Sustainable Energy News: 03/05/12

Monday, March 5, 2012

Solar Cost Calculator

Play with Our Solar Cost Calculator! | GetSolar.com Blog

The solar beta calculator might be the coolest thing since sliced bread. If you start at the top left hand corner and submit your Customer Type (ie Residential or Commercial) and Zip Code, our calculator will fill in your City and State, as well as your Utility. Next, plug in your Electric Rate Name, Monthly Electric Bill, and Annual Bill Escalation.

How Much Can Solar Panels Save You On Your Utility Bill?

How Much Do Solar Panels Cost? | GetSolar.com Blog

We all know that gasoline is priced in dollars per gallon. (Duh.) We also all know about how far we’ll be able to drive after shelling out 40 bucks for a tank of gas. When it comes to solar power, however, not many of us know how the cost of solar panels is measured. Nor, for that matter, do we immediately see the relationship between the cost of solar power and the value of solar power. Unlike a tank of gas, the value of which is enjoyed (and used up) more or less immediately, solar panels deliver their value over a number of years.

PacifiCorp to build 2MW solar project

PacifiCorp anounces big Lakeview solar project | Sustainable Business Oregon

PacifiCorp announced Thursday it will develop a huge 2-megawatt solar array in Lake County, a move that will further cement the eastern Oregon region's reputation as the state's center for large-scale renewable energy projects. PacifiCorp officials say the Black Cap project, which will be installed a few miles from downtown Lakeview, will be the largest utility-leased solar facility in the state. It will produce enough electricity to meet the annual needs of about 400 average PacifiCorp residential customers and will count toward the utilities obligations to produce 25 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2025 under the state's renewable portfolio standard.

No Financing for the Oregon Sustainability Center

Oregon Sustainability Center denied financing | Sustainable Business Oregon

The contentious Oregon Sustainability Center hit yet another road block this week as the Oregon Legislature adjourned Monday without approving financing for the showpiece project. The high-rise project, slated for the Portland State University campus and planned to be built according to the ultra-efficient living building standard — essentially promising a building that doesn't require power from the grid and is built with local materials — has been contentious in part for its $61 million price tag and publicly funded model.

New IBM software helps manage rental property more sustainably

New tool to help CFOs manage leased property more sustainably | GreenBiz.com

Getting CFO buy-in is key to the success of any corporate sustainability strategy, but it's often difficult to illustrate, in dollars and cents, how a green initiative can improve the bottom line. The latest version of IBM Tririga software, one of the company's Smarter Buildings analytics offerings, could help. The program enables chief financial officers and real estate execs to more easily see how well a company is managing its leased property and how certain changes -- like improvements for energy efficiency and better use of space -- can buoy the bottom line.

The story of sustainable seafood; Watch the video but don't eat the eel

Sustainable Sushi: See The Video. But Don't Eat The Eel : The Salt : NPR

Sushi seems like the perfect modern food: Light, healthful and available at seemingly every supermarket in the nation. But is it sustainable?

That's the question behind "The Story of Sushi," a new video that's been pulling a lot of clicks in the past week. Maybe that's because its adorable format, with tiny, handcrafted figures used to tell the tale, stands in stark contrast to its depressing message: Most of the sushi we snarf up is harvested using unsustainable methods.

Drilling in the gulf as oil prices skyrocket

Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico on the Rise as Oil Prices Continue to Climb

After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago — which was the worst oil spill in the country’s history — President Barack Obama placed a moratorium on all new offshore drilling ventures to provide time to research safer drilling practices. That moratorium was lifted about a year ago, and now drilling is back in business and going strong. Some say that the amount of oil rigs in operation will soon surpass the number of rigs drilling before the accident. At the forefront of the new boom is our old friend British Petroleum, the company that is currently settling out of court with victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. BP currently has five oil rigs open and drilling in the Gulf, and it expect to have three more fired up and ready to go by the end of the year.

Eco-soldiers to the rescue!

Nicaragua Forms Battalion of Eco-Soldiers to Combat Climate Change

While much of the developed world continues to debate the most effective ways of tackling global carbon emissions in closed-door summits and international forums, some countries hardest hit from changing climate patterns are beginning to take a more direct approach. In light of what it considers a national security risk posed by climate change, the government of Nicaragua has formed the Ecological Battalion, a first-of-its-kind team of soldiers dedicated to combating against environmental threats.

Is the Green movement failing?

Has Green Failed Because Environmental Donors Have Been Giving to the Wrong Groups?

Floating out under the radar about ten days ago was a new report on philanthropy and the environmental movement, which purports to have at least part of the solution to why, by and large, 1) there have been both been so few major political victories on environmental issues (at least the big ones) in the past two decades, and 2) why the bed of grassroots support for real environmental change isn't more lush.

Governments are turning to carbon offset markets for help

Voluntary Carbon Offset Programs Gathering Steam

With the future of an international climate agreement still in flux, governments worldwide are turning to voluntary carbon offsetting markets to engage private sector climate actors – and to provide the tools that could shape tomorrow’s regulated carbon markets, according to a study by Ecosystem Marketplace, a project of nonprofit Forest Trends.

Avg. sunshine 3 hrs per day, 4 mos. of the year is good enough for one town to go solar

Wrexham leads Europe's solar charge | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Wrexham – average sunshine: three hours a day for four months of the year – has joined Sacramento in California, desert city Abu Dhabi and Freiburg in Germany as a new solar power centre. The north Walian town, which has had one of Europe's largest solar panel factories since 2005, employing around 1,000 people, moves into the renewable energy premier league this month after installing 30,000 panels made in the town on 3,000 of its council homes. This year it will fit six schools and several public buildings with a further 90kW of solar power.

Clean energy laws will benefit for natural gas

Clean-Energy Mandate for Utilities Seen Benefiting Natural Gas - Bloomberg

Natural gas, which already is edging aside coal in American electricity generation, would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of a clean-energy mandate for utilities under consideration in Congress this year. Senator Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat and chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced a measure March 1 to force electricity companies to use an increasing share of energy produced from “clean” sources over the next two decades.

How tracking its carbon footprint saved on company cash

How tracking its carbon footprint saved Akamai cash | GreenBiz.com

The Internet has enabled massive dematerialization of traditional brick and mortar industries through the emergence of online services such as shopping, banking, communication and entertainment. However, this success has been accompanied by rapid growth in the Internet’s own environmental impact. Akamai, an integral component of the Internet, is keenly aware of its contribution.

Germany backs EU airline carbon law

Germany fully backs EU law on airline carbon cost | Reuters

(Reuters) - Germany reiterated support on Monday for EU law making all airlines pay for carbon emissions, underlining the bloc's determination not to bow to international pressure to scrap the scheme. The European Union's requirement that all airlines buy carbon allowances to offset flights that use EU airports has stirred threats of a trade war, with the potential to disrupt global air traffic.

Which governments embrace the carbon markets?

13 governments that embrace voluntary carbon markets | GreenBiz.com

The United States has famously failed to develop a strategy for slowing and adapting to climate change, but that hasn't stopped the U.S. states of Oklahoma, California, and Oregon from creating frameworks to support greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading.

Test results for high performance catalyst point to billions in economic value

Carbon Sciences Catalyst Test Results Point to Possible $6 Billion of Annual Economic Value

SANTA BARBARA, CA, Mar 05, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Carbon Sciences Inc. CABN +7.69% , the developer of a breakthrough technology to make transportation fuels and other valuable products from natural gas, today announced that commercial test results of its high performance catalyst point to a substantial market opportunity. Ongoing commercial tests show stable operation and high conversion at a reduced steam to natural gas ratio of 1.5. A lower natural gas ratio can reduce steam usage up to 50% resulting in higher production at a lower cost for steam reforming plant operators and an annual gain in economic value of approximately $6 billion.

Instead of ice cream, liberals are giving up carbon for lent

Liberals Giving Up ‘Carbon’ for Lent

For many Christians, the 40-day period of fasting and reflection before Easter known as Lent is a chance to get in mental and spiritual shape. People give up chocolate; quit drinking or smoking; avoid meat; start reading the Bible regularly; or even give up social media — “fasts” intended to discipline and re-direct one’s mind to the divine. For Catholics, liturgical Protestants, and, increasingly, non-denominational Christians around the country, Lent fasts can often feel like New Year’s Resolutions 2.0: a second attempt at giving up small indulgences for personal betterment.