When coal ash is disposed of in dry, lined impoundments it is said to be safe. But it’s often dumped into wet ponds – there are nearly 500 of them across the country – and in those cases the ash could pose health risks to the nearby communities.

Jim Roewer, one of the top lobbyists for the power industry, told 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl that nearly half of the electricity in the United States is generated by coal.

“Coal’s gonna be around for a long time,” he said.

“We really can’t get rid of coal,” Stahl remarked.

“We shouldn’t get rid of coal,” Roewer said.

“Well, should or shouldn’t, we can’t. And coal makes waste. Would you say that the industry has done a good job of disposing of the coal ash waste?” Stahl asked.

“We can do better,” Roewer said.

Asked if that means no, Roewer told Stahl, “Well, we had a Kingston spill.”

That’s Kingston, Tenn., where last December a giant retention pool of coal ash buckled under the weight of five decades of waste.

A billion gallons of muck shot into the Emory River like a black tsunami, engulfing homes, uprooting trees, and throwing fish out of the water.

Residents woke up to an apocalyptic moonscape of “ashbergs” everywhere. The spill was 100 times larger than the Exxon Valdez and it was all coal ash.

Stahl had never heard of coal ash before the Kingston incident.

“Wasn’t a problem,” Roewer remarked.

“Well, it was a problem, we just didn’t know,” Stahl replied.

The problem is: where do you put all that stuff? The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) dumped up to 1,000 tons of coal ash every day into a wet pond near the plant, slowly amassing a waste-cake 60 feet high. Some of the ingredients, according to the EPA, were arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, cadmium and other toxic metals.

“You know, some people say that this is a poisoned meadow,” Stahl said to Leo Francendese, an environmental “Mr. Fix It,” sent by the EPA to clean up this mess.

“In the wrong circumstances coal ash is dangerous. Breathing it, that’s dangerous,” Francendese replied.

The summer heat can bake the ash into a fine talc-like powder that can wreak havoc on your lungs.

So while the government has never formally labeled coal ash a hazardous waste, it’s being treated as such at the Kingston site.

As the 60 Minutes team left the site, they were scrubbed clean, as was their car.

Francendese explained that every vehicle that exits the site must go through the cleaning process.

Gary Topmiller lives right on the river. He had a front row seat when the spill covered his dock.

“Now what the doctors did tell me was, ‘Get out of there.’ And I said, ‘I don’t have any place to go,’” Topmiller told Stahl.

Via CBS

They’ve teamed up with some of the best-known venture capital firms, including Emerald Technology Ventures, Foundation Capital, KPCB and Rockport Capital, to help back the most promising ideas.

Before you leave our site, please vote by visiting our Ecomagination page. This could be just what we need to begin the New Deal of the 21st century. Thank you very much and we hope you’ll enjoy our website.

Introduction

This year (2010) alone, we’ve lost lives in coal mine and oil rig disasters and gas line explosions. The Gulf of Mexico has become a nightmare: lives and jobs lost – ways of life gone. What (more) is it going to take to drive us to wean ourselves off of our dependency on fossil fuels?

Years ago, when the phrase “Global Warming” began gaining popularity, we started batting around the idea of replacing asphalt and concrete surfaces with solar panels that could be driven upon. We thought of the “black box” on airplanes: We didn’t know what material that black box was made of, but it seemed to be able to protect sensitive electronics from the worst of airline crashes.

Suppose we made a section of road out of this material and housed solar cells to collect energy, which could pay for the cost of the panel, thereby creating a road that would pay for itself over time. What if we added LEDs to “paint” the road lines from beneath, lighting up the road for safer night time driving? What if we added a heating element in the surface (like the defrosting wire in the rear window of our cars) to prevent snow/ice accumulation in northern climates? The ideas and possibilities just continued to roll in and the Solar Roadway project was born.

In 2009, we received a contract from the Federal Highway Administration to build the first ever Solar Road Panel prototype. During the course of its construction, we learned many lessons and discovered new and better ways to approach this project. These methods and discoveries are discussed throughout this website. Please enjoy and send us any questions that you may have.

The heart of the Solar Roadway™ is the

Solar Road Panel™

The Solar Roadway is a series of structurally-engineered solar panels that are driven upon. The idea is to replace all current petroleum-based asphalt roads, parking lots, and driveways with Solar Road Panels that collect energy to be used by our homes and businesses. Our ultimate goal is to be able to store excess energy in or alongside the Solar Roadways. This renewable energy replaces the need for the current fossil fuels used for the generation of electricity. This, in turn, cuts greenhouse gases literally in half.

Each individual panel consists of three basic layers:

Road Surface Layer – translucent and high-strength, it is rough enough to provide great traction, yet still passes sunlight through to the solar collector cells embedded within, along with LEDs and a heating element. It is capable of handling today’s heaviest loads under the worst of conditions. Weatherproof, it protects the electronics layer beneath it.

Electronics Layer Contains a microprocessor board with support circuitry for sensing loads on the surface and controlling a heating element. No more snow/ice removal and no more school/business closings due to inclement weather. The on-board microprocessor controls lighting, communications, monitoring, etc. With a communications device every 12 feet, the Solar Roadway is an intelligent highway system.

Base Plate LayerLayer – While the electronics layer collects energy from the sun, it is the base plate layer that distributes power (collected from the electronics layer) and data signals (phone, TV, internet, etc.) “downline” to all homes and businesses connected to the Solar Roadway. Weatherproof, it protects the electronics layer above it.

Scott presented the Solar Roadways at a TEDx Talk in Sacramento on April 16th. He was given 18 minutes for “The talk of his life” and it went great!

Part One:

Part Two:

Overview

When multiple Solar Road Panels are interconnected, the intelligent Solar Roadway is formed. These panels replace current driveways, parking lots, and all road systems, be they interstate highways, state routes, downtown streets, residential streets, or even plain dirt or gravel country roads. Panels can also be used in amusement parks, raceways, bike paths, parking garage rooftops, remote military locations, etc. Any home or business connected to the Solar Roadway (via a Solar Road Panel driveway or parking lot) receives the power and data signals that the Solar Roadway provides. The Solar Roadway becomes an intelligent, self-healing, decentralized (secure) power grid.

The images below illustrate how the west can power the east in the evening and the east can power the west in the morning hours.

North America

Europe

Imagine a world-wide system where the “lit” half of the world is always powering the “dark” half of the world!

Everyone has power. No more power shortages, no more roaming power outages, no more need to burn coal (50% of greenhouse gases). Less need for fossil fuels and less dependency upon foreign oil. Much less pollution. How about this for a long term advantage: an electric road allows all-electric vehicles to recharge anywhere: rest stops, parking lots, etc. They would then have the same range as a gasoline-powered vehicle. Internal combustion engines would become obsolete. Our dependency on oil would come to an abrupt end.

It’s time to upgrade our infrastructure – roads and power grid – to the 21st century.

Read about Solar Roadways in the new (July 2010) issue of Popular Science magazine.

Solar Roadways is a proud participant in GE’s Ecomagination Challenge: a contest created to find new ways of improving our energy grid with renewable energy. Visitors to the site are asked to vote for the best ideas. We’d appreciate your vote for the Solar Roadways entries (all three!).

Click here for the original article

“2009 marked a year of transformation for the U.S. solar market,” said Craig Stevens, president of Solarbuzz. “Changes in the roles of utility companies, new market entrants, lower cost PV modules from Asia and new direct-to-market approaches became more prevalent. As a result, solar companies doing business in the States will need to adapt quickly to these challenges while also being responsive to frequent adjustments in the fragmented incentive and regulatory environment.”

California is still driving the solar power market in the U.S., accounting for 53% of on-grid installations in 2009 and maintaining this position into 2010. While SunPower remained leader for PV installed, Chevron Energy and SPG Solar moved up to the number position in California in 2009. Installers REC Solar, SolarCity and Real Goods Solar led the residential field.

The large number of state policy initiatives has created a fragmented regulations and incentive environment. However, states are doing their job of stimulating local markets. The dispersed funding sources mean the U.S. market does not does not carry the same level of risk compared to countries driven by a single national policy. Federal incentives are therefore due to play a much larger role in stimulating demand into 2012. Solarbuzz forecasts the market will grow to between 4.5-5.5GW depending on this given scenario. This is an average annual growth rate of 30% per annum.

The U.S. order book for photovoltaic systems currently stands at 12GW.

via http://www.pv-tech.org/

Underwriters Laboratory (UL),  the organization known for certifying products like dishwashers and light bulbs, has recently entered the practitioner certification arena with UL University.

As competition comes to the credentialing space, what does that mean for the practitioner?  Whose standard will be recognized?

“It’s a very chaotic and confusing market out there,” says Weissman. “I want to make sure that we have safe competent workers on the roof and that the public isn’t confused about who’s doing what under what kind of competencies.”

Ezra Auerbach, Executive Director of NABCEP, feels that using an existing certification program is the more efficient way to go.

IREC’s Jane Weissman, NABCEP’s Ezra Auerbach, and UL University’s Brad Smock, square off in a roundtable discussion about this topic at ASES 10 in Phoenix. Listen to the podcast

USSI Continuation of Point

Ray Johnson, Founder of the US Solar Institute takes a different approach and welcomes UL into the mix. US Solar Institute is licensed by the Florida Department of Education, the first NABCEP training center in south Florida, a member of IREC and the US Green Building Council. The US Solar Institute’s program is the most comprehensive solar diploma program in the state of Florida if not the country. At USSI they simply provide an exceptional hands on solar energy apprenticeship as part of earning their diploma.

Having earned a USSI diploma means a student has passed a rigorous solar training course including an on the job solar training apprenticeship or internship through their PV-401 course. “This is how the unions have operated for decades” states Ray Johnson. “You will be hard pressed to find someone who does not believe a union card carrying master electrician is not at the top of their game, so why should the solar industry be any different”

Ray continues to say “To be a state certified solar contractor in Florida you must have over four years of proven experience” (three years of that can be substituted with an Engineering Degree from a credited 4 year university). Ray agrees with this by saying “Again, you will be hard pressed to find someone who has a CV license (Florida’s state certified solar contractor license) that is not highly qualified for solar as well. While I agree NABCEP is at least something an employer can use as a gauge for a new hire, it does not make sense that a NABCEP Certified Installer should function as a contractor in unregulated state.

Anyone can study and pass a test, but that does not mean they are qualified to be a contractor and I applaud UL for stepping up and entering this game. After all, they are only one of the most respected institutes for public safety the United States has ever known. I agree that it can be a chaotic and confusing market, but the addition of UL into the mix can only improve the situation. While they do certify dishwashers, they also certify the components used in every solar installation across the world.”

Welcome UL University – the standard in electrical safety and protection for over a century!

The course follows the Institute for Sustainable Power Quality® (ISPQ) standards and the NABCEP® photovoltaic learning objectives and task analysis. The course focuses on real-world, site-specific knowledge. Hands-on training covers site surveys; mechanical and electrical design, installation for both Grid Tied and Off Grid systems, safety and construction issues; tool and test equipment use; best-practice construction skills; national code and local inspection issues.

The 40 hour course consists of five days of training, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. each day, and qualifies those who complete the course to sit for the NABCEP PV Entry Level Exam, given on Friday evening at the conclusion of the class. Tuition for the training is $1,995.

For more information or to register for the course:

Visit our websites:
www.USSolarInstitute.com/
www.btvi.org.bs/

Call us at:
(States) 305-744-3445
(Bahamas) 242-394-4608

“PACE is a no-cost to taxpayers, no-mandate, consumer opt-in approach to bringing clean energy technology to homeowners and businesses which will help create jobs for Floridians at a critical time when we are working to get Florida’s economy back on track,” said Leader Hasner. “Often, the biggest hurdle homeowners face is coming up with the upfront costs to retrofit their homes with energy improvements. I commend all the members of the committee for working together to help homeowners finance the upfront costs for energy improvements. This commonsense, innovative policy initiative will remove this significant burden for homeowners and save them money.”

“PACE is an exciting option which comes at the right time as we focus on creating jobs and increasing savings for property owners,” stated Chairman Precourt. “At a time when we must seriously promote smart energy consumption while providing Floridians who wish to make their homes more energy efficient relief from the upfront costs, PACE presents a viable and commonsense option.”

In today’s economy, few homeowners and commercial property owners have the upfront capital to invest in retrofitting their homes or buildings to take advantage of the advances in clean energy technologies and the possible cost savings obtained from those improvements. Improvements may include storm proofing of homes. PACE bonds present an innovative, no-taxpayer subsidy approach to financing those individual clean energy projects on a large scale.

This article was originally posted here, by coolerplanet.

The cooperative already has 552 of the PV panels operating in Marathon, and another 120 on Crawl Key. And now the cooperative is offering its members a chance to lease one of those existing panels for $999 each.

A traditional residential photovoltaic installation runs $10,000 or more, and the cooperative is hoping some of its eco-minded members will be attracted to the more affordable adopt-a-panel program, officially dubbed Simple Solar.

The money the cooperative raises through the lease program will be used to explore other energy sources — more solar, perhaps, or wind or water turbines.

Chief Executive Officer Scott Newberry’s hook is that over the course of the next 25 years, customers will get a monthly credit — about $3 per panel now — for the full retail value of the electricity their panel generates. And with good odds that electricity costs will increase at least the 3 percent a year that Newberry estimates, customers could see a $1,280 return in that time.

“This program was designed for environmentally-conscious individuals who want an easy, affordable alternative to installing their own renewable energy source,” Newberry says. “By leasing our panels, you instantly add solar energy to your home without any hassles.”

The cooperative serves residents and businesses from Marathon to Key Largo. Members who lease a panel will receive its serial number and location, and that panel’s production will be credited to their account for 25 years.

What members won’t get is a panel on their roof, Newberry’s quick to point out, because it’s not that kind of lease. The cooperative’s already spent a pretty penny installing its panels in two spots in the Middle Keys, and they’re not moving.

The Simple Solar program was unveiled in February, and the cooperative’s touting it in advertising and on its website.

“FKEC is proud to be exploring green energy solutions, and we really see our cooperative solar farm as a first step in the right direction,” Newberry says.

This article was originally posted here by iStockAnalyst

Several of the Nations Christian Leaders had 5 days to set up and arrange this event, Pastor Rene Joseph of Loving Hands Ministry was one of the head leaders and over 1 million Haitians attended this epic event.

Of course many of you will choose to earn the USSolar Institute’s solar professional diploma (and certificate) to clearly differentiate yourself as the best.  To achieve this distinction you must complete PV-201, PV-301 & PV-401.  You will earn the opportunity to be placed on the job (PV-401) for at least two weeks installing real world commercial solar systems under the supervision of some of Florida’s most qualified and respected engineers, manufacturers and contractors.

That’s right Real. World. Training.  Come install on permitted projects with us!

Also, we have greatly expanded our web site ( www.ussolarinstitute.com ) and hope you enjoy the new look.  As a USSI fan feel free to register to be included in our monthly newsletter.  Of course you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter too.

Lastly, please enjoy our blog.  We have asked some of the brightest solar scientists, researchers, manufacturers, contractors, educators, writers, engineers and architects to monitor and add their viewpoints on the latest news in solar.   Please help by sharing your thoughts, ideas and solutions.  Together we will create the industries finest knowledge & resource data base.  If you have a question about solar that you just cannot find elsewhere USSolar Institute will get the answers for you.