Tom Schueneman, from Cleantechnica, reports that SunPower, Ford Announce Plan to Pair Solar Panels with New Focus EV, to get electric vehicles off of the grid. This deal combining solar panels with your car purchase will start next quarter with the release of the Ford Focus EV.
Dubbed the "Drive Green for Life" program, Ford dealers will be able to combine the sale of a Focus EV with a discounted rooftop solar system to recharge the vehicle's battery. The 2.5 kilowatt rooftop system is designed specifically for recharging the Focus, engineered to provide enough power for about 1000 miles of travel per month. After all federal tax credits are applied, the cost of the solar system should run about $10,000. In some locations however, state and local rebates could push the cost down significantly.
Owners opting in for the car charging system will also have the option to upgrade the system to power their homes as well. SunPower says such an upgrade would be at about the same price point as the car charging system. ...
The arrangement is exclusive between SunPower and Ford for now, but charger systems will be standardized across carmakers and should work with all EV's as the program expands.
What good news it is to hear that automobile makers have agreed on one standard for electric vehicle charging systems.
I'm glad to hear about this combined deal but, the idea of locking in the price of solar panels for the next 30 years may not have been the best marketing strategy as the cost of solar photovoltaics has dropped by 50% in the last two years, and some analyst expect prices to continue to drop for years to come.
Jeanine Cotter, CEO of Luminalt Solar Energy Solutions, likened the program to having the ability 30 years ago to freeze the cost of gas at $1.20 per gallon for 20 years.
Both Ford and SunPower promote the arrangement as a means of lowering vehicle operating costs for owners. With the charging system under warranty for 25 years, says SunPower CEO Tom Werner, "Some Focus owners may never have to spend an additional dime on energy for their cars."
The manufacturing learning curve for solar PVs is now fairly well established at 18%, which is very close to the 20% curve for integrated circuit chips.
GM just recently announced a "Green Zone" program for using solar panels at it's factories and dealerships to charge electric vehicles.
Overall, this is positive news. I'm getting a real charge out of how common place the the idea of rooftop solar panels have become. As recently, as a few months ago, when I started Kosowatt, I felt just a twinge of concern that I might be driving Daily Kos readers off the roof with a premature technology. But, I wanted to generate interest and energy around the topic and have a support group to bolster courage for those pioneers brave enough to take this scary step.
Now, in just months it almost seems passe to mention it.
This certainly shows a bright future, for solar power.
Here comes the sun.
Since this is Friday Night I declare these comments and open thread for any topics, no matter how sillly, even pix of pooties.
Later I might post an articles on putting wind generators on dogs.
6:43 PM PT: Oh, I forgot to "promote" my own diaries. Only a few hours left before they calculate weeklong total author impact. Please throw this mojo starved HoundDog a few bones.
Woof!
Ford Motor and SunPower Combine To Announce Electric Vehicle and Rooftop Solar Panel Deal
Tom Schueneman, from Cleantechnica, reports that SunPower, Ford Announce Plan to Pair ...
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08/12/2011 |
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ElizabethWarren, Please Win Back Our Massachusetts Senate Seat From Scott Brown
Up here in Massachusetts, many of us have been hoping Professor Elizabeth Warren , will run for the Senate seat of former Senator Ted Kennedy, now occupied by Republican Senator ...
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08/12/2011 |
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Inspector General's Office Failing to Oversee Nuclear Regulatory Agency, Both Maybe Incompetent
Tom Zeller Jr., one of Huffington Post's best environmental reportors has an excellent, long, comprehensive, and important analysis of the failures of the Inspector Generals Office, OIG, to oversee ...
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08/12/2011 |
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Huge Solar Flares In Next Decade Could Cause Year-Long Blackouts, and Nuclear Crises Says NOAA
This morning I wrote a diary on yesterday's enormous solar flare, with an X-ray magnitude of X6.9 on the GOES scale, that erupted with a coronal mass ejection, in a direction away from earth.
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08/10/2011 |
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Sun Ejects Most Powerful Solar Flare In Five Years, See Video
Here comes the sun!
Yesterday, our sun ejecting an enormous coronal mass, in a solar flare with an X-ray magnitude of X6.9 on the GOES Scale. Luckily for us, it was on the "dark" side of the sun, ...
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08/10/2011 |
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Asian Markets Follow US Rebound After Federal Reserve Promises Low Interest Rates For Two Years
Asian stock markets are rebounding Wednesday morning following a 4.3% rebound of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the US, Tuesday. US stocks opened higher and after the Federal Reserve promised ...
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08/09/2011 |
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Dow Closes Up 3.98%, S&P 500 Up 4.75%, As Federal Reserve Promises Low Interest Rates For Two Years
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 430.30 points, or 3.98 percent, at 11,240.15. The S&P 500 was up 53.18, or 4.75 percent; Nasdaq was up 124.83 percent, or 5.29 percent, in the best day ...
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08/09/2011 |
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Japan Hid Radiation Data Causing Citizens Unnecessary Exposure Mayor Baba Says Is 'Akin To Murder'
March 12, 2011, the day after the tsunami, when residents of Namie wanted to evacuate from an area near the damaged nuclear reactors, Mayor Baba led his citizens to shelter north of the village, he ...
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08/09/2011 |
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Asian Markets Open Sharply Off, Then Rebound, On Bargain Hunting and S&P Reassurances, QE, US Up
Update: The following Liveblogs the drop, and partial rebound. Latest reports most markets are still off, but have recovered from their steep earlier falls. See updates.
Update: Us Futures for ...
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08/08/2011 |
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US Markets Down ~ 4% After DAX Closes Off 5%, Obama Will Speak About Downgrade, and Afghan Attack
"I believe this is, without question, the tea party downgrade." -- Sen. John F. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, said on NBC's "Meet the Press." (Associated Press)
Update: ...
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08/08/2011 |
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Asian Markets Down 1.7% to 5.9% by Midnight EST. Alan Greenspan Predicts Longer-Term Turmoil
Alan GreenSpan expects more market turmoil to come, reports Alan Zibel of the Wall ...
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08/07/2011 |
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Tottenham, UK Burns In Riot Over Controversial Police Shooting That Looks Like Middle East War Zone
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08/07/2011 |
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31 US and 7 Afghan Special Forces Soldiers Killed in Taliban Attack on Helicopter in Afghanistan
Ben Farmer, in Kabul reports, in The Telegraph, that a ...
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08/06/2011 |
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BrightSource Announces a 500 Megawatt Power Tower Solar Plant To Be Built in Mojave Desert
The solar industry continues to report good news. Recently, we've reported major cost reductions in solar panels on residential rooftops. Today, Todd Woddy reports, in Forbes, ...
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08/05/2011 |
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'We Need a Jobs Bill To Overcome the Republican Double Dip Recession,' Says Robert Reich
Robert Reich, starts his essay, The Republicans' Double-Dip, and What Must Be Done,
by asking John Boehner, if his ...
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08/05/2011 |
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Paul Krugman Warns We Are Worrying About the Wrong Things, We Need More Jobs and Economic Stimulus
Paul Krugman's August 4, 2012 column, The Wrong Worries, warns us that the dominant political ...
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08/05/2011 |
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Hypnotoad says you will tip and rec HoundDog's Dairies!