…there is a time when panic is the appropriate response. And I think we should go into a panic — not only (because) the scale of the problem but also the economic opportunity that becoming more efficient in our use of energy gives to us.”

Fundamentally, the problem of climate change is the same as the one he was raising in 1999 - the disjunction between the impact of our collective action and our conciousness. We could get away with it 100 years ago because our powers were far more modest than they are now. As Al Gore says in his presentation "a shovel is no longer just a shovel, we move mountains."

More at Earth2Tech

Khosla bucks

Biofuels investment is soaring. Currently about 25% of global investment in alternative energy, domestically the investment is a much higher percentage, possibly over 50%.

Local VC Vinod Khosla is a key player. And Earth2Tech offers a good glimpse at his bets. It's a mix of good and not so good stuff.

Khosla spoke at last year's Sierra Club Energy Solutions Forum:



How do the various biofuels look from an emissions perspective? Here's a handy chart. Bottom-line, corn is bad. Cellulosic ethanol is good. Khosla argues that corn offers a transition to establish the market. Of course, agribusiness sees big bucks in corn and GM loves it - it makes them seem green.

See the full set of statements including Dan Reicher, Stephen Schneider, Barbara Boxer, and Paul Anderson at the Sierra Club Smart Energy Forum.

Very scary

The arctic is disappearing much faster than anyone imagined.

Since the arctic currently reflects 80%+ of light that hits it. When it melts, the ocean will absorb 80%+ of the sunlight resulting in heat-- changing every ocean and wind current on the planet. The consequences are staggering.

Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga Go Green

South bay is hopping with activity:

Civic leaders from three west valley communities held a public brainstorming meeting last Thursday, Sep. 27, in Saratoga. About 45 people found the meeting place at the Saratoga Community Center, which had been changed at the last minute.

Great turnout and lots happening.

Next meeting: Monte Sereno City Hall, Nov. 1, 6:00 p.m.7:00 p.m.(time changed) 18041 Saratoga Los Gatos Road Monte Sereno.

Read more in the Los Gatos Observer

or keep up with the local beat at http://3greencommunities.blogspot.com/

Solar Ink: writing on the wall?

There's a new solar cell player on the block, Innovalight bringing to at least 3 the number of solar cell startups in the valley. The other two are Miasole and Nanosolar and that's not counting Applied Materials which is also jumping in.

Innovalight has a different approach with a

nanotechnology recipe it developed that the company says lets it make solar cells that are more efficient than current models, at a lower price

They're making big claims:

As far as price, Burke talks about producing solar cells that are an order of magnitude cheaper than what's available today. "Certainly, long term, we believe this technology has the potential to get well below 50 cents a watt," he said. The Web site solarbuzz.com says the retail price per watt in the United States is $4.84 this month.

With the number of players and funding it does seem like we have a revolution in the making.

More at the SJ Mercury

Why drive when...

It's not only good for the planet but it's good for the kids given the soaring obesity rates.



According to CDC, obesity in children has increased from about 4 percent in the 1960s to close to 20 percent in 2004. 62 percent of children do not participate in any organized physical activity and 23 percent do not participate in any free-time physical activity.

School parking lots have in fact gotten rather dangerous - choking on emissions from hoards of automobiles to drop off and pick up kids and forcing the kids to dodge lots of cars.

Some communities are responding with Walking Busses as a safe and friendly alternative. We've got the climate for it and it's great for community building too.

I'm told that Santa Clara has something called the "All Trans" program which is innovative. Trying to track that one down...

Valley emissions, School visions

How green is the Valley? There is good news but there is also bad news:

Some members of the group, Sustainable Silicon Valley, have been successful in achieving their own carbon dioxide reduction goals, said Rick Row, its executive director. But the group's goal of persuading the entire valley to cut carbon dioxide emissions 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2010 won't happen.

"We're going to fall short of it," Row said of the group's stated goal. "That's clearly not happening yet."

In fact, a report to be released by the group today says that carbon dioxide emissions in Silicon Valley in 2006 were 5.6 percent above 1990 levels, not 20 percent below them.

More in the Merc


Hillsdale High School takes a step:

The grant-funded program through the BP A+ For Energy program is new to the school this year. Students and teachers are partnering with Owens Solar and Electric, a San Mateo solar provider, to learn about energy conservation, renewable energy and how it can be implemented into the classroom.
...
A select group of about 20 students will learn how to install solar panels, which they will later install. The first installation is estimated produce enough energy to for half a classroom.
...
A community solar celebration will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15 at Hillsdale. The informational event will feature the work of the students thus far; basics about the Solar our Schools program; and facts about renewable energy.

More in the San Mateo Daily Journal

Global and cool graphics

Some of the coolest presentations graphics you'll see for some of the wonkiest but enormously important data on worldwide population and economic development - among the biggest factors influencing climate change.

The world isn't the same place it was in the 60's. The "third world" is no longer "poor, with large families and high mortality". The stereotype no longer holds. Most Asian countries now match the developed countries in family size and longevity among other things.



Yes, global population is still growing and too large. But there's a huge success story.

Learn more at Gapminder

Hat-tip Gristmill

Silver trashcan?

The silver buckshot will come from many angles. Here's one such case:

Allied Waste Services is converting its entire 225-truck fleet in San Mateo County, California to locally sourced biodiesel fuel.

By converting from 80,000 gallons of petroleum diesel each month to clean-burning B20 biodiesel, Allied says it will reduce its local carbon footprint by more than 3.3 million pounds each year—the equivalent of taking more than 315 cars off roads or providing energy to more than 650 homes each year.

This Thursday, California officials will join Allied executives to officially “send off” the company’s first dozen biodiesel-powered waste and recycling trucks.

(my emphasis)

Of course, it's an overstatement to say B20 is "clean-burning". It's somewhat clean-er and diesel still has issues with particulates but it's collectively part of the solution.

Next: we need to use these trucks LESS.

From Environmental Leader