A Texas Senate Bill Would Subsidize Solar Panels

Those of us trying to make solar power an affordable option always have ears turned to possible options that reduce solar power costs and installation.

According to KBTX.com last week, the Texas State Senate Business and Commerce committee voted the Fraser solar proposal (SB 545) out of committee.

This proposal

“calls for the creation of a pot of money that would not only subsidize Texans who want to install solar panels on their roofs but also utility companies that want to build big, concentrated solar facilities.”

And how will this subsidy be funded?

By a surcharge added to each Texas citizen’s electric bill.

Hmmm…offsetting the cost of my solar panels by charging me more for my electric bill? So where’s the “savings” in that?

Read the news article for yourself.

Read the solar proposal.

Solar Panels in the Mojave Desert?

Here’s an interesting article about an ongoing discussion concerning putting solar and wind energy facilities in the Mojave Desert.

Seems solar companies are ready to put up solar plants in areas particularly suitable for solar energy production. The area in question is a parcel of land in California’s Mojave Desert.

But there’s a problem.

The Wildlands Conservancy, which arranged for the government to buy this desert plot, says a solar or wind power facility would “destroy the entire Mojave Desert ecosystem.”

If solar power plants cannot be built in the Mojave Desert, governor Schwarzenegger said, “I don’t know where the hell we can put it.”

Clearly, if you want alternative energy, as California does, you have to put these solar and wind plants somewhere. Right?

But what if we think about it another way?

If each home generated all or most of its energy requirements, maybe the need for a solar power plant in the Mojave would change.

Instead of waiting for all the red tape to get a solar power plant going, how about we put solar panels on each roof?

Municipal Solar Financing

If you have been watching and eye on solar energy, you have heard about the 30 percent tax incentives provided for solar purchases via a recent economic bailout packages.

Although I consider myself a fairly intelligent, literate person, I confess I cannot always follow the labyrinthine paths of government money.

I suspect this is purposeful. One cannot question what one does not understand.

Here’s another twist in solar funding: Municipal Solar Financing

What’s that, you say? Municipal Solar Financing?

Dan Hahn gives as simple and uncomplicated a definition as I’ve found. Thanks, Dan.

Frankly, the more I read the more inclined I am to think each of us should be creating our own stimulus package. The less entangled you are in governmental mazes, the freer you are.

I’m creating my own energy stimulus package via personal home energy conservation and efficiency. I’m thinking this will reduce the cost of my home solar system long before the government will.

You’re invited to begin the Home Energy Conservation Challenge.

Texans for Solar Energy

Today’s article from chron.com touts the up-and-coming development of a solar industry in Texas, my home state.

For me, this is happy news. I am neither scientist nor electrical engineer, but I have first-hand experience with the amount of sunlight that falls on our lovely state. Indeed, development of solar energy in Texas seems inescapable.

Of course, people point out various “problems” with solar. Some point out the high up-front cost of solar panels, some visualize the vast west Texas desert covered with solar panels, some fixate on power lines to carry the captured electricity, and others focus on unsolved engineering problems.

While all these problems need addressing, it does not mean we should ignore pursuit of a solar energy solution to our energy problems.

We are a nation of innovative, creative, visionary people. Problems will arise; we will solve, move, or go around them.

My own concern is government intervention involvement. Government never has been efficient. I hold absolutely no hope of government becoming efficient.

Read the article here. Let me know if the article encourages you to pursue solar energy or make you feel hopeless about our energy future.

Home Energy and the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES)

The Alliance to Save Energy is pleased about a new piece of legislation introduced by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass). If enacted, the Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS) legislation would reduce national energy use while incorporating renewable energy sources.

That sounds good. I do want to reduce my energy use and incorporate solar energy in my home. Eventually, I want a net ZEH home that produces as much energy as my home uses.

But I am wary.

The ASE article says this bill,

“would require electric and gas utilities to reduce demand by 15 and 10 percent, respectively, by 2020. Utilities could count savings from helping their customers to make their homes and businesses more energy efficient, as well as from appliance standards, building codes, and other government programs. And while utilities would be responsible for meeting the energy efficiency requirements, they would be allowed to buy savings from states and other third parties that could be used to demonstrate compliance.”

I am bothered by the word “require,” here. My utility provider would be “required” to reduce energy demand? They “could [emphasis mine] count savings from helping their customers….”

Or they could just declare power outages at certain times of the day or night.

I read through the actual bill presented. You can read it here.

It looks to me like the utility companies will be required to pay a “quantity of electricity credits” (read: money) to the government. And if they meet the annual reduction requirements, then they get a portion of that back.

Two things:

1.    Why does the government take money out of our pocket (you know who your utility company will get the money from to pay these credits), give some of it back if we jump through the right hoops, and then act like they are doing us a big favor?

2.    We do not need to wait for the government to make us reduce our energy consumption! We are free adults who can make these choices for ourselves.

Of course, the American Renewable Energy Act is replete with the necessary legalese. I am no trained lawyer so it’s possible I misunderstood something.

Read the document yourself and let me know what you think.

Still, rather than waiting for clumsy government intervention, I like this idea better.

And if you are ready to start reducing your energy consumption now, you are welcome to join the Home Energy Conservation Challenge.

Is the Energy Crisis Over?

In desperate times, we do what we can to address the immediate crisis. This past summer the high cost of energy initiated a crisis mode. Americans drove less, spent less, and elected a new president with lofty energy promises.

Today, gasoline prices are down under $2 a gallon and the analysts say we consumers are going back to our trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

Maybe somewhere folks are buying trucks and SUVs. But I think most of us recognize that this time of low gasoline prices is only buying us time.

If this time is not used to create a more energy conservative and energy efficient lifestyle, we only postpone even greater energy crises.

While we may appreciate the new administration’s efforts, in our heart-of-hearts we know governments alone cannot fix our energy predicament.

Even Mr. Chu, who will lead the Energy Department in the new administration, finds himself between a rock and a hard place. It’s one thing to dream the dream (i.e. lofty political promises) but it’s another thing entirely to reconcile policy with daily realities.

Creating a more energy efficient world really begins with us. You and me. The people who do the living and buying and driving on this planet.

We’ve been given a breather. Fuel prices are down. Will we use our time wisely?

How will you live, spend, and drive in 2009?

How will you heat and cool your home in 2009?

Join our energy conservation challenge beginning in February.

Is Renewable Energy the Next Subprime Mortgage Meltdown?

There are as many opinions about solar and renewable energies as there are people on the planet!

The article “Carbon Limits, Yes; Energy Subsidies, No” in the Wall Street Journal
highlights the expected actions of our new incoming president and the resulting republican opposition.

It seems most conversations get pigeon holed into one camp or the other. The two camps are: global warming is a serious threat and global warming is a fraud.

To continue the generalities, those who care about this earth find themselves unceremoniously placed in the “global warming is serious camp.” Those who dare mention a concern for the world economy are dismissed to the “global warming is a fraud camp.”

To continue further, believing global warming is serious means your political leanings must therefore be liberal. Believing global warming is a fraud put you in the far right conservative group.

While governments and politics do need to face and debate the energy issues and make wise choices for today and tomorrow, watching the squabble is disheartening.

So I am always encouraged to find those pioneering spirits who go the distance for renewable energy, leaving politicians squabbling in the sandbox.

These private citizens built their solar powered home in Montana while the rest of us were sleeping.

Any other pioneers out there? Let us hear what you are doing.

Renewable Energy Politics

What governments do affect us. It’s true.

The Incentive Tax Credits (ITC) recently passed can reduce your cost for home solar energy up to 30 percent. This is a better deal than the expiring tax credits which limited tax credits to $2000.

But we – the folks concerned about the environment and our energy bills – cannot sit and wait for the government to take care of the world’s energy ills.

Today’s article in the New York Times gives evidence of just how slowly the government machine works.

So far Mr. Obama has outlined a number of broad policies but provided few specifics or a timetable for implementing his ideas. He could propose a climate bill, but the kind of cap-and-trade system preferred by Mr. Obama for greenhouse gases would, by many estimates, take at least a year or two to hash out even with a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.
The fear is this could become a Clinton health plan, trying to do too much too soon, and ending up with nothing,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House staff member who is now with the National Commission on Energy Policy.

And Energy Business Daily shines light on OPEC’s part in this little energy party.

“There is total confusion”among OPEC’s 13 members,” said Fadel Gheit, managing director of oil and gas research at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York. “These people … really have no business model. They basically thrive when oil prices go up, and now they are crying uncle when prices go down.

This article from the Associated Press says more about OPEC and oil prices. Some predict oil prices are about as low as they will get.

Oil prices have fallen 70 percent since peaking at $147.27 in July. After hitting $40.50 a barrel last week, some oil traders believe that if the market has not bottomed out, it is close to doing so.
“While we maintain our bearish bias, we are of the opinion the market has found a range in between the low $40s on the bottom and the mid $50s on the high end,” said The Schork Report edited by oil trader and analyst Stephen Schork.

The upshot of this little post is that governments cannot save us.

We cannot wait for Mr. Obama, our congressmen and senators, or OPEC to take action to save our planet or make reasonable energy decisions.

It is up to you and me.

Why I Want Solar Energy for my Home

This quest to use solar energy to power my home leads through a scintillating labyrinth of alternative energy issues. The more I learn about energy in general and alternative energy in particular, the more I love solar.

Browsing through a local bookstore, my husband came across an interesting book, Physics for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlinesby Richard A. Muller. What you might not gather from the title is that the book is a briefing on the current state of worldwide energy and environmental problems.

I have yet to finish the book but what I have learned thus far from Muller is:
•    The world is NOT running out of fossil fuel—but only out of oil
•    Coal supplies will last for centuries (let me say that again—centuries)
•    Coal is cheap
•    We can make oil out of coal (via the Fischer-Tropsch process)

Why does this matter?

Here’s the other important piece to the energy puzzle—OPEC.

OPEC sets the price for oil.

When OPEC oil prices go higher than $50 per barrel, it makes more economic sense for us to make our own oil from our own coal. You see, a barrel of oil made from coal—using the Fischer-Tropsch process—costs $50 per barrel.

If OPEC’s oil is $100 per barrel we can say, thank you very much, but we’ll make our own oil from our own coal.

If oil prices are below $50 per barrel, it is cheaper to buy OPEC.

However…coal is not good for the environment!

So I am an advocate of solar (and other alternative) energy.
•    Because I care about the environment
•    Because I do not like being yanked around by OPEC
•    Because I do not want my energy dollars funding terrorism

Image via Wikipedia

The push to incorporate renewable energy in our home was spurred on by the exorbitant summer energy prices. Solar energy moved from the dreaming stage to the action stage. Indeed, the higher oil prices made solar and other renewable energies more economically feasible.

Today, with the current credit climate and falling oil prices, some fear doom and gloom for solar energy and OPEC tinkers with reducing oil production in order to increase oil prices.

The decrease of oil prices has given us a breather. I confess my delight at finding gasoline below $2 a gallon. This reduces the pressure on my home energy budget. Less money spent at the gas tank means more available for my home energy provider.

However, we must not be lulled into thinking oil prices will remain low. Mr. Obama will not save us. Neither will Congress. Neither will Wall Street.

Take control of your own energy future. Keep pressing on toward renewable energy for your home. Practicing conservation and efficiency and using renewable energy is still the best course for the planet and our home energy budget.