Results: Calendar of Events
October 17, 2009
President Obama on Oct. 5 issued the attached Executive Order 13514 titled “Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance.” The new order updates energy and efficiency policy goals for all federal agencies and touches on a variety of areas from reducing water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions to encouraging sustainable technologies and ensuring all new buildings be designed to achieve zero net energy use by 203o. To see more details, click on the spreadsheet and .pdf files below.
Executive Order 13514
Spreadsheet comparing the new EO to the previous EO(EO 13423)
October 16, 2009
From Rena Delbridge at Alaska Dispatch: Chuck Lee looks around his Lazy Mountain property and sees potential to lighten the footprint his family leaves on the land. There’s a small stream well-suited to micro-scale hydroelectric power generation, especially in spring, when it threatens to overflow the banks. A broad roof is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the sun’s stunning power. And a field close by would be an ideal site for a small wind turbine, where blades could catch the steady winter breeze flowing out of the Matanuska Valley. Lee has dreamed of such things, but has been somewhat hamstrung without a state policy allowing him to sell extra electricity into the utility grid. That could change, though, following the Regulatory Commission of Alaska’s adoption of a net metering policy on Wednesday. Read more
October 15, 2009
From Rena Delbridge at Alaska Dispatch: In an effort to increase the spending power of $658,000 in federal stimulus money, the state will offer purchase incentives for energy-efficient appliances only to disabled Alaskans, rather than all residents. The funds will be available as rebates for Alaskans who toss their old, energy-hogging appliances and replace them with models that meet Energy Star criteria. Alaska’s share is being managed by the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., which worked closely with Gov. Sean Parnell’s administration to craft eligibility and terms and is the official state energy agency designated to manage American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Read more
October 13, 2009
From Bloomberg News: Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) — Billionaire George Soros, looking to address the “political problem” of climate change, said he will invest $1 billion in clean-energy technology and donate $100 million to an environmental advisory group to aid policymakers. Soros, the founder of hedge fund Soros Fund Management LLC, announced the investment in Copenhagen on Oct. 10 at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate. The group is an international association made up of 430 newspapers from 150 countries. Read more
October 12, 2009
Nov. 10 deadline for those seeking funds
From AEA: (Anchorage) – The Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) is soliciting competitive grant applications from qualified applicants for renewable energy projects to be funded by the Alaska State Legislature.
In 2008, the Alaska Legislature established the Renewable Energy Fund and authorized AEA to administer the procedures for awarding the grants and distributing grant funds. AEA received more than 230 Round I and Round II applications which were thoroughly evaluated in accordance with the criteria set forth in the legislation. Following AEA’s recommendations, the 26th Legislature in the 2009 session approved 107 Round I and Round II renewable energy projects totaling $125 million.
AEA is seeking to recommend projects based on applications that clearly demonstrate a public benefit from the proposed project. From Round III applications received, AEA will make project recommendations to the Legislature for FY2011 funding.
AEA must receive Round III applications no later than 5:00 PM Tuesday, November 10, 2009.
The Request for Application (RFA), application forms and all contact information can be found on the web at www.akenergyauthority.org/RE_Fund-III.html. Applicants may also contact Renewable Energy Fund Grants Administrator Butch White by e-mail at re_fund@aidea.org, or telephone (907) 771-3048.
October 12, 2009
FROM KUCB Radio: The windy fall weather is providing electricity to some community members. Two new vertical wind turbines were recently installed in Unalaska. The vertical helix-shaped blades are designed to catch wind in all directions. Unlike horizontal turbines, they don’t require motors that can break or wear out to reorient them for rapidly changing wind directions. Helix Wind CEO Ian Gardner explained that wind can even be angled up or down and the unit will still produce power. “Because the blades spin on a vertical axis, whatever direction the wind comes from, it catches the blade scoops. With a propeller style unit it has to come from the front of the blades. If it comes in from any other angle, the blades won’t spin. That’s why the helix unit, because it takes it from every direction, is more beneficial.” Read more
October 12, 2009
A couple stories caught my eye over the weekend. In Irving, Texas, the city council approved switching to solar-powered LED street lights, according to a Dallas Morning News story. The story says the lights will save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars, don’t need direct sunlight to charge, and, once charged, can power the lights for up to six days. Meanwhile, Scientific American reports that in Maui – the land of nearly perpetual sun – there are plans to test new smart grid technology in the luxury resort of Wailea. Hawaii has set an ambitious goal to by 2030 have 70 percent of its energy come from renewable sources. The island state faces some hurdles in integrating that technology, but they also have some serious motivation as Hawaii remains the nation’s most fossil-fuel dependent state, with imports supplying about 90 percent of its power needs.
Also, who can pass up the Solar Decathlon going on this week in Washington D.C. Twenty teams from colleges and universities across the country are competing to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house. Check out some of the designs on the contest website here or go to their facebook page here.
http://www.facebook.com/DOESolarDecathlon
http://www.facebook.com/DOESolarDecathlon
October 12, 2009
From the Oregonian: For years, a big obstacle to sticking solar panels on your roof has been coming up with the cash for it, with costs for a modest set of panels starting about $18,000 a pop. SolarCity, which unveiled its residential solar program for Oregon homeowners Thursday, has a different approach: You get the panels for 10 years with no money down, instead paying SolarCity a rate for the electricity generated that’s about the same as what you would pay your electric utility anyway. Read more
October 11, 2009
This article on SmartGrid News.com is pretty technical and utility manager focused, but it’s the wave of the future as far as managing electrical grids go.
You’re not truly wealthy if you have a hoard of money locked up in a vault with no key. Likewise, utilities are not truly empowered if they have hoards of data locked up inside their intelligent devices. Every utility that has microprocessor-based devices and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) technology has access to an incredibly detailed historical record. That operational and nonoperational data describes virtually every function and event occurring in the generation, transmission, and distribution systems. Surprisingly, few utilities take advantage of this wealth of information. Why not? Many utilities don’t realize that (a) the data can be archived and (b) technology is already available to utilize that data. As a result, many utilities are short-changing their investment returns by failing to fully tap into the information from automated components and delivering it to decision makers. Read more
October 10, 2009
Another sign of the growth in the renewable energy field is this report from the triplepundit website: Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar visited Palm Springs, Calif., today to mark the official opening of a new Renewable Energy Coordination Office at the Bureau of Land Management Field Office there. In mid-January, the Department of the Interior directed the BLM to open these offices, or RECOs, in order to help expedite processing of the increased number of applications for renewable energy projects and associated transmission facilities on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The first RECO office opened in Nevada this summer. The offices are part of a larger effort to fast-track the development of renewable energy systems across public lands. Read more
