A short memory for voter preference

smasia@solartoday.org — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputyeditor

We've been complaining recently that politicians listen more closely to campaign contributors than they do to the public. For instance, national polls say that 75% of American voters want Congress to legislate a carbon cap, but the Senate instead has caved to the coal and oil businesses.

We got a great example of this thinking in Colorado this morning, when Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes sat down for a half-hour inte [...]

Choctaw team wins Hunt-Winston Solar Car race

smasia@solartoday.org — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor

The 15th running of the Hunt-Winston Solar Car Challenge, for high school teams, finished its eight-day, 866-mile run from Dallas to Boulder. Fastest car was Tushka Hashi III ("sun warrior"), built and driven by an 11-student team from Choctaw Central High School in Choctaw, Miss.

Tushka Hashi, competing in the Advanced division, covered 853 miles, at an average spe [...]

Carbon-free electricity in a decade?

smasia@solartoday.org — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor

Our air-quality columnist Robert Ukeiley pointed out this morning that in April, for the first time, non-hydro renewable electric generation totaled more than 5 percent of the American total. Poking around in the monthly report from the Energy Information Administration, we learn that for April, non-hydro generation amounted to about 15.3 terawatt-hours, compared to 287.8 terawatt-hours from all energy sources. This computes out to 5.33%.

Solar plane completes 2-week flight

smasia@solartoday.org — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100
By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
The QinetiQ Zephyr, a 110-lb remotely-piloted solar-powered airplane, landed today after a record-setting two-week flight.

The British-built UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) was designed to loiter for days, weeks or months carrying surveillance or measuring equipment. The 330-hour flight concluded today will be recorded as an official record for heavier-than-air unrefueled endurance flight by the FIA.

This iteration of Zephyr, la [...]

Sandia study names winners, losers in climate warming

smasia@solartoday.org — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
Pacific Coast states, Idaho, Montana and Colorado might realize some economic benefit from global warming. The rest of the country is going to suffer. Hardest hit will be southern-tier and Appalachian states.
That's the conclusion of a new study from Sandia National Laboratory. Researchers combined projections of precipitation and employment patterns to predict shifts in population and economic activity in the United States.
[...]

Stephen Schneider dead at 65

smasia@solartoday.org — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
The New York Times reports this afternoon that Stanford climatologist Stephen Schneider died today of an apparent heart attack. He was 65.
Schneider was an active voice on global warming beginning in the 1980s and he worked diligently on the issue right up to his death. He was generous with his time in explaining the science to journalists. Back in 1989, before global warming became politically controversial, I phoned him out of t [...]

Harvard: Expect rise in home improvement spending

smasia@solartoday.org — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Good news for solar installers:
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 15 (press release) -- A recovery in home improvement spending will soon be underway according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) released today by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Remodeling spending is expected to increase on an annual basis by the end of the year, and the LIRA points to growth accelerating to the double-digit range in the [...]

Future commuter

smasia@solartoday.org — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
Parked across the street from our office this morning is a bright yellow Can-Am Spyder. This machine is, in effect, a three-wheel motorcycle, with two steering wheels in front like a car. It's driven by a 100-hp one-liter V-twin engine and weighs about 700 lb.

The thing looks like a lot of fun to ride. Obviously, it doesn't handle like a motorcycle, and won't tip over. But you ride out in the wind. The closest analogies would be [...]

Böer Solar Energy Medal Nominations Due Sept. 3

rjohnson@solartoday.org — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100
Nominate an outstanding colleague or yourself for the 2011 Karl W. Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit. The bronze medal and $50,000 cash prize will be awarded to an individual who has made significant pioneering contributions to the promotion of solar energy as an alternate source of energy through research, development, or economic enterprise, or to an individual who has made extraordinarily valuable and enduring contributions to the field of solar energy in other ways. Funded by the Karl W. Böer [...]

Expo surfing strategies

cdahl@solartoday.org — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Liz Merry
SOLAR TODAY "Ask Liz" Columnist

Intersolar North America provides one of the largest expo opportunities. With three huge floors and 570 booths of solar technology and services to browse, how is a solar professional to use his or her time effectively?

While Intersolar is a current example, these expo navigation tips should apply to any major conference.

First, set a couple of goals. What are you hoping to get out of this event? Trying to [...]

Elucidations

smasia@solartoday.org — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100
By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor

I wrote a snarky note last month tasking the folks at The New York Review of Books and St. Martin's Press with sins of energy illiteracy, and copied them. In response we got a blast of countersnark from Joe Rinaldi, veteran publicist at St. Martin's Press. Here's his note, in full:

You've recently criticized former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in relation to his new book, LIGHTS OUT! referencing some point about global w [...]

Solar Impulse flight background

smasia@solartoday.org — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
The 26-hour flight of the Solar Impulse made front-page news around the world, and was great press for progress in solar technology. In particular it proved that photovoltaic cell and battery efficiencies have reached the stage where a vehicle can store sufficient energy during 15 hours of daylight to sustain flight through a 9-hour night.

Part of that energy storage was in the form of altitude: during the long day, pilot André Borsc [...]

India taxes coal, starting today

smasia@solartoday.org — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
In an historic move, India imposed a nationwide carbon tax today, in the form of a tax on coal production.
Dubbed a clean energy measure, the tax of 50 rupees per metric ton is imposed on all coal mined or imported. It's expected to generate about $535 million to support carbon-neutral energy projects.
The tax is pretty trivial. It amounts to $1.07 per metric ton at today's exchange rates. Do the math and you wind up with $3.1 [...]

MIT misses half the gas story

smasia@solartoday.org — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
Last Friday, MIT released a report advocating natural gas as a "bridge" fuel to displace both coal and petroleum motor fuel while more sustainable energy sources come on line. Notable by its absence from the report was any summary of the water- and air-quality issues created by natural gas drilling. Because the report comes in the wake of the network debut of the award-winning documentary Gasland, the omission seemed startling.

F [...]

More oil crimes in progress

smasia@solartoday.org — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
All sorts of ominous news broke last week, but two items in particular underscored the pernicious role that oil companies play in the health of the planet.

In California, a couple of Texas-based oil companies funded a successful effort to put onto the November ballot a measure that would suspend AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. That law requires industrial sites to cut greenhouse gases 25% by 2020; the California Air Re [...]

Climate and the press: Education is not the issue

smasia@solartoday.org — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
The local radio station KGNU hosted a panel discussion last night on climate science and the press, moderated by Jon Stewart of the BBC radio program Science in Action. Speakers were Peter Backlund, Lawrence Buja and Caspar Ammann, all of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR); Roger Pielke, Jr. of the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Colorado; and Leslie Dodson, veteran network television reporter.

PACE under threat from mortgage giants

smasia@solartoday.org — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Adam Boucher
Private Lender & Portfolio Manager to Green Energy sector

Cities and counties throughout the U.S. are developing new finance programs that help Americans install solar and improve the energy efficiency of their homes and businesses. Called Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), these programs help local governments bring new jobs, energy bill savings, and environmental benefits to their communities.
Unfortunately, PACE is facing a serious threat tha [...]

Why pols don't count polls

smasia@solartoday.org — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
A couple of weeks ago we reported two national polls, from Stanford University and a joint Yale/George Mason group, finding that about 75% of Americans want Congress to cap carbon emissions.
Now an NBC/Wall Street Journal reports that 63% of Americans support carbon-and-energy legislation (36% support it strongly), vs 31% opposed (17% oppose it strongly).

If twice as many Americans want climate legislation as oppose it (th [...]

Obama on energy

smasia@solartoday.org — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor
Like a lot of folks, I felt let down by President Obama's oil-spill-and-energy-future speech on Tuesday. Eighteen months into the administration, I thought it was high time for a rousing call to specific action. I had hoped for something resembling the ASES Policy Recommendations. Instead we got a reference to the Waxman-Markey bill and a call for new ideas. I'm convinced that there are enough workable, mature and economically viable ide [...]

Solar training: Hands-on vs. classroom vs. online

cdahl@solartoday.org — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0100

By Liz Merry
SOLAR TODAY "Ask Ms. Liz" Columnist

People learn differently. You may be a great book learner, while I have to touch and move something around to get the book information to make sense to me. Or perhaps having an instructor present the book information through lectures and slides is most effective for you. Or you might prefer an even balance between all three - reading, in-person instruction and hands-on training.
Call me technically challenged, but it turns ou [...]

Blog Entries

A short memory for voter preference

Choctaw team wins Hunt-Winston Solar Car race

Carbon-free electricity in a decade?

Solar plane completes 2-week flight

Sandia study names winners, losers in climate warming

Stephen Schneider dead at 65

Harvard: Expect rise in home improvement spending

Future commuter

Böer Solar Energy Medal Nominations Due Sept. 3

Expo surfing strategies

Elucidations

Solar Impulse flight background

India taxes coal, starting today

MIT misses half the gas story

More oil crimes in progress

Climate and the press: Education is not the issue

PACE under threat from mortgage giants

Why pols don't count polls

Obama on energy

Solar training: Hands-on vs. classroom vs. online