Rio +20

This week world leaders met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20), to re-commit and strategize international efforts towards sustainability. The goals of the conference were to: reduce poverty, advance social equity, and ensure environmental protection. 

The outcome of the conference has been widely debated, some finding the results as a positive step forward, others feeling that the commitments weren't enough. Either way the conference did bring in $513 billion in commitments and pledges to achieve the international goals through green economy policies, practices and initiatives. 

Click on the embedded links for a sample of some of the responses after the summit, both positive and negative. You can also learn more about the conference at the official Rio +20 site

All Carbon Cell Could Mean Big Changes for PV Panels

Conventional silicon based solar cells can capture a lot of light- but there is a lot they can't capture as well. Traditional cells cannot capture the near-infrared region of the spectrum- which accounts for almost 40% of the solar energy reaching the Earth's surface. Imagine how efficient a solar photovoltaic panel could be if we didn't lose 40% of that energy?!

That is precisely what Michael Strano, the Charles and Hilda Roddey Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and his team imagined. And they have made some big discoveries! They recently developed a new all-carbon solar cell by combining carbon nanotubes and C60, otherwise known as buckyballs. It's the first all-carbon photovoltaic cell of its kind, and was made possible by recent advancements in large scale production of purified carbon nanotubes. Unlike earlier iterations, this new all carbon pv cell appears to be stable in air, a big feat, for use in PV panel technology. The carbon based cell is transparent to visible light, so it could potentially be overlaid on conventional solar cells, allowing a PV panel that can harness almost all of the energy sunlight is producing.

The first attempts to create this highly efficient panel haven't been overwhelming successful, they have an energy conversion efficiency of about -0.1%. But the research is on the right path. And the game changing technology is just around the corner. If you want to read all about this research- it will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal of Advanced Materials. You can also read MIT's summary and more technical details of the research here. 

International Collaboration

Jon Woodhead over at the Guardian wrote a nice piece this week about successful collaborations of Governments, NGOs and leading companies teaming up together to promote sustainable energy. Woodhead points out the massive commitments the international community has made towards providing access to modern affordable energy. As he say as he says “providing universal energy access by 2030 is estimated to increase global energy demand by 179m tonnes of oil equivalent with 54% of this increase based on fossil fuels.”

But what if that new demand was met with renewable energy? Woodhead points to the UK based organization SolarAid which is using solar light to reach unelectrified communities. Read Woodhead’s whole article, Joining forces to achieve sustainable energy for all, to learn more about the global goal of providing modern affordable energy to everyone and the cutting edge collaborations that are working towards fulfilling that heroic commitment.

Schools Saved by the Sun

According to Jim Carlton's article in the Wall Street Journal The Enlightened Classroom, more than 500 k-12 schools in 43 states have installed solar panels, thus far. For these schools, renewable energy is serving as a job saver for teachers, a cost reducer for school districts and a hands-on instructor for students. In an age where saving money is invaluable to school disctricts, solar power could be the solution for which we've been looking!

"[Solar power] will have the most impact in our society, because it will put money back into more teachers and expand education."  - Rhone Resch, president and chief executive officer of the Solar Energy Industries Association.

In many places solar power is cheaper than traditional electricity. In California, for instance, solar power costs 11-12 cents per kilowatt-hour, whereas retail power is about 17-24 cents per kilowatt-hour. The cheaper electricity offers schools an opportunity to cut costs without cutting programs or teachers.

Schools are also embracing these solar panel systems as additional lessons in science, and renewable energy. At Rosa Parks Elementary school in Berkeley, California, students race solar powered cars, operate a solar powered decorative fountain and participate in an annual solar fair.

Read about more examples of schools saving money and students learning about renewable energy in this article.

Community Collaboration for Solar Low Income Housing

A community in Colorado used a mix of local, utility and federal support to apply PV systems to a low-income housing program. The project, the Whittier Affordable Housing Project (WAHP), built 30 affordable housing rentals across 12 buildings  with solar PV systems. The systems used were relatively small, 1.88 kW systems, but they were able to offset 85% of the occupants energy usage. The WAHP also included a PV installation training and education program for low income residents. And through the savings from the PV installation, the project established and funds a neighborhood-wide energy conservation incentive program. This WAHP was made possible with a creative financing package, and the contribution of a variety of stakeholders. 

The first six years of the project a 3rd party tax paying investor will own the PV systems and benefit from the 30% investment tax credits and accelerated depreciation. The Northeast Denver Housing Center (NDHC) also received a grant of $107,500 from the Governor's Energy Office of Colorado which they immediately loaned to the investor. In turn, the investor will repay the loan with interest over the first six years. At the seventh year, the NDHC will buy out the investor using the loan and interest repayments and will then own the low income solar project. To make this feasible, the WAHP also received a $2/Watt upfront cash incentive from the local utility Xcel Energy. Xcel also agreed to purchase the Renewable Energy Credits at $0.11/ kWh for the first 20 years of the projects operation. And finally, the low income housing residents will pay $0.08 kWh for the energy produced by these systems. This combination of private and public investment made the project possible. NREL has published an illustration of this financing scheme that you can see here.

For more details about this project, click the link to read the case study titled Integrating photovoltaic systems into low income housing developments: a case study on the creation of a new residential financing model and low-income resident job training program.

NMTC potential in renewable project finance

Folks working in economic development might already be quite familiar with the new market tax credit program, that incentivizes development in low income areas. The NMTC program was created in 2000 by the US Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund to encourage economic investment and job creation in under served communities. The program helps projects attract investors and thus financing through a tax credit scheme. For those less familiar with the program, a clear and simple explanation can be found in this article on the NREL website.

Since its creation the program has provided 664 tax credits worth a total of $33 billion. According to this article, the program announced that it will issue another $3.5 billion of new credits with applications opening in April, with a June deadline.

But the NMTC program has application within the renewable energy world, as well.  The City of Denver, for instance, used NMTC's to finance 1 MW of solar photovoltaic installations on city buildings. And Salt Lake City incorporated NMTC allocations in a 1.65 MW PV project. Still, no renewable projects were selected to receive new market tax credits in 2011. And it seems that to date the program has only experienced limited application in the renewable world.  But as Bethany Speer points out in her article Worth the Trouble: New Market Tax Credits, they could have interesting relevance in renewable project financing as the 1603 grants dry up.

EU too generous with the term "green energy"

The fossil fuel lobby had a major victory in Europe, according the The Guardian. The EU has been circulating a plan that will label gas energy as a low-carbon energy and thus make it eligible for a portion of the funds intended for renewable energy research and development.

The proposed program circulating titled Horizon 2020, is an €80 billion program for research and innovation for 2014-2020. More than €30 billion of that is intended for renewable research and development, a laudable action. However the language of the document explicitly labels gas a low-carbon energy. Besides the obviously ineffective move of subsidizing one industry in its infancy while simultaneously subsidizing its mature competitor, the re-labeling of fossil fuels as "low carbon" could have much larger consequences. 

It is an especially contradictory move for the EU as they enter the Rio +20 this year with plans to promote renewable energy development globally. Read Fiona Harvey's article in The Guardian, "Gas rebranded as green energy by EU", for more details of this gas coup.

A community guide to collective purchasing of residential PV

Anyone who has shopped at Costco's or Sam's Club knows the power of buying goods in bulk. It can be considerably less expensive to buy tons of rolls of paper towels, than just one at a time. So why not apply these economies of scale to the solar world? Well one major obstacle is that the average residential consumer doesn't really need a large system or many small systems. Nor are they interested in a substantial financial investment. No, the average residential consumer wants a system to power their house. But Solarize Portland, brought together a number of potential buyers and found a way to access a bulk purchase price for each member. Homeowners could install systems on their homes, while accessing cost reduction of bulk purchases. After Solarize implemented their bulk purchase program the price for their members systems decreased by 30-35 percent. Quite a discount!

In May, Solarize Portland, released a Guidebook, outlining the tenets of such a purpose so that other communities could follow suit. The Solarize Guidebook: A Community Guide to Collective Purchasing of Residential PV Systems outlines the major market barriers communities face,  including high upfront costs, complex solar purchasing options, and customer inertia. And it provides best practices for a successful purchase, such as competitive contractor selection led by the community; community-led outreach and education; and making the purchase option a limited time offer.  The Guidebook is available here on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Website. 

DOC imposes tariffs on Chinese manufacturers

The U.S. Department of Commerce ruled in favor of American solar manufacturing companies, last week. As we noted earlier, a Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) requested that the U.S. Government provide protection from unfair business practices by Chinese renewable energy manufacturers. The DOC ruled in favor of the CASM on both the countervailing duties and the anti-dumping tariffs. Furthermore anti dumping rates were set at 31%. This ruling, however, has found opponents both within the American solar industry and the Chinese government. You can read one opposing view point here on Market Watch.

In the meantime, the wind industry won a favorable ruling from the DOC, imposing a duty on Chinese utility-scale wind towers of 19.87%. However, the ruling on the anti-dumping allegations is still pending. Read more in Steve Leone's article "DOC imposes tariffs on Chinese Wind Towers."