Solar panels atop a house in Riverside, CA (photo attribution: Jim Sun, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Community Solar Garden or Solar Farm of Clean Energy Collective at Cowdery Meadow Community Solar Gardens (attribution: Susan Sun Nunamaker, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Visitors at a Westmill Solar Cooperative Open Day at Westmill Solar Park (attribution: MrRenewables, Westmill Solar Cooperative, Ben Cavanna, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
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Today, California has become the first U.S. state to require solar panels on nearly all new homes and low-rise apartment buildings, starting in 2020. The California Energy Commission voted 5 to 0 to approve the new building standard/requirement that residential buildings up to three stories, including single-family homes and condos, be built with solar panels installations starting in 2020. About 117,000 new single-family homes and 48,000 multi-family units will be built in 2020. The commission endorsed this requirement after building representatives, utilities, and solar manufacturers and advocates voiced their support. It still needs the final approval from California’s Building Standards Commission (which usually adopts the energy panels’s recommendations when updating the state’s building codes). This is California’s latest step to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The technical director for the California Building Industry AssociationRobert Raymer called it a “quantum leap.”This requirement would only be applied to newly constructed homes, although many homeowners are choosing to install rooftop solar panels with help from various rebate programs. The California Energy Commission estimated that adding solar panels would boost construction costs by $9,500 for a single-family home but save homeowners about $19,000 in energy cost and other expenses over 30 year period. The price of solar has dropped dramatically in recent years, therefore, it is a no-brainer that it is cost effective for all homeowners to install solar. The amount of solar power required by the new standards is minimal and not enough to meet all the energy needs of most homes, therefore, most homes would still have to draw some of their power use from the power grid.
The regulations exempts solar panels installations when it is not cost-effective or feasible (such as for homes shrouded in shade). Community solar generation would be an option for such circumstances.
According to SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association), California is already the nation’s leader in solar installation, with more than 5 million homes in the state using solar power. California has set the goal of all residential buildings being “zero net energy”, meaning producing as much energy as they consume. California has positioned itself as the leader for clean energy in USA, pushing more electric vehicles on the roads and lower emissions from homes and commercial buildings.
California Energy Commissioner Andrew McAllister said, “This is a step, a very important step, in a long trajectory that we have been planning for and telling the world….This is not a radical departure. It’s a step in the right direction to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and improve our air, which for many, many decades California has been doing better and better each time.”
Perhaps it is high time for rest of the 49 states to also follow the California lead, for it is both economical and environmentally friendly for homeowners to install solar.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Below is a repost from our sister publication, Windermere Sun.
Artist rendering of Panda Solar Power Plant at Datong, China (credit: China Merchants New Energy/Panda Green Energy, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Panda Solar Power Plant at Datong, China (credit: China Merchants New Energy/Panda Green Energy, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
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As China continues to grow and develop, energy and pollution are important incentives for China to steer toward the renewables at a lightening pace. As solar generation becomes cost-competitive with electricity from fossil fuels, China rolls out the world’s biggest investment in clean energy.
One of the energy firms in China, Panda Green Energy Group Limited (formerly known as the “United Photovoltaics Group Limited”), has come up with an aesthetically pleasing way to promote the development of solar energy by arranging solar panels at a solar farm to resemble the image of China’s national treasure, the panda. Panda Green Energy’s panda solar power plant in a city of Datong in northern Chinese province Shanxi, with capacity of 100 MW once fully connected (some estimated that in 25 years, it would have generated 3.2 billion KWh, reduced 2.74 million tons of carbon emissions or 1.06 million tons of coal throughout China). The solar panda was constructed in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in tackling the problem of need for renewable energy in China. In June of 2017, Panda Green Energy Group Limited announced that its first panda shaped solar power plant (of 50 MW covering 248 acres, with the black part composed of the more efficient monocrystalline silicone and the grey and white part being the thin film solar cells) was officially connected to the grid in Datong, Shanxi.
This panda solar park is set to become a national monument and home to an education center aiming to teach young people from all over China about the importance of renewable energy and sustainable living. According to Reuters, Panda Green Energy is planning on launching more panda-shaped power plants (some estimate about 100 panda-shaped solar power plants), both inside and outside of China.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Below is a repost from our sister online publication, Windermere Sun:
Disney Solar Farm at the Reedy Creek Improvement District
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Yes, this is definitely a project both Walt Disney himself
Walt Disney stamp
Walt_Disney_Snow_white_1937_trailer_screenshot
and Mickey
Mickey Mouse (credit: Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
would have approved! For those of you who are not aware of the project, it is located in the Reedy Creek Improvement District (the Disney controlled taxing district) occupying about 20 acres near World Drive and Epcot Center Drive at Walt Disney World Resort in the shape of Mickey Mouse. Mashable posted photos received from satellite imaging from NearMap of the installation, below.
Disney Solar Farm at the Reedy Creek Improvement District (image: nearmap)
This Mickey shaped solar farm is built and operated by Duke Energy, composed of 48,000 solar PV panels and five-megawatt. Last year, Duke Energy of Florida announced that it would build up to 500 megawatts of solar by 2024 as part of a multiyear plan.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District Board of Supervisors voted to accept a 15-year power-purchase agreement with Duke Energy Florida Solar Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of Duke Energy Florida, to purchase solar energy from the facility. Administrator of Reedy Creek Improvement District, Bill Warren, said, “The use of solar energy builds on our commitment to protect the environment and is another step toward realizing our long-term sustainability goals.”
“We are committed to working with customers to expand their use of renewable energy,” said Alex Glenn, president of Duke Energy Florida. “This opportunity to serve the Reedy Creek Improvement District is another example of how we are meeting our customers interests in renewable energy, while bringing more solar choices to Florida.”
Duke Energy has also funded more than $8 million in solar PV system installations at approximately 50 K-12 schools and universities in Florida to generate electricity and help foster renewable energy education.
As for bringing more solar choices to Florida, please keep in mind that Floridians For Solar Choice is still alive, awaiting for more signatures in order to provide Floridians with more solar choices, allowing third party power providers such as Solar City that would be able to help Florida residents to take part in generating and using solar power
Florida sunshine (credit: Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
without having to worry about installation cost. Be sure to sign and send in the petition in the red link above.
While we’re on the topic of Mickey shaped solar farm, did you know that Disney is fond of placing hidden Mickeys throughout its theme parks, movies, and other properties. More than 1000 hidden Mickeys have been recorded. Fans estimate that more are waiting to be discovered. I have actually seen, via Google Maps, a hidden Mickey forest in Orlando. Do you know where it is?
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“”.
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