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A rooftop solar panel converts sunlight to electricity. In a new study, an expert describes progress toward an efficient and inexpensive method for storing and distributing solar energy in the home. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

New scientific discoveries are moving society toward the era of "personalized solar energy," in which the focus of electricity production shifts from huge central generating stations to individuals in their own homes and communities.

Home-scale electricity generation is the topic of a report by an international expert on solar energy published in the ACS' Inorganic Chemistry: "Chemistry of Personalized Solar Energy" . It describes a long-awaited, inexpensive method for solar energy storage that could help power homes and plug-in cars in the future while helping keep the environment clean.

Daniel Nocera explains that the global energy need will double by mid-century and triple by 2100 due to rising standards of living and world population growth.

Personalized solar energy - the capture and storage of solar energy at the individual or home level - could meet that demand in a sustainable way, especially in poorer areas of the world.

The report describes development of a practical, inexpensive storage system for achieving personalized solar energy. 

Fuel Cell Solar Energy

At its heart is an innovative catalyst that splits water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen that become fuel for producing electricity in a fuel cell. The new oxygen-evolving catalyst works like photosynthesis, the method plants use to make energy, producing clean energy from sunlight and water.

"Because energy use scales with wealth, point-of-use solar energy will put individuals, in the smallest village in the nonlegacy world and in the largest city of the legacy world, on a more level playing field," the report states.

SOURCE:

"Chemistry of Personalized Solar Energy"
Inorganic Chemistry

Community solar continues to attract a lot of attention as a means to expand participation in distributed solar energy generation.

Massachusetts New Metering

In the past year, Massachusetts has implemented a statewide neighborhood net metering program approved in 2008 legislation.

• Under the final rules, all net metered systems, including neighborhood net metered systems, may over-generate relative to on-site load.
• Regular net metered customers may either rollover credits in perpetuity or allocate excess generation credits to other customers of the same distribution utility.
• Neighborhood net metered customers must have a minimum of ten residential customers identified for distribution of excess generation credits and all customers served must be within the same municipality, ISO-New England's load zone, and service territory of one distribution utility.
• Regular net metered system credits are based on a fully bundled retail rate, excluding customer charges and a public goods charge.
• Neighborhood net metered system credits are based on the fully bundled rate minus the distribution portion and also exclude the customer charge and public goods charge.
• Excess generation credits are allocated as a dollar amount and are based on the rate class for which a host customer takes service.

A number of states continue to discuss community net metering programs in various contexts including California, Colorado, New Jersey and Washington.

Given the potential promise community solar programs offer in expanding solar markets and the intersection of community solar policies with net metering, IREC anticipates being involved in these states as they move forward with implementation. As part of those efforts, IREC has begun development of a community net metering model designed to incorporate the best practices of net metering within the larger framework of community solar.

SOURCE:  IREC 2009 Annual Report

The IREC declared that the most significant trend during the September 2008 - September 2009 period is a continued emphasis on solar energy in recent RPS adoptions and changes. Eleven states enacted or significantly modified standards; of those, seven states and DC included new provisions specific to solar energy.

In addition, five states made minor adjustments to their policies, of which two involved solar provisions.

• Missouri replaced (via ballot initiative) an existing renewables goal of 11% by 2020 with a standard of 15% by 2021, and included a provision mandating that at least 2% of the requirement come from solar energy (equivalent to 0.3% of retail sales in 2021).
• Illinois expanded its RPS to cover competitive sales and adopted a solar carve-out of 6% of the annual requirement from 2015 - 2025.
• And, in September 2009, California extended its RPS to 33% by 2020, via executive order.
• Both Oregon and Rhode Island adopted provisions relating to long-term contracts for solar energy resources, coupled with targets for solar that are outside the scope of each state's existing RPS.
  
• New Jersey approved long-awaited utility-administered solar renewable energy credit (SREC) contracting programs in connection with its existing solar carve-out.
  

SOURCE:  2009 IREC Annual Report

The event will take place in San Diego, CA, September 14-16, 2009 at the Marriott Del Mar.  As a sponsor of this event, I am pleased to be able to invite you to attend the summit at a 33% discount.

You can register on the event website at http://www.infocastinc.com/utility09 or by calling Infocast directly at 818-888-4444.  To take advantage of this special offer, just enter discount code 097112  (to receive 33% off).You may either enter the discount code toward the end of online registration or mention the code to Infocast's customer service representative.  This offer does not apply to individuals already registered.

About the Utility Scale Solar Summit

Utility Scale Solar 2009 is the business hub where decision-makers--from project developers, technology providers, utilities, investors, lenders, EPC contractors and other industry players--who are rapidly expanding the utility scale project pipeline come to work out how to move these projects over the finish line.

This is a great chance to Network with over 150 Dealmakers from these organizations:

• 8minutenergy Renewables, LLC
• Abound Solar
• Acciona Solar Power Inc.
• Advanced Green Power Solutions
• Albiasa Corporation
• Black & Veatch
• Boeing
• Borrego Solar
• Borrego Solar Systems Inc.
• Bright Source Energy Inc.
• BrightSource
• Bureau of Land Management
• Chadbourne & Parke LLP
• Chico Electric
• CoBank
• Confoe
• CP Energy Group, LLC
• DAI Management Consultants
• Dewey & LeBoeuf, LLP
• Dexia Credit Local
• Duke Energy
• Edgewood Management, LLC
• Edison Misssion Energy
• EMCORE
• Energy 5.0 LLC
• Enfinity Corp
• enXco Development Corp.
• Esolar
• Eurus Energy Japan
• Fidelity National Title
• Foley & Lardner LLP
• GE Energy
• Gemini Solar Development Co.
• groSolar
• Helio Micro Utilities
• Helio Power
• Hunt Construction Group
• Hunton & Williams LLP
• Iberdrola Renewables
• K&L Gates, LLP
• Keenan Development Associates
• Landesbank Hessen Thuringen (Helaba)
• Maco Tech, Inc.
• Marathon Capital
• Mortenson Construction
• New Energy Finance
• NextEnergy
• NRG Energy, Inc.
• O2Energies, Inc.
• Orrick
• Pacific Gas & Electric
• Pacific Valley, LLC
• Rabobank
• Rabobank International
• Renewable Energy Week
• RMT, Inc.
• RMT, Inc.
• Robert W. Baird & Co.
• Rowths Soare
• Ryan Russell Ogden & Seltzer PC
• Sempra
• Senior Vice presiden of North American Markets eSOLAR
• Signet Solar Inc.
• Siliken Renewable Energy, Corp.
• Simple Solar
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP
• Skyfuel
• SMA America, Inc.
• SMUD
• Solar Energy Initiatives
• Solar Millennium, LLC
• Solar Power Partners, Inc.
• Solar Reserve LLC
• Solar Turbines
• Solar Turbines Incorporated
• SPG Solar
• Starpoint Solar
• Starwoof Energy Group Global, LLC
• Stewart Title Guaranty
• Stirling Energy Systems (SES)
• Stoel Rives LLP
• Sunergy Systems
• Sunpower
• Suntech America
• Suntech America, Inc.
• Swinerton Green
• TD Banknorth Project Finance
• The Boeing Company
• Trina Solar
• Triple M Development
• Turner Industries
• Unirac, Inc
• United Rural Development Organisation
• United Solar Ovonic
• Wanzek Construction
• White Construction Inc
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
• Xantrex Technology Inc

Solar Decathelon
October 9-18, 2009
National Mall in Washington

The U.S. Department of Energy sponsors the international Solar Decatehlon and this year's participants in DOE's 2009 Solar Decathlon will exhibit a range on new innovations in solar PV and solar thermal technologies -- as well as green building. 

The Solar Decathlon competition challenges students to design and develop houses that can provide their own energy from the sunlight - a clean, renewable source of energy.  

The twenty collegiate teams from the United States, Canada, Spain and Germany will each build a completely self-sufficient solar powered house, showcasing energy-efficient amenities and smart home systems that provide reduced carbon emissions without sacrificing the comfort of modern conveniences.

 "The Solar Decathlon highlights President Obama's goal of improving our national security and transforming the economy by using off-the-shelf, clean energy technologies to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil, reduce our carbon emissions, and protect the environment," said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.  "As part of the building competition, the next generation of green engineers, architects, designers, and professionals gain valuable experience that will help them to lead America toward a clean energy future."

DOE's Solar Decathlon, which takes place October 9-18 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., consists of 10 individual contests that evaluate the teams' skills in architecture, home design, and communications. The homes constructed by the teams must produce enough electricity and hot water from solar panels to perform all the normal functions of a home -- from powering the lights; to cooking, washing clothes and dishes; to powering home electronics; and maintaining a comfortable temperature.  This year, a new net-metering contest will evaluate each home's ability to produce its own power.  The competition focuses on cutting edge energy efficient and renewable energy innovation while providing a unique green jobs training opportunity for each of the students.

The start of the competition marks the culmination of more than two years of hard work by the student teams.  The twenty teams will assemble their homes on the National Mall in early October.   Following the Opening Ceremony on October 8, the homes will be open for public tours October 9-13 and 15-18.

This is DOE's fourth Solar Decathlon competition since premiering in 2002 with subsequent competitions in 2005 and 2007.  On average, each Solar Decathlon competition has drawn more than 100,000 visitors to the National Mall.

The colleges and universities competing in the 2009 Solar Decathlon are:

• Cornell University
• Iowa State University
• The Ohio State University
• Penn State
• Rice University
• Team Alberta (University of Calgary, SAIT Polytechnic, Alberta College of Art + Design, Mount Royal College)
• Team Boston (Boston Architectural College, Tufts University)
• Team California (Santa Clara University, California College of the Arts)
• Team Missouri (Missouri University of Science and Technology,  University of Missouri)
• Team Ontario/BC (University of Waterloo, Ryerson University, Simon Fraser University)
• Technische Universität Darmstadt
• Universidad de Puerto Rico
• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
• The University of Arizona
• University of Illinois
• University of Kentucky
• University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• University of Minnesota
• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Virginia Tech

The Solar Decathlon is sponsored by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, in partnership with its National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which manages the event.  For more information, please visit http://www.solardecathlon.org/.

Energy Productivity is higher in California than the rest of the country. While gains were similar from 2005 to 2006, the gap in energy productivity between California and the rest of the U.S. remains with California's energy productivity 68% higher than the U.S.

Measured as the ratio of energy consumed (inputs) to GDP (economic output), growth in energy productivity equates to more dollars of GDP generated per unit of energy consumed.

In 2006, California produced $2.17 of GDP for every 10,000 BTU of energy consumed. In comparison, the rest of the United States produced $1.29 for every 10,000 BTU of energy consumed.

Therefore, the difference in energy productivity between California and the rest of the U.S. is about 88 cents per 10,000 BTU of energy consumed.

The CALIFORNIA GREEN INNOVATION INDEX (2009) provides insight on a California culture that includes three decades of ambitious state environmental and energy policies, putting California on a path to energy independence and one of the lowest per capita carbon footprints in the nation, all the while growing one of the most vigorous economies in the world.

Solar is one of the renewable energies leading the new green economy in California with the Million Solar Roofs program, extensive solar PV installation training infrastructure development, and utility scale solar PV and solar thermal installations to meet California's demand for renewable energy and mandates in AB 32 and related greenhouse gas legislation.