solarnation » 2009

New ASES Report Sees 4.5 Million Net Jobs Created by Clean Energy

October 27, 2009

So exactly how many jobs will be lost in this country, should we embrace the kind of energy and climate legislation that’s been tossed around in Congress since this spring? We’ve heard all kinds of projections of catastrophic job losses from bill opponents, should we actually see these bills become law, not to mention the mythical $1761 per household that the Administration’s climate policies would cost, according to a certain Mr. Glenn Beck.

As these words are being typed, the first of three hearings conducted by the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee this week is taking place. The first witness, Senator John Kerry (D-MA), cited several studies indicating that jobs will proliferate in a clean energy economy. He was followed by committee member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who used his opening statement to describe his vision of a flood of jobs exiting the United States.

Congresspersons from states heavily dependent on fossil fuel production, like Tennessee, are understandably under pressure from constituents who see a swing toward clean energy as a threat to their jobs. But in wilfully seeing the employment glass as half-empty rather than half-full, these voters’ congressional legislators are doing them a disservice. They must know that when the buggy-whip business died it was because a new industry, promising large-scale employment, was growing fast. (more…)

So the Solar Decathlon’s over. What Lessons did Congress Learn?

October 27, 2009

By the time you read this, the area of the National Mall set aside for the Solar Decathlon will have been returned to its normal state, and perhaps those congresspersons and congressional staffers who visited the solar village will have reflected soberly on the event’s outcome. So they should, for while we highlighted in our coverage the different approaches taken by the teams rather than the scoring, we’re also aware that a single team from Europe bested no fewer than fifteen U.S. university teams in the practical application of clean energy technology.

Taken together with the extraordinary difficulty Congress is having in passing an energy/climate bill sporting any real teeth, this should seriously alarm anyone already concerned that we are falling behind in the race to lead the global clean energy industry. (more…)

Great Solar Decathlon! Let’s Start Building!

October 27, 2009

Yes, finally it’s over, and the trophy remains in German hands. The 2009 Solar Decathlon brought twenty teams of students from the USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, Germany and Spain together on the National Mall in Washington DC for most of October. They came to show how solar energy, geothermal energy, energy efficiency and plain ingenuity can produce energy net-zero houses, and to be judged in ten separate contests.
Team Germany celebrating their win

The contests and their winners were:

Appliances (operation of refrigerator, freezer, washing machine, dryer and dishwasher): University of Illinois;
Architecture: Team California;
Comfort Zone (maintaining indoor temperatures and relative humidity with a set range): Team Germany;
Communications: Team California;
Engineering (energy systems design, energy efficiency savings, creativity and reliability): University of Minnesota
Home Entertainment (operation of lights, a TV, computer and kitchen appliances): University of Illinois
Hot Water (ability to deliver 15 gallons of hot water within 10 minutes): University of Illinois;
Lighting Design: University of Minnesota;
Market Viability University of Louisiana;
Net Metering: Team Germany.

It was the net metering contest, worth more in points than any other single contest, that put the Technische Universitat Darmstadt at the top of the leader board, outscoring U. Illinois by just ten points out of a total of some 900. (more…)

New ASES Report Sees 4.5 Million Net Jobs Created by Clean Energy

So the Solar Decathlon’s over. What Lessons did Congress Learn?

Great Solar Decathlon! Let’s Start Building!

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