Sustainablog

Written by Stacy Feldman. Originally published May 14, 2009, at SolveClimate

Solar photovoltaics (PV) in the UK will be as cheap as grid-sourced fossil fuels much sooner than expected, a new study by Solarcentury finds.

For homeowners, PV will cross the “grid parity” mark in 2013. For commercial customers, it will occur around 2018. The magical parity date for PV is generally assumed to be 2020 in the UK. Says Solarcentury:

“The proximity to parity heralds the prospect of PV being a compelling investment for the individual, without subsidy, in only a few years time.”

The 14-page report by the UK’s largest solar firm is described as the most “up-to-date and accurate analysis on the investment case for PV in the UK.”

Its main point is that solar PV has precisely what it takes to move beyond a British niche and into the energy mainstream: Its energy potential is massive. It’s getting cheaper all the time. And it’s fast-approaching the holy grail of the solar sector, grid parity.

Time to tap it.

• » See also: Solar Panel Community Bargaining in Sonoma County, CA
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The resource potential from mounting PV on every UK building is huge, around 460 terrawatt hours (TWh) each year. That’s more than the country’s current electricity consumption of 400 TWh. Solarcentury says harnessing just a fraction of that absolute potential:

“would represent a substantial contribution to the UK energy mix and to addressing renewable energy and carbon targets”

On top of that, the price of solar PV is falling “rapidly,” while the costs of fossil fuels are rising. The long-term prognosis for the technology is more of the same, significant cost reductions. That prediction, writes Solarcentury, is “driven by the nature of the manufacturing process for crystalline silicon PV.”

Other research supports this claim. According to a recent report by New Energy Finance, polysilicon prices could fall as much as 43 percent in 2009 compared with 2008 levels.

With substitution to thin film, PV prices could drop even more. (See In a League of Its Own: First Solar Breaks the $1-a-Watt Barrier).

There’s another major factor that will surely drive down PV costs in Britain – the nation’s proposed feed-in tariff, which is expected to be implemented in April 2010. The tariff would guarantee an above-market price for commercial and residential customers selling solar power back to the grid. The plan would boost demand for solar panels and substantially cut costs in the long term.

Jeremy Leggett, executive chairman of Solarcentury, called it an absolutely “vital” measure to help accelerate consumer adoption of solar panels. It will also help the nation achieve its 2020 target to source 15 percent of its electricity from renewables, which it is struggling to meet.

“A burst of premium-pricing for solar energy, of the kind now on offer in 18 European countries, will stimulate a very fast-growing market.”

This isn’t your average energy subsidy, he explains:

“The feed-in tariff will be ramped down over a few years. This is not like nuclear, where the market has to be underwritten with public money essentially for ever.”

The PV market has been exploding in recent years, particularly in Europe, thanks in large part to generous feed-in tariffs. The world’s solar PV installations increased by 110 percent in 2008 to 5.95 GW, according to Solarbuzz’s annual report, Marketbuzz 2009.
Europe accounted for 82 percent of world demand last year.

The UK made up just a tiny fraction of that growth. It could snatch up a much bigger slice.

It’s a bet worth taking for Britain, and for any government, for the jobs potential alone. Don’t forget: Solar PV is one of the biggest job-creating industries on the planet. The striking numbers, from Solarcentury’s report:

“UNEP estimate PV job creation at 7 to 11 per MWp installed; this figure is supported by the German solar experience, where over 50,000 jobs have been created since 2000.”

See also:

• In a League of Its Own: First Solar Breaks the $1-a-Watt Barrier
• Germany’s Coal Boom Highlights Nation’s Big Energy Dilemma
• Why Isn’t the U.S. Embracing Feed-in Tariffs?
• Polysilicon Price Plunge Provides a Ray of Hope for Solar Industry

Image credit: Dominic’s pics at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

GreenTalk Radio host Sean Daily talks with green blogger and eco-entrepreneur Shea Gunther, previously of EarthFirst.com and now with MNN.

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Photo by David Gilbert, http://www.uncontacted.com/

A documentary or any feature film, like a good dessert, needs good texture. Some docs offer light delicate flavors, while others serve up crisp tawdry offerings but Crude, the latest feature documentary from director Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) brings a feel so viscous its some wonder that the film and the emotions within it don’t just ooze into the theater.

And why wouldn’t the film be viscous with center of the film swirling around a legal case about the black gold being pumped out of the jungles of Ecuador. Some have called the case the “Amazon Chernobyl” but whatever the name, Berlinger delves head first into this the David versus Goliath story that circles around one of the longest and most controversial legal (not to mention environmental and human rights) cases ever. Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on Thursday, April 23, at SolveClimate.

California regulators tonight approved the world’s first low-carbon fuel standard, a bold set of performance-based fuel rules that are being closely watched in more than a dozen other states and countries, as well as in Washington.

Many of the program’s details are still in flux, to be worked out by the Air Resources Board before the standard takes effect in 2012.

The goal was clear, though: achieve a 10 percent reduction in the carbon intensity of transportation fuels by 2020. Fully implemented, California’s LCFS is expected to cut those emissions by 15 million metric tons a year.

“The big picture is we want to incentivize the use of electricity for vehicles. … We want to incentivize innovation,” said Air Resources Board member Daniel Sperling.

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There should be no secrets among those who continue to prosper in mostly non-financial ways despite the challenging economic times.  These people live (and perhaps work) following the laws of nature more than the “laws of supply and demand” of the increasingly dysfunctional “free” and global marketplace.

Here’s how to thrive in the abundance of renewable energy, organic food and a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle. While not all frugality rules, this approach to living more sustainably does require some degree of curtailment, scaling down and living within our means.  It means using credit cards less and relying on community members or family more.  However, the result can be a rich life filled with health and well-being, friends and family, more time to do the things you love to do (imagine that!), a greater sense of purpose, and, my favorite, happiness.

Below are a few suggestions to get you started or continue your journey.  Please add some of your own in the comments.  Maybe some of the BIG banks or BIG government folks might take notice that a few ideas do not involve printing and spending trillions of dollars to “spur consumption.”

•  Powering the renewable energy revolution

Times couldn’t be better for installing your own renewable energy system or improving your energy efficiency of your home or business (or both!), depending on the state you live in.  The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 extended the Energy Policy Act of 2005. These new acts extend and expand the federal tax credits available for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements made in 2009 and beyond.  There are numerous renewable energy cash-back incentives, tax credits and low interest loans that can help ease the transition from a fossil-fuel based economy to one that thrives on solar income.  Check out the Database for State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (www.dsireusa.org) to see what’s available in your state.

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Hong Kong magnate Stanley Ho is at it again. Not formulating a “Ho Plan” for Hong Kong energy security that centers around wind power, as the growing similarities between him and T. Boone Pickens might suggest. Stanley Ho’s investment du jour, while on par with his recently established eco-trend, will not be in Asia. Rather, the biofuel play will be located off of the Western coast of Africa.

Geocapital, a Macau-based investment holding company started in 2007 and comprised of partner investors Stanley Ho and Jorge Ferro Ribeiro, is in negotiations with the Government of Cape Verde to install a biofuels research and development center on the African archipelago, Portugal’s Lusa news agency recently reported.

The pair hopes to take advantage of Cape Verde’s experience producing biofuels from jatropha, a crop that yields ten times the output of corn plants. Jatropha-based biofuel is considered one of the best candidates for future biofuel production, and has already been successfully tested as a substitute for jet fuel in commercial airplanes. The poisonous seed has a long history as a fuel source: in the early 1900s, it was exported to France and Portugal for use in streetlamps.

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Editor’s note: This post was written by Rachel Barge, and originally published on Tuesday, March 31, at SolveClimate.

We all know young people have a handle on the Internet like no other demographic. My generation grew up playing computer games, had PC literacy classes in elementary school, and secretly hijacked the internet for music pirating before we were teens. We have an intuitive sense of the web – its uses, its limitations, and its future.

The nation’s young people are now harnessing that power for climate action, and we’re beating coal’s dirty PR in ways that have industry front groups shaking.

The coal industry’s American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity has poured millions of dollars into online advertising to convince Americans that “clean coal” is the solution to global warming, and it’s planning a $20 million online push this year. But type “clean coal” into Google, and up pop progressive climate blogs, spoofs and news articles.

In my own search for “clean coal,” eight out of the top 10 organic results were web sites that completely debunked the idea – only Wikipedia and an AP news article held both “sides” up. Not a single site in the top 10 was a pro-clean-coal industry page. Industry front group have had to buy their way onto Google’s front page, thanks in large part to young bloggers.

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If you don’t eat for a day, you know it. If you stay inside all day, you feel it and it makes a strong impression on the character of the day. These are two critical parts of our day — what we eat and where we go.

If we want to be Green, if we want to make a decision to help the environment, these daily issues are about as big as it gets. If we buy a green product — an organic cotton t-shirt, a hemp bag or wallet, a recycled chair — we are, basically, doing one environmental action. If we decide to make our eating and transportation habits environmentally friendly, however, we are make several environmental actions everyday.

We see many figures showing us that transportation and food are the largest contributors to the global warming crisis and to many other environmental issues (water quality, air quality, etc.), but do we take this home and say, “this is what I need to change”?

Here are three or four ways to make that change we have been waiting for.
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In a rare admission of China’s strategic petroleum reserve capacity, a senior industry executive acknowledged that all four state-owned emergency oil reserve tanks – holding a total 100 million barrels – are filled to the brim.

Revealing that China’s current stockpiles have already exceeded the capacity of the first phase of facilities, which the government built over the last two years, China Shipping Group President Li Shaode urged the government to use foreign exchange reserves to finance floating storage capacity in the short term.

Li’s comments come after a string of recent oil- and gas-related events in China. Within the last few months, China has entered into natural gas supply agreements with Myanmar, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and has already begun construction on needed pipelines. Just yesterday, China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) signed a 25 year gas supply agreement with Qatar.

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If you have never heard of the Department of Energy’s Building America initiative, started in the 1990’s, start paying attention. With tax incentives for home energy efficiency and the addition of the new Builders Challenge initiative, started in January of 2008 this program is likely to become increasingly popular.

Building America works with research teams that include builders, manufacturers and technical experts to develop technologies and strategies that lead to improved home energy efficiency. They also created the Builders Challenge; builders that agree to join the Builders Challenge commit to constructing homes that rate 70 or better on the EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale).

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