us senate energy committee passes $3.6bn electric vehicle bill

as part of a push from the administration to launch the widespread adoption of electric vehichles (ev), the bill will work to create infrastructure for charging stations at targeted cities across the us (wsj article). the goal of this infusion of capital is to support ev industry growth and market adoption to the tune of 50% of all domestic vehicles be electric by 2030. very interested to see how this rolls out and where the targeted cities will be.

photovoltaic performance in heavy japanese snow

well, we toured a city facility with 50kW of solar pv in ninohe, japan on a day with 100% cloud cover and 1" snow accumulation per hour.  needless to say, we experienced the painful example of the intermittence in generation that photovoltaics are subject to.  fortunately, on such days the tendency of wind is in greater likelihood and, therefore, can serve as a secondary generation source.

there are a number of large wind generators in iwate prefecture that provide self-sufficiency for their demand area and surplus consumption.  this surplus is sold back to conventional energy producers via the grid and is mandated by the japanese government to be paid to the renewable energy generator at 2x the going kilowatt hour rate.  in this case, a typical japanese kwh goes for roughly .20cents.  surplus renewable energy (re) generation is purchased by a utility company from the re owner at .40cents per kwh.  not bad, eh?  it incentivizes larger systems beyond self-sufficiency for a homeowner or business to install--helping to leverage a fledgling renewable energy tidal wave to the conventional power generation on the grid.  we'll see what happens...
 

ohayo gozamasu--good to meet you, renewable japan... (retrospective: week 1 of 5)

the professional renewable exchange team from colorado team's first week in japan has been tightly packed with site visits, information exchange, meeting with dignitaries and elected officials, and various meetings.

upon arriving in sendai city, miagi prefecture, japan, our colorado team has been on the move, nonstop.  our gracious and wonderful japanese hosts have set up a tight curriculum for our single focus exchange on renewable and sustainable industries, yet have orchestrated all the logistics to ensure that our travelling team is well-fed, rested, and able to be expedited to each location--so as we can remain focused on the goals of the exchange. domo arigato gozamasu!

our whirlwind exchange is nearing the end of the first intensive week.  during this time we have gained a strong overview of:

• city of morioka --green initiatives
• iwate prefecture --dedication to advancing green technologies
• kowai closed-loop biomass facility--creating energy from organic matter discards
• city of ninohe --green initiatives and solar installations
• iwate hospital --energy efficiency, green roof, and solar initiative
• kashiwadai hydro-electric power station --in-line small hydro facility generating 13,100kW in the three stations, interesting to note: facility on national park land and strong efforts to keep visual impairment of facilities from public eye
• green power kuzumaki --wind farm in kuzumaki
• kashiwadai kougen --biomass energy production for kougen facilities

thus far, take-aways from this experience have illustrated that there are a number of advances in renewable energy that the government and businesses of northeastern japan have taken.  a number of incentive programs for solar photovoltaic (pv) adoption, similar to those we have in the usa, have resulted in stimulating the purchase of systems for government buildings and beta model test applications.  they have an expressed roadblock in achieving economy of scale and targeted packaged programming to drive the residential solar pv market.

the biomass operations that we have seen have been modest in scale and have had a closed-loop application.  organic matter coming from the main farming facilities, being composted and digested for methane capture, transfer of methane to alternating current electricity, and reapplication of nutrient-rich soil amendment following the methane capture process.

the in-line hydro-electric facility was very impressive in it's attention to utilizing the kinesis of the river current and balancing the environmental degredation that can result from hydro facilities.  a large majority of the in-line system was masked by facility design to blend in to the natural environment and conduit is largely underground and, therefore, unseen by the national park visitors the facilities are housed within.

our travelling colorado renewable energy team looks forward to continuing our intensive focus in the coming weeks.  

electric vehicles--what policies do we need to stimulate the industry?

new report released on policy needs and industry drivers (no pun intended) to build electric vehicle (ev) market in the us.

specifically looks at midwestern us states and makes direct recommendations to advancing the industries to foster this emerging market.

google not going to censor searches in china any longer

google vp drummond (no, not from diff'rent strokes fame), announced on the google blog yesterday that the giant search engine would no longer be restricting and censoring google searches on google.cn, as previously mandated by the chinese government.

i feel that this is a bold step in the right direction for the california-based controller of information. a few years back, when google launched operations in china and announced they would be restricting search hit content to appease the country's government, i was quite troubled--morally and ethically. i believe that information is power and people should have access to virtually unbound information. to me, it is a basic human right.

i am pleased to see g. taking a stand and a turn back in the direction of the higher moral road of freedom of information. three cheers.

cap and trade--the basics

good video on basics of "cap and trade."  made by same group who produced "the story of stuff."

copenhagen online conversation

the new york times is hosting an online conversation on the climate change debate and the international conference on global warming being held dec. 7-18 in copenhagen. you can participate here.

dncc

the democratic national committee convention will be held just down the road, in denver, this election year. this event will prove to be an historical milestone that will be referenced much like turning point hopeful leaders of the past, such as jfk, took their nominations and charged ahead full-force to the general election. excitement about the impending event is electrifying the dry colorado air.