Solar Decathlon shows that homes can run on the sun

October 15th, 2009

By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

Tomorrow’s leaders are already working towards a cleaner future — that could be as bright as the sun.

The Solar Decathlon, an international competition hosted by the US Department of Energy (DOE), is showcasing solar-powered home designs created by students from around the world.

Students selected to participate were given two years to design and build the prototype solar homes, which must be carbon neutral and completely powered by the sun. The projects, many costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, are on display at the National Mall in Washington through Sunday (Oct. 18).

Two thousand students came together to form 20 teams, which are competing to win prizes in several categories, such as best architecture or engineering or “comfort zone”.

The Solar Decathlon Proposal Review Committee, which is made up of engineers, scientist, and other experts from the DOE and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory, selected the teams that they thought had the ability to meet the strict structural and safety requirements. Once selected, each team was given $100,000 to get started. Projects often require more, so individual teams then raise any additional funds.

“The U.S. Department of Energy supports the Solar Decathlon to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. DOE also supports the event to help move solar energy technologies to the market place faster. The Solar Decathlon helps accelerate the research and development of energy-efficiency and energy production technologies,” said John Horst, spokesperson for the Department of Energy.

Read the entire article here: http://www.greenrightnow.com/kabc/2009/10/15/solar-decathlon-shows-that-homes-can-run-on-the-sun/

U.S. Army to build 500 MW solar power plant

* Project's first phase to be 500 megawatts, could be 1 GW

* ACCIONA Solar, Clark Energy to develop plant over 13 yrs

* Developers to fund project in exchange for land lease

LOS ANGELES, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. military is tackling a new mission in the field of alternative energy, moving to power up a 500-megawatt solar facility at Fort Irwin's sprawling desert complex in California.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tapped ACCIONA Solar Power, a unit of Spain's Acciona SA (ANA.MC), and Clark Energy Group to develop the project, which launched its first phase on Thursday.

The project, located at the Army's largest training range in California's Mojave Desert, could grow as large as 1 gigawatt in the future.

The companies will finance and build the plant in exchange for leasing of the military land. The project, planned for five sites over 13 years, could cost $2 billion.

The solar power plant is part of the Army's mission to meet a federal mandate that calls for it to cut its energy use by nearly a third by 2015 and get a quarter of its energy needs from renewable resources by 2025.

The facility at Fort Irwin will surpass the 14-MW solar plant at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada as the U.S. Department of Defense's largest solar power plant.

The new plant will have both photovoltaic solar panels and mirrors and turbines for concentrated solar power.

That approach takes advantage of solar thermal's low-cost and solar panels' fast installation, Laurence Greene, who directs development at ACCIONA Solar Power, told a conference call.

"We can tailor individual site development to the needs of the marketplace," Greene added.

Greene said they will be working with other companies on the project, but had not chosen any yet.

At most the military complex uses 28 MW of electricity, said Jerry Hansen, the Army's senior energy executive, leaving nearly 475 MW for developers to sell to regional utilities.

(Reporting by Laura Isensee; Editing by Richard Chang)

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN1427059020091015

Army Going Solar With 500 MW of Solar Power in Mojave Desert

The Army knows that extensive alternative energy installations are the best way to ensure continuous, reliable electricity production. That’s why the military organization is building the Department of Defense’s largest ever solar project at the Fort Irwin Base in California’s Mojave Desert.

Clark Energy Group and Acciona Solar Power are collaborating on the project, which will use 14,000 acres of land to develop at least 500 MW of solar power by 2022. The $2 billion PV and solar concentrator installation will ultimately produce 1,250 gigawatt hours per year to the base–enough to power over 100,000 homes. As part of the deal, the Army will lease land to Clark and Acciona for the project. In return, the companies will pay with services like paving airstrips and building roads.

This isn’t the military’s first foray into renewable energy. The Army is spending over $1 billion on other renewable energy projects. It also began calculating and reporting its carbon footprint earlier this year.

http://cleantechnica.com/2009/08/01/army-going-solar-with-500-mw-of-solar-power-in-mojave-desert/

Drowning island pins hopes on clean energy

(CNN) -- Tuvalu, the fourth smallest nation on the planet, has announced it aims to be totally powered by renewable energy sources by 2020.

Located between Hawaii and Australia, the tiny Pacific nation is one of the world's climate change hotspots and many believe it is already seeing the negative affects of rising sea levels.

The highest elevation on the island is just 4.5 meters (14.8 feet), and king tides have become increasingly damaging over the past 10 years, threatening the homes and livelihoods of its 12,000 inhabitants.

The government of Tuvalu is working with the e8, a consortium of 10 energy firms from the G8 nations that was set up after the 1992 Rio Earth Summit as a non-profit organization. The Tuvalu government estimates that it will take around $20 million in investment to reach the goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2020.

The first stage of the project has seen the roof of the country's largest football stadium covered in solar panels, which supplies 5 percent of the electricity needed by the nation's capital, Funafuti.

According to e8 figures, after 14 months in operation the solar stadium has reduced consumption of generator fuel shipped from New Zealand by 17,000 tons and saved 50 tons of CO2 from being released in the atmosphere. A further benefit is the reduced risk of diesel spills around the atoll's reefs.

"There may be other larger solar power installations in the world, but none could be more meaningful to customers than this one," said Takao Shiraishi, general manager of the Kansai Electric Power Company that helped implement the scheme.

"The plight of Tuvalu versus the rising tide vividly represents the worst early consequence of climate change. For Tuvalu, after 3,000 years of history, the success of UN climate talks in Copenhagen this December may well be a matter of national survival," he said in a press statem

The next scheme is building a solar power system for a secondary school on Vaitupu, one of the outer islands.

"We thank those who are helping Tuvalu reduce its carbon footprint as it will strengthen our voice in upcoming international negotiations. And we look forward to the day when our nation offers an example to all -- powered entirely by natural resources such as the sun and the wind," said Kausea Natano, Tuvalu's minister for public utilities and industries.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/07/21/tuvalu.cleanenergy/