Two Bay Area Companies Donate Solar Power to Local Food Bank-

Two companies in California’s Bay Area have made a collective donation to Second Harvest Food Bank. The cash offering will fund a $1.1 million, 322-kilowatt rooftop solar power system at the food bank’s facility in San Jose, CA. SunPower contributed their solar technology and Cypress Semiconductor supplied $700,000 to support the project. Two types of SunPower solar roof tiles will be utilized. Over the 25 year life of the system, it is anticipated to save the food bank roughly three million dollars on their electricity bills. “The rooftop solar system, so generously donated by Cypress and SunPower, will help us to continue meeting the needs of our community,” said Kathy Johnson, CEO of the food bank. The SunPower tiles are already built into a frame, so they can be installed more swiftly when compared to a standard rooftop solar system. SunPower CEO Tom Werner said, “We hope this unique solar gift will shine a light on hunger, and encourage other businesses to support this worthy cause.” Since 1989, Cypress Semiconductor has donated approximately five million dollars, and around 500,000 pounds of food to the Second Harvest Food Bank. They raised the $700,000 for the solar project through employee fundraisers, and grants. T.J. Rodgers, the company’s president said, “Cypress is pleased to help reduce the organization’s operating expenses so that it can focus on what it does best–feeding the community.” The project is expected to wrap up in September.

SPE’s Culver City Lot Project Fulfills the USGBC’s Stringent Standards-


Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) recently announced that it has been awarded the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification for the studio’s Lot and Office Transformation (LOT) Project. “We are proud to receive this designation for our newest buildings on the lot,” said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures. “It’s our belief that we have a responsibility to help create a greener world for our community and future generations, and this project is an important part of our overall sustainability efforts.” The LOT Project included two new 100,000 square foot office buildings, named after Jack Cohn and Harry Cohn, and a parking structure located at the studio’s historic lot in Culver City, California. The Jack Cohn and Harry Cohn buildings were awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council for an all-around conservational approach in design and construction.

Criteria factors in the SPE Lot Project include: the use of local, recycled building materials; avoiding over 16,128 tons of construction waste material from being thrown into landfills; the use of motion detector lights and energy efficient light bulbs; the installation of an on-site filtration system for storm water runoff as well as low-flow toilets and urinals; the use of low-emitting carpeting, paint, sealants, adhesives and wall coverings; the enforcing of “Green Housekeeping” building maintenance standards; and the availability of preferred parking for low emitting and fuel efficient vehicles as well as car pools and van pools. To boot, the LOT Project incorporated a high-tech, energy efficient central cooling plant. “Naturally, a project of this size and scope was undertaken with a great deal of thought and care,” said Jeff Hargleroad, Executive Vice President, Corporate Operations. “We recognized early on this was a great opportunity to pursue design and construction practices that would map to our core values as a company; it became obvious that this was the right thing to do.” Last summer, SPE’s Culver City lot was the first and only studio to achieve ISO14001 certification, with energy and environmental initiatives that encompassed nearly all aspects of the studio’s operations. As a pioneer in the green movement, the possibilities are endless in what sustainable projects they will take on next.

Indian Parliament to Install Solar & Biomass Plant-

Through an arrangement with the Indian Parliament, the Punjab Energy Development Agency has invited bids for installing an 80 kW solar PV system. The solar array would provide battery backup for the Parliament building in the off-chance of a blackout, however over 50 percent of the generated power would be fed back into the grid. The project would help promote the use of solar PV systems which remain unpopular due to the high costs and lower efficiency when compared to other forms of clean energy. The installation is anticipated to initiate solar PV policy initiatives in homes and commercial buildings throughout the nation. Not to mention, the system would also serve as a demonstration of the feed-in tariff mechanism which is mostly untested in India. Some major companies have submitted bids, including Punj Lloyd, Wipro Ecoenergy and the Solar Energy Group of Reliance Industries. If this initiative is a success, the overall installed capacity could skyrocket to 20,000 MW over the next 12 years. Meanwhile, a new solar thermal system with a 2,000-liter capacity and a 0.5 tonne capacity biomass plant are also expected to be installed at the Parliament House.

Uninhabited Islands Around the Globe May be Used to Generate & Store Energy for Later Use-

Gottlieb Paludan, a Danish architectural firm, has come up with a revolutionary plan to store green energy which may help to solve the world energy crisis. The firm has proposed to take the world’s uninhabited islands and turn them into Green Power Islands, in which energy would be generated on land through wind or solar — depending upon the climate — and the surrounding water would be used to store the power using pumped hydro. Pumped hydro is an efficient and feasible way to store energy and, not to mention, has been successfully used around the world for years. Renewable energy can be particularly unreliable, since the blowing wind and shining sun is only available throughout a portion of the day. Thus, pumped hydro allows the energy captured throughout the day to be stored effectively and can be used at a later time when the need arises. The firm has specified many areas around the globe which would be an optimal site for the Green Power Islands: their native Denmark, the Florida Keys, Jiangsu in China, Manama in Baharain and Tamil Nadu in India. Each of these areas are saturated with unsettled islands and boast an ample supply of either wind or sun. Their plan intends to drive at least 75 percent of the energy captured into the grid. For more information, please visit the Green Power Island website.

Interactive Web Event Allows Networking with Top Industry Professionals-

A free, live, interactive web event is taking place on Wednesday, August 11, 2010 in which the authors of An Introduction to Sustainable Transportation and Transport for Suburbia will be exploring the difficulties that sustainability poses for transport planners. Preston L. Schiller and Paul Mees will introduce the latest opinions on transport policy from local, regional and global perspectives and offer innovative solutions. Join this event and discover the cultural, historical and political challenges to creating sustainable transport systems; explore the different policies that work at local, regional and national levels; learn about successful as well as ineffective solutions from cities across the globe; and ask questions to leading experts in transportation. “An excellent way of hearing about recent developments from leading thinkers in the field,” says Dr Sarah Dalrymple, Teaching Fellow in Ecology, University of Aberdeen. The web event will be taking place on Wednesday 11 August 2010, 17:00 (UK time – GMT +1), 12:00 (EDT), 9:00 (PDT). For more information, and to view archived versions of previous Earthcasts, please visit www.earthscan.co.uk/earthcasts. Click here for free registration.

Paul Mees is Senior Lecturer in transport planning at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia.

Preston L. Schiller is Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

New Prefabricated Homes are Affordable and Environmentally Sustainable-

Michelle Kaufmann, a leading green architect and designer, has recently unveiled her newest line of prefab sustainable homes. The line consists of three models, the Ridge0™, the Vista0™ and the Contours0™, which range in size between 422 and 2643 square feet. The Contours0™ and the Vista0™ have interior and exterior rooms which were designed with the utmost efficiency in mind, emphasizing natural ventilation and lighting through large windows, glass doors and skylights. The Ridge0™ uses the Passivhaus basic principles of sustainable design — with good levels of insulation, an air-tight building envelope, passive preheating of fresh air to minimize need for heating and cooling, southern orientation with shading, efficient windows and frames, as well as energy star appliances and lighting. Not to mention, the homes employ energy generating solar power systems, gray water systems which recover and filter used water for use in toilets or garden irrigation, and rainwater harvesting systems. Kaufmann’s Zero Series also use green materials and products, and conform to standards of LEED certification. They can even be customized to incorporate other green home certification program standards, such as the NAHB Green Building Standard, Build it Green, or any local green rating program. The new prefab Zero Series homes are made available exclusively through Studio 101 Designs and built by Blazer Industries. Prices start at $66,500.

Legislation to Boost U.S. Grid Efficiency-

A new legislation was recently introduced in the Senate to provide an investment tax credit (ITC) to energy storage facilities. Senate Bill 3617 – the Storage Technology of Renewable and Green Energy Act of 2010 (the “STORAGE 2010 Act”) – would provide up to $1.5 billion in tax credits to storage projects which are connected to the U.S. electric grid. This initiative is intended to support intermittent energy sources, including wind and solar power, while moderating energy demands during peak hours and facilitating a “smart grid” that is thoroughly more reliable in order to improve the U.S. electric grid and achieve a clean energy economy. The STORAGE 2010 Act would help improve the efficiency, versatility and reliability of the U.S. electric grid, and would offer more affordable energy storage technologies for homes and businesses. It would offer ITCs for storage systems connected to the electric grid, and on-site energy storage for businesses and homes. The STORAGE 2010 Act would provide a 20 percent ITC for facilities that store energy for delivery or use at a later time, granted that such facilities are connected to the nation’s electric grid. This ITC is capped at $30 million per qualifying project. In tax credit allocation, the Energy Secretary would be required to select projects which are commercially viable and that represent a variety of technologies, applications, and project sizes. Priority would be granted to projects that provide the greatest increase of reliability or economic benefit, that enable the greatest improvement in integration of renewable energy resources with the grid, or that enable the greatest increase in efficiency in grid operation. The legislation would also offer a 30 percent investment tax credit to businesses and homeowners for on-site storage projects. Those ITCs would be capped at $1 million each year, per qualifying project. If the proposed bill becomes law, the tax incentives would help boost the economy and create a solid foundation for renewable energy generation throughout the nation.

Refrigerant to Lessen Global Warming Impact in America-

General Motors (GM) recently announced it will be using an environmentally-friendly refrigerant to replace the super greenhouse gas, HFC-134a, which is currently used in auto air conditioning. The new refrigerant, called HFO, has a global warming potential of just 4 compared to 1,400 for the standard refrigerant. Beginning 2013, the new refrigerant will be used in Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models sold in the U.S. According to Honeywell, its producer, GM’s new refrigerant will only remain in the atmosphere for 11 days. With the low global warming potential (GWP) and the short lifetime of its HFO, Honeywell anticipates achieving a 99.7 percent improvement in the climate impact of its refrigerant when compared to the current standard. HFCs are widely recognized super greenhouse gases, and are the most rapidly growing part of U.S. climate emissions. At present, they are projected to grow more than 140 percent by 2020 compared to 4 percent growth for all U.S. climate emissions.


“GM should be congratulated for leading the way with an innovative refrigerant that can drastically cut the use of super greenhouse gases in the auto air conditioning sector,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD). “Eliminating super greenhouse gases is a top priority for climate protection.” The development of low-GWP refrigerants is being propelled by regulation in the EU that plans to eliminate auto air conditioning refrigerants with GWP’s higher than 150 between 2011 and 2017. Similar regulation has been established in California with the same 2017 deadline. Not to mention, the improved environmental performance of the new refrigerant aids car makers in achieving the 40 percent improvement in average vehicle fuel economy required in the U.S. by 2016. “GM has taken a major step forward in climate protection,” said Dr. Stephen O. Andersen, Co-Chair of the Montreal Protocol ozone treaty’s Technology & Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP). “TEAP estimates that one-third of the most damaging high-GWP greenhouse gases known as HFCs are being used in motor vehicle air conditioning and that motivated industry can make a complete transition to environmentally-superior technology in 7 years or less.”

Examining the Cap-and-Trade Bill-


One of the most controversial and hot-button topics in Washington over the last year has been the cap-and-trade bill. The last few decades have seen a great awakening of American consciousness to the need for a greener planet. After years of wild excess and reckless consumption, even the average American consumer is beginning to realize that we must care for our resources. Regardless of whether an individual believes fully in the merits of global warming, no one can intelligently argue against the need to care for Mother Earth.With  environmental awareness becoming more widespread, it is now beginning to find a strong presence on Capitol Hill, as Washington lawmakers begin introducing, debating, and passing bills that promise to protect and sustain our environment for generations to come. The cap-and-trade bill is one such development in Washington. Basically, the cap-and-trade bill seeks to cut down drastically on the amount of carbon emissions companies are able to release into the atmosphere. The method of regulating these companies is as follows. Each year a company will be allotted a certain number of credits that will dictate how many carbon emissions it can legally release into the atmosphere. The number of credits a company receives will be based on the size and industry of the company. These credits can then be traded or sold to other companies. For example, let’s assume that company A has 10 credits for the year, but they run a very clean operation and they project to only use 6. Company B has 10 credits as well, but they have not developed systems to control carbon emissions; thus, they use all 10 of their credits in 6 months. Now they will have to buy company A’s remaining 4 credits, and if they need more, they will have to find more companies selling credits. This will cost company B a lot of money.

Therefore, the cap-and-trade bill awards companies that are taking proactive steps to cut down on carbon emissions, and it punishes companies that are not. The fundamental thought behind the bill is that large corporations are driven by profit incentive. If you place a profit incentive in front of them in relation to operating in an environmentally-friendly manner, you greatly increase the probability of a company fully cooperating. You hit them where it hurts! (which is, of course, the company pocketbook) Now, the cap-and-trade bill will make for very interesting developments in the nuclear energy and renewable energy industry because some companies are far ahead of the game in terms of operating in an environmentally-friendly manner, and other companies are far behind the curve. As the bill is passed and enacted, the companies that are already operating in a green manner will be able to continue to invest its capital in the direction of business expansion, while companies behind the curve will have to direct large amounts of capital toward restructuring business operations in order to cut down on carbon emissions. Thus, the bill will be great for some companies, and not so great for others. Excelon is an example of a company already ahead of the curve. The cap-and-trade bill will be very good for its growth because, similar to other companies ahead of the curve, it will be able to sell many of its credits while simultaneously continuing to expand its business operations. The cap-and-trade bill has already passed the House of Representatives, and now it will be picked up for debate in the Senate this fall. There is big money involved in the final version of the bill as it currently stands. Currently, there is an $18 billion loan guarantee in the cap-and-trade bill for companies in the nuclear power and renewable energy industries. These government contracts are expected to be very lucrative for a number of companies. If the bill is passed with this loan guarantee in place, it would be wise for investors to track which companies are able to position themselves to land these projects because it will most likely drive a company’s stock up quite nicely. Many companies in the nuclear power industry also have a heavy international presence, which means their bottom line each year is very exposed to volatile moves in the currency market. A Forex broker can oftentimes provide more information on how companies hedge against this volatility in order to protect company profits.

New Initiative to Spur Solar Energy Industry in U.S.-

An investment arm for electric utility PG&E Corp. recently announced it will invest $100 million in rooftop solar systems for 3,500 new homes in five U.S. states, from California to New Jersey. As a partner in the project, San-Francisco based SunRun will offer long-term lease and power purchase agreements to homeowners, who in turn will pay a monthly fee to use the power generated by their solar energy systems, rather than owning the equipment outright. Pacific Capital II LLC will fund solar financier SunRun Inc.’s installations and take a portion of the revenue. SunRun will manage the project. The systems will be installed over the next two years in Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts and New Jersey. SunRun will allow homeowners to pay off solar systems through monthly installments, helping to provide consumers with affordable renewable energy without having to pay sometimes towering upfront costs.