France is in favor of the Solar and Green Future (credit: sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
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C., thank you for alerting me to the law that was recently (in March, 2015) passed by the French governing body, requiring roof tops of new French commercial buildings to be either partially covered by solar panels
Solar PV (credit: sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
or plants. This law was the product of compromise between French environmentalists and the more conservative members of the parliament. Initially, the French environmental activists wanted to make it mandatory to have all new buildings to be covered with green roofs, but the Socialist government convinced these activists to limit the scope of the law to new commercial buildings/rooftops.
Hopefully, this law will enable France to catch up to its neighbors. Solar PV capacity in France has increased much more slowly than in Germany, Spain or Italy in the past, Reuters reported in November of 2014. In June of last year, France had 5,095 megawatts of PV capacity, accounting for 1 percent of the energy consumption in the first half of 2014. Neighboring Germany had almost 37,000 MW.
Other places such as Australia, Germany, Canada, and Britain already have green roofs as part of their urban landscape. As a matter of fact, Toronto has mandatory green roofs as part of its by-laws since 1998.
Green Roof of Chicago City Hall ( attribution: Tony The Tiger)
Green roof of British Horse Society Head Quarters ( attribution: Sky Garden Ltd)
Green roof of Tongyang downtown apartment complex (attribution: Vmenkov)
Green roof of the Mountain Equipment Co-op store in Toronto, Canada (attribution: Sookie)
This law will certainly help to reduce the energy needed due to urban heat island(especially notable during summer and winter) and rainwater retension (by reducing runoff problems). Please refer to the video below:
“This draft law is a very positive step forward and a concrete lever for greener and smarter cities,” said James Watson, CEO of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association. “There are so many unused rooftops in our cities today and solar photovoltaics is the perfect solution to make the best out of them as it can be seamlessly integrated in an urban setting.” Watson added that rooftops, large or small, represent 70 percent of the installed solar capacity in France.
“Solar electricity produced on your roof can partially or entirely instantaneously cover your own power needs,” Watson said.
In addition to cost saving, please keep in mind that in 2014, solar energy production saved about 110 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions globally.
Perhaps all governments throughout our planet should consider utilizing surface areas of the rooftops.
~have a bright and sunny day~
Gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Any comments and suggestions are welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics:
Sun Rays by Powerline (photographed by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
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Great News! I just found out that the Chinese National Energy Administration (NEA) presented the ambitious goal of installing 17.8 GW (gigawatts) of solar capacity in 2015 (18.7% higher than the previous 15 GW proposal announced earlier this year). The NEA indicated the need to “stabilize and expand the solar application market,” as the reason for this new goal. China is determined to increase her renewable energy mix in power generation to 20% by 2030 and a target of 100 GW PV power by 2020. This is a fantastic way for President Xi Jinping to wage war against pollution!
Beijing air on two August 2005 days (after rain on left and smoggy day on right) (CC-Attribution: Bobak)
Such aggressive goal results from careful consideration of the inevitable skyrocketing demand for energy from industrialization and urbanization of China. For a country shouldering earthly population of over one billion people (approximately 1,361,512,576 ) and continued economic growth, Chinese leadership’s foresight to increase emphasis for clean energy and share of solar power will not only benefit the Chinese people but also rest of the world.
“This is good news for the industry,” Zhou Ziguang, analyst at Ping An Securities, told Reuters. “The state is hoping to boost solar consumption, although the chance of exceeding the target should not be big.”
Given the inadequate transmission infrastructure exists in many parts of the country, it is wise that the Chinese NEA is also rolling out a target of 8 GW of distributed solar (within this 17.8 GW goal) for 2015. Historically seen in many parts of the world, renewable/solar energy industry growth is strongly correlated to regional policies. So, despite the fact that problems such as financing and rooftop rights may have surfaced, policies such as subsidies and incentives will set the right tone to enhance future solar energy installations and industry growth in China.
Solar Rooftop at Beijing (credit: sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
Beijing with beautiful blue sky-hutung solar rooftop-Distributed Solar (credit: sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
At Sun Is The Future, we strongly encourage Chinese people to consider the concept of micro-finance, crowdfunding, and community solar garden/farm as part of the solution for financing much of the distributed solar installations in China. Many of these concepts are also explained and made available in: various posts in Sun Is The Future , sunisthefuture youtube channel , Sunisthefuture Team at Kiva, and information on Start A Community Solar Garden/Farm.People throughout the planet earth will be encouraging the Chinese people growing toward solar/renewable energy. It is great that the Chinese government has already taken note on implementing the fantastic policy of Feed-In-Tariff in stimulating the renewable/solar energy implementation and growth. We would also recommend consultation with Germany on streamlining the process of balance of system. Further understanding and implementation of Value of Solar will also be helpful.
Since the inception of Sun Is The Future (2011), the earthly solar installations on planet earth has more than doubled!
Sunshine (photographed by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
Such exponential growth is also seen in Chinese solar & renewable installations. If China will be able to continue with such an ardent rate of renewable/solar growth, there is no doubt that China and Beijing will be able to become the cleanest (or one of the cleanest ) country/city on planet earth in thirty years. The wild card here is the battery storage technology. For the sake of all the people in China, as well as all people on planet earth, we wish for the speedy arrival of optimal (higher efficiency/lower cost) battery storage technology.
~have a bright and sunny day~
Gathered, written, photographed, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Any of your comments or suggestions will be welcomed via sunisthefuture@gmail.com“”.
Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics: www.sunisthefuture.net
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To have the full appreciation of today’s topic, please be sure you have already viewed the post and listened to the video clip of our Jan. 4, 2013 post.
Back in July of 2012, China was mulling over the possibility of raising its 2015 photovoltaic target to over 25 GW. With the concern over sovereignty issue (truthfully, it is an issue over oil reserves) involving Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, need of clean energy sources, and the need to make their economic growth less dependent on fossil fuel, in January of 2013, China is now aiming to add 10 GW (gigawatts) of installed solar power capacity and 18 GW of installed wind power capacity this year alone. For a table of China’s renewable energy targets for 2015 and 2020, please click on Reuters.
Truly, the real solution to China’s dispute with Japan does not lie in ownership of some rocks of uninhabited islands, but in alternative clean fuel sources such as solar and wind energy. As I’ve repeatedly written, solar energy is: cleaner, safer, healthier, more readily available, with great sense of timing, and requires fewer moving parts (in March 4, 2011 post) than fossil fuel or oil. If one factors into the cost of potential WWIII/nuclear war, it is no wonder the wise leaders in China would have great incentive to increase the rate of installations for solar PV and wind.
Since our initial discussion originated from the territorial row over Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, let’s take a closer look at the cause of the problem numerically. It is, in essence, a row over the promised potential of accessing 100 billion barrels of oil in that region. But the burning of fossil fuel/oil really would not help the already polluted air quality of either China or Japan. So, it is a matter of energy/fuel that they are fighting over. To have a more clear picture of the situation, please view the video clip below of Michael Klare, Five Colleges professor of peace and world security studies:
My dear friends/readers/viewers/ visitors and fellow solar enthusiasts, I would now like to challenge you all to do 3 things:
Calculate what is the # of solar PV installations needed in order to generate equivalent amount of watts that can be generated from 100 billion barrels of oil. (assumptions: A. solar energy collected over 30 year period B. each solar PV is able to collect solar energy at the rate of 5 hours per day) and email me your results. I implore all instructors in junior high, high schools, colleges, universities (esp. those of you teaching math and science related subjects) any where on this planet earth to participate in this activity. After such an exercise of calculations, perhaps you will start to understand why I’ve been impatient with the rate at which our solar industry/ installations had been growing. Even though solar industry had been growing tremendously, it needs to be growing much faster in order to outpace the potential of wars (over oil reserves) among nations.
Encourage your local schools, churches, factories, stores, Walmarts, libraries, homes, hospitals, Y’s, governments to install solar PV and to implement Feed-In-Tariff for Renewable Energy (inclusive of solar and wind). Only when we have truly moved on to renewable energy, we have then taken away the incentive or need to fight over oil reserves/petroleum. Any time any two countries may entangle in a battle for oil reserves/fields, there lies the detonator for potential WWIII or nuclear war. Fellow earthlings, I believe it is in all of our interests to participate in encouraging the move toward renewable energy (esp. that of solar energy).
Spread the use and viewing of www.sunisthefuture.net and sunisthefuture Youtube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/sunisthefuture to help others to realize that solar energy will be able to propel our vehicles (cars, planes, trains, or boats) and operate/run our homes. We don’t need to fight over oil/petroleum. We want a healthier, cleaner, and safer world through conserving and solar living!
We are in a transitional period when wise, ethical, and skillful international diplomatic politicians are desperately needed who will not only be able to negotiate the last few barrels of oil (without triggering any war), but also be able to convince our government to shift one quarter of our military budget toward research and development in energy alternatives (as suggested by Michael Klare), and cooperate with China for research and development for renewable energy in the coming century. So we will be able to carry out the most moral and patriotic American path for our future generations. So U.S. and China (users of half of earth’s energy and producers of half of the earth’s CO2 by 2030) will go down in history not as plunderers of the planet earth but rescuers of the planet earth who worked cooperatively in finding solutions to earth’s energy and pollution problems.
~may we all have a brighter and sunnier tomorrow~
Gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Your questions/suggestions/comments are always welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
If you are in favor of renewable, clean, or solar energy, please sign this petition for FIT/CLEAN Program, accessible at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065Thank you very much.
With the continued rising fuel costs, infrastructure costs, environmental costs, and security costs, I would like to give the world a shout and applause for Germany for setting a new solar power record:
In addition to seeing the German government deciding to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March of 2011, closing eight plants immediately and shutting down the remaining nine plants by 2022, now we are seeing German solar power plants producing a world record of 22 gigawatts of electricity (equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday). Norbert Allnoch, Director of the Institute of Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster, announced that the 22 gigawatts of solar power fed into the naional grid on Saturday met nearly 50% of the nation’s midday electricity needs. “Never before anywhere has a country produced as much photovoltaic electricity. Germany came close to the 20 gigawatt (GW) few times in recent weeks. But this was the first time we made it over. This shows Germany is capable of meeting a large share of its electricity needs with solar power. It also shows Germany can do with fewer coal-burning power plants, gas-burning plants, and nuclear plants.” Allnoch said to Reuters.
This has demonstrated that such record-breaking amount of solar power, in one of the world’s leading industrial nations (yet largely a land-locked and one of the cloudiest countries in Europe) is able to meet a third of its electricity needs on a work day, Friday (May 25, 2012) and nearly half on Saturday (May 26, 2012) when factories and offices are closed. It is no small feat and deserves our attention. German government mandated support for renewables has helped Germany to become a world leader in renewable energy and Germany gets about 20% of its overall annual electricity from those sources. About half of the world’s installed solar power generation capacity comes from Germany (a country of approximately 357,021 sq km and 82 million inhabitants) and about 4% of its annual electricity needs from the sun alone. All of us earthlings should cheer on the Germans for having the aim and being the most likely to achieve their goal in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 40% from 1990 level by 2020.
Once again, the take away lesson of such great success from such a small country is the German Energy Policy. Please listen carefully and learn about their historical energy policy leading to Feed-In-Tariffs (originated from USA, but more effectively implemented in Germany) in the clip below, thank you:
For better understanding of Feed-In-Tariffs (FITs), please view/read the April 17, 2012 posts and click on various colored links within this post of http://sunisthefuture.net
~have a bright and sunny day~
Gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Any comments and suggestions are welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics:
