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1. The Onion's Obligatory Green Issue, Ridiculous Biofuel List
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2. San Francisco Solar Program Ready to Give You Money
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3. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of $7 Gas
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4. Ausra Switches on Las Vegas Solar Manufacturing Plant
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5. The Daily Sprout
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6. NatSemi Finds a Place in the Sun Industry
The Onion's Obligatory Green Issue, Ridiculous Biofuel List
Katie Fehrenbacher - Energy
Stop the presses! It’s Tuesday morning and we love the Onion, so we feel obliged to point out this ridiculously awesome list of biofuel products in the Onion’s Obligatory Green Issue (the list is an oldie but a goodie). “Mentholanol” could get scarce if this legislation ever goes through, and there’s a funny-because-it’s-true take on ethanol: a “corn-based gas additive included at the insistence of corn-farming uncle.” It’s so stupid, we love it. OK, now back to the news.
Image courtesy of the Onion.
San Francisco Solar Program Ready to Give You Money
Katie Fehrenbacher - Policy
Today’s the first day that San Francisco residents can start applying for those thousands of dollars in rebates for their rooftop solar systems through one of the country’s most aggressive municipal solar programs. Residents can apply for the incentives of between $3,000 and $6,000 and businesses can apply to get up to $10,000.
We checked in with Wade Crowfoot, director of climate protection initiatives with the mayor’s office, this morning, and he said the city’s program is on track and ready. We’ll add in more links and directions of how to apply throughout the day.
Several weeks ago, the San Francisco board of supervisors finally approved the Solar Energy Incentive Program after more than five months of politicking. Soon after, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signed the program into law. The program has been greenlighted for 10 years and has an annual budget of $3 million dollars.
Of course, solar installers see the city’s program as a boon to their business. Akeena Solar is celebrating today’s launch with a new solar panel designed for flat rooftops. We’ll check out the installation event later this afternoon.
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of $7 Gas
Kevin Kelleher - Energy
Back when gas was $2 a gallon, we didn’t sweat it. Our biggest concern at the pump was whether we remembered to check the oil. At $3 a gallon, we started to grouse. At $4, we can all agree, it hurts.
So imagine what it would be like at $7 a gallon, or three and a half times the price at the beginning of last year. If you can’t bear to, somebody else has. His name is Jeff Rubin and he’s spelled it out in a report he wrote at CIBC World Markets.
Unless something gives, Rubin argues, oil will average $200 a barrel in 2010, which translates into $7-a-gallon gas. To keep it nasty, brutish and short, here’s what that means for U.S. residents:
- Stagflation;
- Driving like Europeans (15 percent less mileage, more public transportation — except Europe has pleasant public transportation);
- Market share for SUVs/vans/light trucks cut in half; vehicle sales collapse to early 80s levels;
- 10 million fewer cars on the road; one in five homes lose their second car;
- Hundreds of thousands of auto-related jobs disappear;
- Spending more per month on gas than food; diminished purchasing power compared to consumers in Europe or Japan.
Unlike the oil shocks of the 70s, which were probably steeper in terms of inflation, the rise in gas prices this time is driven by broad fundamental forces that aren’t going away. As Rubin says,
Even the temporary 1979-1981 oil shock led to huge changes in driving behaviour. The prospect of a permanent price regime of $200 per barrel oil should trigger changes that will dwarf the adjustment we saw nearly thirty years ago.
In other words, you may have bought a Datsun in 1981 and traded it in for a Ford pickup in 1993. But if you have to ride the bus in 2009, you may well be riding it in 2020.
Now the ultimate outcomes don’t sound so bad to some — fewer cars, less pollution. But the transition is going to spread the pain around to everyone. The alternative energies that this blog chronicles will eventually ease much of this pain, but more and more voices are echoing how bad that it will be in the interim.
Rubin saves his direst analysis for the report’s end: Oil will follow housing in a devastating one-two punch. An ailing housing market leaves rates low, which means more money greasing the economy. So it may not feel as bad as it is right now. But high oil forces the Fed to raise rates — an excruciating treatment for a painful condition.
The most important reason for thinking that the major hit to growth lies ahead rests on the response in monetary policy. As a number of prominent economists, including Ben Bernanke himself, have pointed out, the impact of some of the biggest oil shocks were exacerbated by aggressive Fed tightening…The U.S. economy has managed to avoid feeling the full brunt of oil prices over the last few years, but 2009 will be the year that its luck runs out.
Even now, at $4-a-gallon gas, Rubin may sound like a carbon-fuel Cassandra. But his logic is persuasive throughout the report, which should make us wonder how we’ll adjust if his outlook proves to be true.
Ausra Switches on Las Vegas Solar Manufacturing Plant
Katie Fehrenbacher - Startups
Tesla wasn’t the only cleantech startup with big news about manufacturing on Monday; solar thermal startup Ausra said yesterday that it had turned on the reflector line at its Las Vegas solar equipment manufacturing facility. And like at Tesla’s media event, which was attended by California’s governor and state treasurer, Ausra’s plant opening featured politicians, too: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). (The photo is of Reid and Ausra CEO Bob Fishman pushing the production line button).
So in one day two neighboring states held media events lauding the green jobs created by manufacturing plants from promising cleantech startups. In Las Vegas, Reid said:
“This facility will help position our state as the premiere place to invest in these new technologies. As the factory expands operations and we continue to invest in clean energy, we’ll create thousands of good-paying jobs and keep our outdoors pristine for future generations.”
Ausra’s plant will employee 50 and make solar equipment such as reflectors and absorber tubes, which will then be used at the solar thermal plants that Ausra plans to be built in the desert. The equipment will also be used for customers that will buy solar thermal power for manufacturing operations, like food processing and paper manufacturing.
The startup’s milestone also comes on the heels of the decision by the Bureau of Land Management to put a freeze on all new applications for solar projects built on public lands. In a New York Times article last week a spokesperson from Ausra said the bureau’s decision “doesn't make any sense," and that it “could completely stunt the growth of the industry."
Ausra is backed by high-profile investors Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, among others, and the startup has raised over $70 million.
The Daily Sprout
Katie Fehrenbacher - Misc
Another Weak Point for Biofuels, Weather: “The nation's increasing dependence on crops for motor fuel adds another level of vulnerability from the weather.” — New York Times.
Wind Too Reliable for British Power?: A report funded by the Renewable Energy Foundation and printed in the journal Energy Policy says wind power could be too unreliable to support U.K. energy — Telegraph.
Nuclear France: France emits half the greenhouse gas per unit of GDP of the U.S. thanks to its 59 nuclear reactors — Newsweek.
Greenpeace’s Latest Green Gradget Rankings: Check out Greenpeace’s green gadget ranking. Sony and Sony Ericsson score more than 5/10, while Nintendo and Microsoft are in the bottom — Greenpeace.
Virgin Green Fund Raises $200M: U.K’s Virgin Group has raised $199 million from two pension funds, CalPERS and Wolverhampton City Council — Financial Times via VentureBeat.
NatSemi Finds a Place in the Sun Industry
Kevin Kelleher - Energy
Solar panels are growing more efficient each year, but certain external factors continue to keep them from being as efficient as they could: They get dusty. Trees or adjacent buildings can cause shade and block sunlight. Leaves and other debris can stain the panels. Even mismatching the panels can pose a problem.
National Semiconductor (NSM), a chip maker traditionally more at home in markets for wireless handsets and industrial and testing equipment, sees in these problems an opportunity to expand into the growing photovoltaic industry. The company formally introduced on Monday a technology called SolarMagic, which it claims can recoup as much as 50 percent of solar systems’ output lost due to shade and debris. (CEO Brian Halla indicated in May such a technology would be coming.)
In a FAQ explaining the technology, the company said:
Today’s systems are limited by the weakest link, and one or two compromised panels can take down the entire string or array. This is somewhat similar to a section of Christmas lights that go out when one light fails. However, with SolarMagic technology, if one panel in a solar installation is shaded, dirty, or otherwise compromised, that panel is allowed to produce what little energy it can while the other panels continue to operate at their full potential.
National Semi is pitching the technology to solar installers first, with hopes of reaching out to manufacturers later. One installer, California-based REgrid Power, said in a release from National Semi that SolarMagic improved energy output in shaded systems by 44 percent and by 12 percent overall.
This isn’t National Semi first push into energy efficiency; in May the company announced an initiative aimed at helping companies save on energy costs through systems that generate less heat and rely on longer-lived batteries. And it’s not alone among chip companies moving into the solar industry. Others who have already planted flags there include Cypress Semiconductor which created SunPower, IBM is working on a JV to make thin film solar, Intel spun out and funded a solar startup called SpectraWatt earlier this month, and Applied Materials has been buying its way into the solar equipment market for months.
Despite not being the first into the solar market, National Semi has a good deal of experience in improving the efficiency of industrial and other systems, which could make it a formidable presence in solar some day.
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