SOLAR 2009 Coverage
ASES National Solar Conference, May 11–16
Buffalo, N.Y.
Videos and Articles
VIDEO: Patriot Solar Group Capitalizes on Satellite Dish ExperienceMichael Orshan, solar sales director at Patriot Solar Group, talks about how the company is using its satellite dish manufacturing experience to serve the growing solar energy market. Watch >
VIDEO: Gov. David Paterson Addresses SOLAR 2009New York Gov. David Paterson speaks to SOLAR 2009 attendees about the state's position in the renewable energy economy. Watch >
VIDEO: Marlene Brown Wins Women in Solar AwardMarlene Brown talks with RenewableEnergyWorld.com's Jennifer Runyon about winning the Women in Solar Award from ASES and about how women can get into the industry. Watch >
VIDEO: SOLAR 2009 Sees Record Attendance
ASES' Neal Lurie talks about the success of the SOLAR 2009 conference in Buffalo and what ASES hopes people will take home with them from the event, now in its 38th year. Watch >
Water vs. EnergyIt's now widely recognized, if infrequently mentioned, that it takes water to make energy, and energy to transport and treat water. Michael Webber of the University of Texas has been mentioning it a lot. In a recent Scientific American article, he wrote at length about the ecological death spiral that results when energy and water utilities chase a stressed resource. Read more >
Europe Headed for Hot Water
Olivier Drucke, 43, the Franco-German marketing whiz who runs the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) in Brussels, gave a rapid-fire talk on Thursday to explain how his coalition managed to get solar water heating mandated at 50% of all heating demand by 2050. Read more >
VIDEO: Alfred State College is Training a Green WorkforceJohn Anderson, president of Alfred State College talks about his school's efforts to make renewable energy part of its academic programs. Watch >
Project Aims for Effective Standards, CodesAs interest in solar energy grows, systems evolve and our library of best practices expands, it’s becoming harder for code- and standards-setting organizations to maintain up-to-date and effective policies. A SOLAR 2009 panel on Thursday detailed a government-funded, collaborative effort to help make things a little easier for those officials. Read more >Published: May 15, 2009VIDEO: Opportunities to Innovate in Growing Solar Market John Giddings from National Semiconductor says that he sees the current economic rough patch as an opportunity for the company to make a big impact on the growing solar industry with SolarMagic. Watch >
VIDEO: New York's Renewable Energy Industry Has Allies Carol Murphy, executive director of ACE NY talks about the state's renewable energy goals, the state of the solar industry and the leadership in Albany on the issue. Watch >
VIDEO: Solar Nation Brings Grassroots Advocacy to ASES Solar Nation's Chris Stimpson talks about his new relationship with ASES and what grassroots advocacy is all about. Watch >
VIDEO: 3TIER's Strategy is Shifting to the Web 3TIER's CEO Ken Westrick talks about the company's new products and strategies including opening its datasets for other developers. Watch >
VIDEO: ASES is Strong, Involved and Growing Brad Collins, ASES executive director, talks about the growth of the group, its current portfolio and its aquisition of advocacy group Solar Nation. Watch >
IREC's Jane Weissman talks about what the solar industry needs to do as it grows to make sure that its installers and those who train them are reputable and have the best available materials and curriculum at their disposal. Watch >
The real estate bubble has burst. Denis Hayes, president of The Bullitt Foundation and a pioneering solar engineer and advocate, thinks the world will work its way out of the its economic morass "in three months or three years." But, he warned a large audience at the SOLAR 2009 Awards Banquet on Tuesday evening, "Recovery is mostly bad news. Behind it is an ecological bubble. Economic bubbles inevitably lead to collapse, and so do ecological bubbles — and there's no recovery from an ecological collapse." Read more >
What if people ordinarily unable to install photovoltaic systems because of the initial cost or lack of an unshaded, well-oriented roof could buy into a community installation and receive a corresponding offset on their utility bills? Speakers at today’s SOLAR 2009 session on community solar described first steps at making this model a reality. Two examples already provide valuable lessons, and more models are emerging. Read more >
Does Grid Parity Matter?
For decades, solar power companies have worked hard to drive the cost of solar-generated electricity downward, to compete with "conventional" central power plants. "Grid parity" is considered to be 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour — the average cost of utility-supplied electricity across the United States. Speakers at the opening plenary session of SOLAR 2009 said we'll be at grid parity within a year or two — but that it may not matter. Read more >
Published: May 13, 2009
David Zach is a futurist, not a psychic. When he speaks Friday at SOLAR 2009, the ASES National Solar Conference, he says "I'm not going to tell people what's going to happen in the future, but I am going to tell them how to think about the future." Read more >Published: May 11, 2009
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