Get Energy Smart! NOW!

Today, Google announced RE<C — think renewable electricity cheaper than coal.  To be honest, it is hard to underestimate the importance of actions like these. 

The newly created initiative, known as RE<C, will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies. 

To achieve this, Google is planning to start $10s of millions in investments in R&D, with the anticipation of $100s of milions of investment in the coming few years.  

The target:  1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity at or below the cost of coal-generated electricity.

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Having discussed Gridpoint in Energy COOL: Luxury that could go mainstream, a small update from an article in The Washington Post business section.  Gridpoint looks to still mainly be in the testing / development phase, but is available at a retail price of $12.5k rather than the $10k in yesterday’s post.

Monday’s Washington Post business section has an excellent set of articles examining local green businesses.   They provide a window on those pursuing green productivity for, it seems, ethical/moral issues first (and financial as corollary) as per Honest Tea and those who started entirely with financial reasons (with any environmental/ethical/moral issues secondary, a corollary) as per Marriott (article subtitle: “Marriott Transforms Its Penny-Pinching Measures Into a Conservation Ethos”).

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NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard driven opposition to some form of change) is a challenge to moves to a sensible energy future not just in America but around the globe.  Whether solar panels, drying clothes outdoors, white roofing, subways, or otherwise, a good number of paths toward a better energy future face opposition from those outraged over perceived impositions on their way of life, or at least their views in some way.  Perhaps the most visible battles: over wind turbine installations.

Today, the New York Times took us to the Greek isles,

THE tiny Greek island of Serifos, a popular tourist destination, depends on its postcard views of sandy beaches, Cycladic homes and sunsets that blend sea and sky into a clean wash of color. So when a mining and energy company floated a plan earlier this year to build 87 industrial wind turbines on more than a third of the island, the Serifos mayor, Angeliki Synodinou, called it her “worst nightmare.”

She imagined supersize wind towers looming over the island, destroying romantic vistas, their turbines chopping the quiet like a swarm of helicopters. The project is now stalled, and Ms. Synodinou doesn’t regret it. “No one would come here,” she said. “Our island would be destroyed.”

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Since diving into the deep end when it comes to energy issues, almost every day sees new fascinating concepts, approaches, and technologies.  Exciting. Hope inspring. Truly Energy COOL.  And, well, there are others on the hunt for those Energy COOL opportunities for fostering a better future.

When I win the lottery …

When I win the lottery, the list is long.  Act Blue here I come.  Windmill turbine investing here I come.  And, well, there are some really Energy COOL items that would become part of my life.  The good news: I think that these high-end systems will, hopefully quickly, move down the cost spectrum and move from luxury to mainstream.  

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PV panels at ten percent of today’s cost?  Wow.   That would equate to, roughly, a 30 percent reduction of solar installation costs if this can happen.  

A grandmother’s flyer creates a large market demand, cutting costs by over 15 percent.

And, a city’s financing scheme offers people who would not otherwise have been able to afford installing renewable power systems the chance to be on the leading edge of an Energy Smart future, of helping to create a prosperous, climate-friendly society.  

Combine these three.  New technologies potentially driving down costs (fast).    A mass market (community by community, grandmother’s flyer by flyer) waiting to be created. And, the power of (local) government enabling people to act.  This is a path to Energizing America to that better future.

We can all help make America

Energy Smart.

Ask yourself:   Are you doing  your part to ENERGIZE AMERICA?

NOTES

• Looking for additional ways to take action?  Consider investing in a progressive future

A major part (roughly 1/3rd) of the total system cost for installed solar power is, of course, the solar panels.  We’ve been seeing ‘about to happen’ news about breakthroughs coming in solar PV prices.  Two major firms, Nanosolar and Evergreen, are each offering up the potential for major cost cuts in solar PV panels.  Cost reductions that would be, well, truly Energy COOL in their implications and potentially game changing.

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Berkeley, California, is providing a new path toward financing renewable energy programs, providing financing for individual home owner’s solar power systems.  Well, not far from Berkeley, Marin County is providing a different path toward making solar systems more accessible to its citizens. In this case, however, the County government is (at most) a follower rather than leader in the process.

As described by the San Francisco Chronicle,

A Bay Area grandmother’s grassroots campaign to lower the cost of solar power through a community bulk-purchase plan has reaped a bigger bonanza than she dreamed: an offer by a Marin solar company to provide discounted installations for every resident and business in the county.

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Making the Daily Kos recommended list, right now, is Shplik’s discussion Small and scalable renewable power: A New Deal Solution.  Shplik is absolutely right: we need a smart financing path to enable explosive growth in distributed (preferably renewable) energy production as part of the path toward an Energy Smart future.

What is exciting is that an American city might be pursuing a key path toward innovative and actionable financing for small scale renewable energy programs that could open the door to millions who cannot currently afford to put solar on their roofs.

As discussed in Energize America: Cities Leading the Way (also here), Berkeley has adopted an approach for funding homeowner and small business solar installations via city bonds.  This approach could provide an explosive path toward 10s of millions of solar installations in the coming years.

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Sacremento Dem asked What is the biggest outrage of this Administration?  At the end of the diary, a list of truly “outrageous” acts.  Outrageous.But, perhaps, the most outrageous element was not in that list, as outrageous as every element listed was and is to consider.

No, in the desire to reject everything from Bill Clinton, this Administration (and the Republican Party it exemplifies) has chosen to stop thinking about tomorrow, to reject the entire concept of thinking about and considering tomorrow, and have used their power to sell out tomorrow.

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