THINK REALLY BIG Current & Future green entrepreneurs-
Submit as many BIG IDEAS as possible – Student Ideas Welcome!:
In 300 words or less:
Tell Muhammad Yunus your biggest – push the limits – IDEA or GOAL on a green energy business concept with real teeth that you want to see go forward. That’s all. If the idea creates jobs and fits the social business model. That’s even better!
Please provide your name, email and a little information about yourself (include school/year graduated- if appropriate)
The next Solar Decathlon will be held in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2011, when once again teams from colleges and universities from around the world will gather to compete. The request for proposals (RFP), RFP amendments, and draft rules for the 2011 competition are available by clicking the link above.
For three weeks in October 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy hosted the Solar Decathlon—a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students competed to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The Solar Decathlon also enabled the public to observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the best in home design.
The dates of the 2009 event were:
Oct. 1—Teams arrive at the National Mall and begin assembly of their houses
The final results of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009 are presented below. The 2009 Solar Decathlon was held Oct. 9-18 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and challenged 20 student teams to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house.
The 2007 champions did it again! Team Germany focused on producing surplus energy by using the maximum overall building dimensions allowed, applying photovoltaics to every available surface, and pushing the envelope with new technologies. The team walked away with the Net Metering contest and performed well in several others, including Architecture, Lighting Design, Comfort Zone, and Hot Water. Demonstrating that they are true champions, members of Team Germany were extremely gracious in their victory and recognized the work of their peers.
Gable House was one of the first to be assembled and ran like clockwork the entire competition. The team set out to express its regional heritage and sought to create a synergy between old and new. Traditional techniques in homebuilding, along with great advances in technology, blended to create a house that performed exceptionally well in energy efficiency—as demonstrated by the team’s results in all the objective contests. Focused on performance, this team also achieved elegant simplicity in design.
A winning spirit guided this team throughout the 2009 competition. Ranking in the top three of nearly every contest, Team California also excelled in some of the most prestigious subjective contests. It finished first in both the Architecture and Communications contests, achieved second in Engineering, and tied for third in Market Viability. Beautiful in every respect, Refract House broke out of the box and masterfully executed the melding of interior and exterior spaces while offering a consistent and high-quality learning experience to visitors.
Juries
The panel of judges and jurors assembled to evaluate the 20 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009 teams and their houses is composed of individuals at the top of their professions. Renowned in their fields of study, they bring academic excellence and practical, in-the-field expertise to each of the 10 contests. Their involvement in the Solar Decathlon will help advance energy efficiency and renewable energy throughout the world.
Using objective and subjective measures to evaluate the team houses, the jurors assign points for every contest that determine each team’s overall score and standing.
Kevin Burke works closely with William McDonough to give form to the eco-effective design principles on an array of project types and scales at William McDonough + Partners. He served as co-designer on several of the projects that have become known as milestones in American sustainable design. His approach is driven by his keen interest in place-making through integrated design solutions. Burke currently manages the 40-person practice, which opened a second studio in San Francisco in 2006. He is a key design leader, heading teams on Fuller Theological Seminary’s Worship Center and Library, the American University School of International Service, and VMware Corporate Headquarters, among other projects. Burke lectures widely about eco-effective design and cradle-to-cradle thinking as the backdrop for the firm’s architecture and its work on guidelines, master plans, and other frameworks. Burke is a LEED Accredited Professional.
Jonathan Knowles
Jonathan Knowles is an assistant professor of architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). He has been teaching at RISD since 2001 and was project director for RISD’s 2005 Solar Decathlon entry. He has initiated a pilot project with the Department of Engineering at Brown University to conduct research into new forms of thermal electric systems. Knowles has taught at the Parsons School of Design, Cornell University, and Columbia University. He is also a practicing architect and passive house consultant in New York City, where he is a partner at Briggs Knowles Studio. The work of the firm has been published in several venues, including the New York Times and Dwell magazine. He is currently overseeing the design and construction of two net-zero homes in New England. His degrees, a Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Fine Arts, are from RISD.
Sarah Susanka is the leader of a movement that is redefining the American home and lifestyle. Through her “build better, not bigger” approach to residential design, she teaches that the sense of “home” we seek has almost nothing to do with quantity and everything to do with quality. She is the author of eight best-selling books, including The Not So Big House, Home by Design, and The Not So Big Life. In March 2009, Taunton Press published Not So Big Remodeling, in which Susanka shows readers how to remodel in a not so big way, making a house more functional, inspiring, and more sustainable. Her books have sold more than 1 million copies. Susanka is regularly tapped for her expertise by national media, including “The Today Show,” CNN, and The New York Times. In January, Builder magazine recognized Susanka as one of 30 innovators in housing over the past 30 years. She is a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council and resides in North Carolina.
Engineering
Richard Bourne
Richard Bourne is in “semi-retirement” as a half-time manager at the Western Cooling Efficiency Center (WCEC) at UC Davis, where he is responsible for retailer affiliate relationships and major research projects to reduce the cost of large radiant floor cooling systems. Bourne has served as director of WCEC, principal of Davis Energy Group Inc., and owner and manager of Solar Concept Development Co. Bourne has been a registered mechanical engineer since 1978. He has been a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) since 1975 and served as a chairman on the Radiant Heating and Cooling Committee from 1988 to 1990. As part of his work, he has presented more than 150 special lectures, workshops, and technical papers on energy topics and has 20 United States patents.
David Click
David Click is an alumnus of the 2002 Solar Decathlon and the University of Virginia, where he earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering. He then worked for three years at Solar Design Associates near Boston on residential and commercial projects, including a 600-kW system on a warehouse roof and the 120-kW photovoltaic systems installed at the San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park. Now working for the Florida Solar Energy Center, he helps lead a week-long training course for aspiring solar contractors. He also serves as project support director, working with an affordable housing developer and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (among others) on solar power and energy efficiency projects throughout Florida. Click also serves as a U.S. Department of Energy Tiger Team lead for several Solar America projects, including the City of Orlando and two showcases. He and his wife, Barrie, are the proud owners of a new 5.4-kW grid-tied photovoltaic thermal system.
Ted Prythero
Ted Prythero is a principal in the Denver office of M-E Engineers, an international mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firm. Prior to M-E Engineers, he was a principal with Engineering Economics and a partner in ENSAR Group, a sustainability consulting firm. He has more than 30 years of experience in the design of HVAC systems, with an emphasis on energy conservation and applying innovative and alternative energy systems to buildings. Prythero also has extensive experience in energy management/control systems and energy analysis and has taught energy conservation seminars to design professionals. His interest has been working with other design team members to make more efficient envelopes and incorporate solar features into buildings. He has been involved in numerous exemplary energy-conserving buildings. He has received multiple awards, ranging from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Innovation in Energy award to the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado’s Engineering Excellence award. Prythero obtained a Bachelor of Science in engineering at Purdue University.
Market Viability
James Ketter
James Ketter is the engineering manager for GF Development, an arm of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Durango, Colorado. He has extensive management experience in commercial and residential planning, design, construction, and operations and is a staunch advocate for sustainable communities. His current work includes the Three Springs project in Durango, a 2,000-unit, mixed-use, sustainably constructed traditional neighborhood development project. Ketter earned a mechanical engineering degree from Ohio State University, is a registered professional engineer, a LEED Accredited Professional with the U.S. Green Building Council, and member of the American Solar Energy Society. Ketter was a founding board member of the Durango Discovery Museum, a planned science and energy museum showcasing energy past, present, and future to be housed in the world’s oldest-known surviving AC steam power plant.
Joyce Mason
Joyce Mason markets new home communities for Pardee Homes, one of the nation’s most prominent multi-regional builders. She developed Pardee’s LivingSmart® brand to promote energy and water savings, indoor air quality, and use of earth-friendly building materials. A member of the Building Industry Institute Advisory Board for California Green Builder, Mason earned The State of California Earth award for Pardee’s LivingSmart neighborhoods and habitat preservation in San Diego. Pardee Homes has received numerous sustainability awards, including the National Association of Home Builders’ Green Builder of the Year award, several Sustainable Community of the Year awards, and recognition from the U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and other local and regional agencies. She also devotes time to HomeAid. On its behalf, she coordinated display of a Pardee-built playhouse at the National Building Museum to teach children about green building.
Paul Waszink
Paul Waszink is a construction cost consultant who specializes in the development of independent cost opinions via personal-attention investigative scope verification, quantity surveying, cost analyses, and related services for real estate development projects. As part of his job, he develops project budgets and cost estimates; provides peer review of construction cost estimates; offers project management at the sub-consultant, pre-construction, and course-of-construction phases of a project; works as a party appraiser in insurance settlement disputes; and provides training for groups and agencies about project funding budgets, cost planning, and monitoring.
Lighting Design
Nancy Clanton
Nancy Clanton is founder and president of Clanton & Associates, a lighting design firm that specializes in sustainable design. She obtained her Bachelor of Science (in architectural engineering with an illumination emphasis) from the University of Colorado at Boulder and is a registered professional engineer. Clanton is chairperson of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America’s (IESNA’s) Outdoor Environmental Lighting Committee and the Mesopic Committee and is a past member of the boards of directors of the International Association of Lighting Designers and the IESNA. Clanton is currently a member of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Environmental Quality Technical Advisory Group. She was a topic editor for the IESNA Lighting Handbook, and her committee was responsible for the production of the IESNA Recommended Practice on Lighting for the Exterior Environment. Her firm has authored the lighting criteria for the Department of Defense Unified Facilities Criteria, the Colorado Department of Transportation Lighting Design Guide, and the exterior sections of California’s Title 24 2008 energy code.
Ron Kurtz
Ron Kurtz has been with Randy Burkett Lighting Design since 1990. His responsibilities as a lighting designer and project manager include the development of conceptual design, which involves the determination of both aesthetic and technical requirements, the preparation of contract documents and specifications, and construction phase coordination and field observation. His lighting design experience includes three years with Grenald Associates Ltd. in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Kurtz is an active member of the International Association of Lighting Designers, serves on the Sustainability Committee, and is a LEED Accredited Professional. He is also involved in the IESNA on local and national levels and participates on the Energy Management Committee. He is a member of ASHRAE’s 90.1 Energy Standards Committee and has been a speaker on a number of lighting topics at professional and educational conferences.
Naomi Miller
Naomi Miller is the principal of Naomi Miller Lighting Design in Troy, New York. Lighting quality, the aging eye, health effects of light, dark skies, sustainability, and energy efficiency are her passions. She has many years of experience working in different facets of the lighting industry but finds lighting to be an ever-advancing field with creative challenges. More than 30 lighting design awards hang on her wall. She earned an undergraduate degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master of Science in lighting degree from Rensselaer. She chaired the IESNA Quality of the Visual Environment committee for eight years and was a principal member of the writing team for Light + Design: A Guide to Designing Quality Lighting for People and Buildings. She is a fellow of the IESNA, fellow of the International Association of Lighting Designers, and member of the Lighting Research Office’s Technical Advisory Committee.
Communications
Maureen McNulty
Maureen McNulty manages D&R’s outreach on behalf of the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-administered program that works to speed the development and adoption of advanced building technologies. Before joining D&R, McNulty worked as an independent communications and marketing consultant and marketing director for an electronic communications firm. She also has six years of experience in program administration for an education association and several years as an account executive in public relations and marketing agencies. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in writing from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Art from Agnes Scott College.
Jaime Van Mourik
As the higher education sector manager at the U.S. Green Building Council, Jaime Van Mourik guides colleges and universities through the green building planning process and the implementation of the LEED Green Building Rating System. In this role, she directs the development of tools and resources for the sector and maintains customer relations for the council’s portfolio program. Prior to joining the U.S. Green Building Council, Van Mourik worked as a project manager at GreenShape, a sustainable design consulting firm, assisting more than 30 projects pursuing LEED certification. From 2002 to 2007, she worked at the National Building Museum developing, implementing, and managing educational programs about the built environment for an adult audience. Van Mourik is an active member of the building industry community, serves on the American Institute of Architects Washington, D.C., Inter-School Design Competition Committee, and is an Associate American Institute of Architects member and LEED Accredited Professional. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech and a Master of Architectural History from the University of Virginia.
Alan Wickstrom
Alan Wickstrom is the president and CEO of BuildingOnline Inc., a Web site design and Internet marketing agency devoted to the residential and commercial building products industries. BuildingOnline designed and hosts more than 120 of the industry’s leading Web sites, offers a building industry search engine and Web site directory, and manages BuildingOnline’s eUpdate, a building industry newsfeed service. He has 20 years of business marketing experience in these industries as well as 14 years of Internet marketing and design experience. Wickstrom has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from National University, San Diego. He is an accomplished speaker on the Internet and in the building industry. Wickstrom is an active Rotarian, serves on the board of the Italian American Opera Foundation, and served as the foundation president of the South Orange County School of the Arts until June 2009.
This Association of Public Land Grant Universities (APLU) sponsored event was designed to help DOE employees improve the grant review process. Had it been open to the public… it would have been of great interest to anyone trying to get government funding in the renewable energy arena.
It was a privilege to attend this event.
Jim Turner at the Association of Public Land Grant Universities (APLU) put on a stellar speaker panel and provided participants with the opportunity to meet the experts in the funding process. A select group of speaker presentations are listed below. One of the best featured speakers included D. Wayne Silby (Chair), Founding Chair of the Calvert Funds; Co-chair, Calvert Social Investment Foundation; Chair-elect and Principal, Syntao.com. Catherine Hunt, Dow, Director of Technology Collaboration Development was engaging and informative about finding practical solutions to industry problems.
The agenda and presentations are included below:
EERE Peer Review Best Practices Workshop
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
1307 New York Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20005
8:30 am Continental Breakfast
National Coalition of Organizations Create Clean Energy Week, Washington DC — February 1st – 5th, 2010
Organizations nationwide are joining together to maximize efforts to move clean energy to the forefront of national policy. Officially declaring February 1-5, 2010 as Clean Energy Week, a growing list of partners are working together to produce a high-impact week of powerful and effective activities and events.
Clean Energy Week, February 1-5, highlights:
February 1: Clean Energy Week Press Conference – Presented by ACORE, Alliance to Save Energy, and the Clean Economy Network. National Press Club, Holeman Room, 9:30am
February 1-5: NASEO State Energy Policy and Technology Outlook Conference
February 2-3: Business Advocacy Day for Jobs, Climate & New Energy Leadership – Clean Economy Network and Ceres’ Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy. More Information
February 3-5: RETECH 2010 Conference & Exhibition, Washington DC Convention Center
February 4: Finance Education Day by the U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance (US PREF)
February 4: Clean Energy Breakfast Roundtable – with Special Hill Guest Speaker. 8am (Clean Technology & Sustainable Industries Organization, Clean Economy Network and K&L Gates). Please contact CTSI or community@ct-si.org for an invite. Free with Invite
February 4: Renewable Energy Interactive Webinar (World Team Now) – 2:30-4pm. For more information and to register. Free Webinar
February 4: Buy Clean Energy 2010 Program Launch (Center for Resource Solutions). More information available! – Open Opportunity
February 4: A cutting-edge feed-in tariff that has the potential to transform New York State into a leading center for renewable-energy investment and job creation will be discussed in a public forum at the Cooper Union’s Great Hall in NYC at 6:30 p.m. http://www.nyses.org
February 5: Opportunities and Challenges for Renewable Energy in Latin America and the Caribbean (Latin American and Caribbean Council on Renewable Energy – LAC-CORE, Washington Convention Center: For more information and to register. Free Event
Venture-capital funding for clean-technology firms fell 33% in 2009 from the year before, but the sector fared better than others amid a dismal economy, data released Wednesday indicate.
More than $5.6 billion in venture-capital investment went to clean-tech firms — including solar, wind, energy efficiency, transportation and biofuels — last year, say preliminary data from market researcher Cleantech Group and finance firm Deloitte.
Total venture-capital investment has retreated to 2003 levels, but clean tech has reset only to 2007 levels, the Cleantech Group says. “It was a difficult year, but I see clean tech … as the best of the worst,” says Shawn Lesser, founder of finance firm Sustainable World Capital.
The money flow underscores that:
•Clean tech has muscle. In 2004, the sector accounted for about 3% of venture-capital investment. That expanded to about 25% in 2009. The sector last year, for the first time, received more private venture capital than any other sector, including software, Cleantech Group says.
•Efficiency and transportation are in. The top clean-tech recipient in 2009 was solar, which got 21% of it. But solar investment was down 64% from the previous year, while the transportation and energy-efficiency sectors had record years.
The drop for solar stems from several factors, including the big amounts of money needed to commercialize technologies, says Dallas Kachan, managing director of the Cleantech Group. Meanwhile, energy-efficiency firms — those concentrating on everything from lighting to green building materials — often need less money to bring products or services to market, may rely on more proven technologies and may pose less risk to investors. “They’re not reinventing the wheel,” Kachan says.
Last year, venture capital for transportation — for such things as electric cars and new battery technology — rose 47% to $1.1 billion. Investment in energy efficiency rose 39% to $1 billion.
•North America may be slipping. The region is still dominant for clean-tech venture capital, but it’s getting a smaller share than it used to. Last year, North America received 62% of clean-tech venture-capital dollars, down from 72% in 2008, the Cleantech Group says. Europe and Israel took in 29% of 2009 dollars, up from 22% in 2008. That Europe and Israel increased their share of venture-capital funding may reflect the desire for investors to pursue less risky deals in markets where clean tech is already more widely deployed, Lesser says.
The State of the States project was developed by the U.S. Department of Energy, NREL and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). It is funded by the Department of Energy’s office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
While states such as California and Texas with abundant resources continue to rank among the leading states in terms of total renewable electricity generation, the study shows that a range of other states are demonstrating strong growth in the clean energy sector, including those with historic fossil fuel legacies, such as Oklahoma and Illinois.
Wind energy accounted for the largest percentage of nationwide growth in renewable generation between 2001 and 2007, including a 30 percent increase in 2006 and 2007.
Biomass generation continued to expand across most regions, with states as disparate as Delaware, Utah, Minnesota and Alaska showing the most recent growth in the sector. Biomass generation continued to be strong in southeastern states, including Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
Key Findings
* Non-hydro renewable electricity generation as a percent of total electricity generation increased 33.7 percent between 2001 and 2007, reaching a national total of 105 million megawatt-hours.
* California led the nation in terms of total non-hydroelectric renewable generation in 2007; Maine is No. 1 when also considering state population and gross state product.
* Washington led in total renewable generation in 2007 if hydroelectric resources are included.
* South Dakota ranks first in overall growth in non-hydro renewable energy generation between 2001 and 2007.
* Geothermal electricity generation in the Lower 48 is concentrated in California, Nevada and Utah.
* Solar capacity is concentrated in the southwestern and northeastern states.
* Leading wind energy states are Texas, California, Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington. However, sparsely populated Wyoming leads in per-capita wind generation.
Bolton Hill Consulting is helping plan “Time for Change: Reframing the Conversation on Energy and Climate” At the release of MIT’s Innovations journal special issue on energy & climate
Event Details:
Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 Time: 1:00 – 6:45PM (Event: 1-5:40PM; Reception: 5:45-6:45PM) Place: The National Academy of Sciences, 2100 C Street, NW (21st and Constitution Avenue), Washington, DC 20001(Foggy Bottom Metro) Cost: Free of charge – Register here
Event Description
The goal of this meeting is to contribute to reframing the conversation on energy and climate by illuminating opportunities inherent in the transition away from carbon intensity. The meeting will focus on how technologies already in use can be combined with common-sense policies and 21st century modes of organization to create jobs, advance innovation, and enhance international cooperation. The meeting will take place at the National Academy of Sciences and will engage leaders from business, government, and academia in a discussion of the societal possibilities inherent in the in the creation of climate solutions. The event is timed to take place two weeks before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, and coincides with the release of the Innovations journal special issue on energy & climate titled “Energy for Change.” Led by the Science Adviser to the President of the United States, John Holdren, and informed by a year-long project on energy & climate at the National Academy of Sciences, the meeting will be organized into a set of forward-looking conversations respectively emphasizing opportunities for business, for the United States, and for the global community of nations.
Featured speakers include:
John Holdren, Science Adviser to the President of the United States and former Director of the Belfer Center’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
Thomas Schelling, 2005 recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics
Bill Drayton, Founder and CEO of Ashoka, Innovators for the Public
Richard Meserve, President of the Carnegie Institution
Iqbal Quadir, Founder and Director of MIT’s Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship
Renewable energy comprised more than half the energy added this year to the Northeast grid, comprising part of Canada and 6 US states. 17 GW of renewable energy projects in the region will be completed in the next five years.
It is no coincidence that each of these states has a state renewable portfolio standard which requires utilities to add an increasing percent of renewable power to the grid each year. New York’s RPS requires 24% by 2013, Maine:40% by 2017(met), Vermont:20% by 2017, New Hampshire:16% by 2025, Rhode Island:16% by 2019, and Connecticut:27% by 2020 )
The Renewable Portfolio Standard is a sure way to get more homegrown climate-friendly renewable power on the grid and is up for votes yet again this year (in the American Clean Jobs & American Power Act) after multiple previous attempts to pass it.
>>Find local group discounts on solar power for your home.
Democrats have attempted to pass a Renewable Portfolio Standard multiple times, for example here and again. Each time Republicans have defeated it by calling coal renewable, or filibustered it to prevent passage. (Renewable energy is defined as energy that is from a resource that is renewable and that has low carbon dioxide emissions, a greenhouse gas.)
It is included again in the current renewable energy bill in the Senate now (CEJAPA) and is the closest it has been to having the critical mass needed to pass it.
Maine has a RPS and has more renewable energy on the grid than any state in the nation; 55%. Collins and Snowe of Maine are two of the four Republicans who have reliably sided with Democrats on renewable energy. However the other two were both voted out last year; Smith of Oregan and Coleman of Minnesota.
Even when states don’t meet them, having an RPS requirement has been proven to get more power on the grid than not having one.
Image: Flikr user Katerina
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Tags: American Clean Jobs & American Power Act, Connecticut 27% by 2020, Maine:40% by 2017(met), New Hampshire:16% by 2025, Northeast 17 Gigawatts renewable, NY: 24% by 2013, Renewable Portfolio Standard, Rhode Island:16% by 2019, Vermont:20% by 2017
by Ashley Seager for guardian.co.uk, Sunday 1 November 2009 14.20 GMT
The German-led Desertec initiative believes it can deliver power to Europe as early as 2015
The technology is not new – it is the scale of the Desertec initiative which is a first…
A $400bn (£240bn) plan to provide Europe with solar power from the Sahara moved a step closer to reality today with the formation of a consortium of 12 companies to carry out the work.
The Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII) aims to provide 15% of Europe’s electricity by 2050 or earlier via power lines stretching across the desert and Mediterranean sea.
The German-led consortium was brought together by Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, and consists of some of country’s biggest engineering and power companies, including Siemens, E.ON, ABB and Deutsche Bank.
It now believes the DII can deliver solar power to Europe as early as 2015.
“We have now passed a real milestone as the company has been founded and there is definitely a profitable business there,” said Professor Peter Höppe, Munich Re’s head of climate change.
“We see this as a big step towards solving the two main problems facing the world in the coming years – climate change and energy security,” said Höppe.
The solar technology involved is known as concentrated solar power (CSP) which uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays on a fluid container. The super-heated liquid then drives turbines to generate electricity. The advantage over solar photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight directly to electricity, is that if sufficient hot fluid is stored in containers, the generators can run all night.
The technology is not new – there have been CSP plants running in the deserts of California and Nevada for two decades. But it is the scale of the Desertec initiative which is a first, along with plans to connect North Africa to Europe with new high voltage direct current cables which transport electricity over great distances with little loss.
For three weeks in October 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy will host the Solar Decathlon—a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The Solar Decathlon is also an event to which the public is invited to observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the best in home design.
Exact dates of the 2009 event are:
Oct. 1—Teams arrive at the National Mall and begin assembly of their houses
Oct. 8-16—Teams compete in 10 contests
Oct. 9-13—Houses are open to the public
Oct. 15-18—Houses are open to the public
Oct. 19-21—Teams disassemble their houses.
The Solar Decathlon houses will be open for public tours 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Monday–Friday and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Please note that all homes will be closed Wed., Oct. 14.
The Solar Decathlon consists of three major phases:
Building: This is where most of the work—and the learning—happens. In addition to designing houses that use innovative, high-tech elements in ingenious ways, students have to raise funds, communicate team activities, collect supplies, and work with contractors. Although the Solar Decathlon competition receives the most attention, it’s the hard work that students put in during the building phase that makes or breaks a team.
Moving to the Solar Village: When it’s time for the Solar Decathlon, the teams transport their houses to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and rebuild them on site.
Competing: During the competition itself, the teams receive points for their performance in 10 contests and open their homes to the public.
Purpose
The Solar Decathlon brings attention to one of the biggest challenges we face—an ever-increasing need for energy. As an internationally recognized event, it offers powerful solutions—using energy more efficiently and using energy from renewable sources.
The Solar Decathlon has several goals:
To educate the student participants—the “Decathletes”—about the benefits of energy efficiency, renewable energy and green building technologies. As the next generation of engineers, architects, builders, and communicators, the Decathletes will be able to use this knowledge in their studies and their future careers.
To raise awareness among the general public about renewable energy and energy efficiency, and how solar energy technologies can reduce energy usage.
To help solar energy technologies enter the marketplace faster. This competition encourages the research and development of energy efficiency and energy production technologies.
To foster collaboration among students from different academic disciplines—including engineering and architecture students, who rarely work together until they enter the workplace.
To promote an integrated or “whole building design” approach to new construction. This approach differs from the traditional design/build process because the design team considers the interactions of all building components and systems to create a more comfortable building, save energy, and reduce environmental impact.
To demonstrate to the public the potential of Zero Energy Homes, which produce as much energy from renewable sources, such as the sun and wind, as they consume. Even though the home might be connected to a utility grid, it has net zero energy consumption from the utility provider.
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