Alliance for Renewable Energy

We Can Solve It

On July 17th, Al Gore gave a most inspiring speech about the future of renewable energy in the United States. An excerpt from the speech:

The climate crisis, in particular, is getting a lot worse - much more quickly than predicted. Scientists with access to data from Navy submarines traversing underneath the North polar ice cap have warned that there is now a 75 percent chance that within five years the entire ice cap will completely disappear during the summer months. This will further increase the melting pressure on Greenland. According to experts, the Jakobshavn glacier, one of Greenland's largest, is moving at a faster rate than ever before, losing 20 million tons of ice every day, equivalent to the amount of water used every year by the residents of New York City.

Read/watch the full speech, and join the movement by signing on!

Swiss Adopt Aggressive REP Law

From Paul Gipe,

The Swiss, famed for conservative traditions, stodgy bankers, and trains that run on time, have joined a growing list of countries using feed-in tariffs [a.k.a. Renewable Energy Payments] to promote the rapid development of renewable energy.

Not content to start with a timid program incrementally raising the bar year by year, the Swiss federal government this spring launched a full-system of feed-in tariffs differentiated by technology, size, and application. There are tariffs, or payments per kilowatt-hour (kWh), for solar photovoltaics, wind, hydro, geothermal, and biomass.

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(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Tambako the Jaguar, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Solar Fact Finding Mission to Germany for Utility Decision Makers

• On a sunny day as much as 20% of all power in Bavaria, a region in Germany, is coming from PV.

• The average upfront cost of a residential photovoltaic (solar panel) system in Germany is 4,500€ (US$6,500).

• 40,000 people were employed in photovoltaic manufacturing in Germany in 2007

These are just 3 of the many facts to be found in the Summary Report of a recent solar fact finding mission to Germany. From June 9 to June 13, 2008, thirty-one utility executives and managers traveled to Germany to learn about the country’s success and experience integrating significant amounts of solar energy into the electricity grid. Throughout the five-day fact finding mission, the delegation met with numerous players in the German electricity marketplace, visited multiple solar installations, and toured the largest solar tradeshow in Europe. The report on their trip by the Northwest Solar Center, presents the key findings and provides links to more information.Download the Summary Report!