Whenever I need a burst of feel good energy I google solar or wind energy for a pick-me-up. Here are five short articles of small news that keeps adding up to big changes in our energy generation economy. I hope will charge you up and leave you in a positive frame of mind.
Making Solar Energy's Future Even Brighter
The cost of solar power has dropped significantly in recent years. Between 1977 and 2013, Cost of Solar reports, the overall cost associated with solar power fell an amazing 99 percent. [...]
Solar panel prices have dropped more than 75 percent since 2008. That has contributed to a dramatic increase in solar panel installations. Last year, installations reached a record 5.1 gigawatts (GW), increasing the national total to nearly 13 GW. That’s enough to power nearly 2.2 million American homes.
It is expected that solar panel installations will continue to grow. The U.S Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory predicts that wind and solar could produce 15 percent of U.S. electricity by 2020, 27 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050.
Jessica VanEgeren of Madison.com writes Holy Wisdom Monastery is now MGE's largest solar customer, after adding 463 solar panels in North Middleton.
The panels, installed by H & H Electric, boost Holy Wisdom’s solar-generating capacity from roughly 20 kilowatt hours to more than 145 kilowatt hours.
Solar energy will now account for 60 percent of the monastery building’s energy use, or roughly 45 percent of the combined energy use by the retreat, guest house and monastery building, according to Mark Hanson, director of sustainable services with Hoffman Planning, Design and Construction, which donated the solar planning services.
“In keeping with our care for the earth values, this opportunity helps us get closer to our ultimate goal of providing 100 percent of our energy needs from one-site renewable energy systems,” said Sister Mary David Walgenbach, the prioress of Benedictine Women of Madison with Holy Wisdom Monastery. “Our Benedictine values call us to do what we can to conserve precious natural resources on this earth.”
Stephen Montemayor writes MSP Airport Building State’s Largest Solar Energy Site, which could provide 20% of its electrical needs.
A $25.4 million solar energy project now underway at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is being touted as the state’s largest and is expected to create more than 250 jobs. ...
MSP estimates that the installation will generate about 20 percent of its total power supply when it is operating at peak capacity. The airport called the plan the largest demand reduction and energy supply airport project in the world. Construction is taking place atop two parking ramps at Terminal 1-Lindbergh, and four more electric vehicle charging stations will be installed, bringing the airport’s total to 18.
MSP said the site will convert about 7,750 metal halide lights into energy-saving LED technology. A spokesman said that over 30 years, the MAC will spend $10 million less on energy costs as a result of the project. Funding for the project is being provided by Thrivent financial at a rate of 0.75 percent.
Will the World's Dominant Energy Source Be Solar? Only With Serious, Proactive Policy Support
The International Energy Agency updated their technology roadmaps for solar PV and solar thermal energy, suggesting that, with significant policy and technological progress, solar could colletively contribute 27 percent of global electricity by 2050. Some commentators were quick to exclaim victory, but let’s remember that the IEA has provided a “roadmap” not a set of predictions, nor projections. To achieve that 27 percent requires a high global carbon price – which doesn’t yet exist – and for average annual solar PV deployment to quadruple from 36 GW installed in 2013 to 200 GW/yr between 2025 and 2040. Such deployment will require massive incentives, of which, in their current form, IEA says are “largely unsustainable.” ...
Finally, the report emphasizes that the world is not on track to achieve all these technology and policy targets. The roadmap is “based on the hi-Ren Scenario” of IEA Energy Technology Perspectives 2014, in which renewables reach 79 percent, and solar 27 percent, of global electricity generation in 2050. This compares to IEA’s business-as-usual “6DS” scenario (AKA the path we’re currently following), in which all renewables provide 27 percent, and solar around 5 percent, of global electricity in 2050.
IEA’s baseline assumptions may be too pessimistic or their roadmaps too optimistic. Either way, the policy and innovation recommendations of the solar roadmaps are welcome, and a reminder of the significant progress still required for solar technologies. And, in perhaps the most important point made in the roadmap reports, the IEA’s executive director Maria van der Hoeven emphasizes that “energy efficiency, many types of renewable energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS), nuclear power, and new transport technologies will all require widespread deployment” to meet future climate and energy goals.
Perovskite Offers Shot at Cheaper Solar Energy, because they can be manufactured at a much lower cost than current materials for photovoltaics.
Meet perovskite, the building block for materials that, as a group, have posted unprecedented gains in their solar-energy efficiency—the percentage of sunlight converted into electricity. In the lab, scientists experimenting with perovskite-based materials of different compositions have recently achieved a jump in efficiency to 20%, from around 10% just two years ago.
It can be made into stand-alone solar cells or layered on top of silicon solar cells to boost energy production by grabbing light from a part of the spectrum that silicon can't capture.
One advantage of perovskite is that it can be made of common metals and industrial chemicals, instead of the expensive raw materials used in other silicon substitutes. Also, perovskite-based materials could be used to print photovoltaic electronics directly onto glass or other materials, which would be cheaper than more-complex methods for producing thin-film solar cells.
Oxford plans to license its recipe for a liquid form of perovskite to a chemical company and the process for using that liquid to make solar cells to glassmakers or cell makers, says Chris Case, chief technology officer of Oxford. The company expects products based on its technology to hit the market by 2017.
Critics point out challenges remain such as uncertain durability and reaction to moisture.
Hope you have a bright and sunny day.
YouTube link to Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles