Solar Joins the Right Price Energy Club

Solar parity is here.

Honest. That's what a new study from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario says.

"Given the state of the art in the technology and favourable financing terms it is clear that PV has already obtained grid parity in specific locations," say K. Brawker, M.J.M. Pathak and J.M. Pearce in the report, "A Review of Solar Photovoltaic Levelized Cost of Electricity."

That and technological innovation, which is driving up solar system efficiencies, could open new markets and spur significant development of projects focused on harvesting the sun's energy. In California's San Joaquin Valley, we're already seeing the results with about 40 projects in the works in Fresno County and at least as many in nearby counties.

Ferocious cost reductions

Sami Grover, from treehugger.com, put it this way: "With the solar industry delivering ferocious cost reductions, falling as much as 11 percent in just six months, it's little wonder that some predict that solar will be cheaper than coal in the very near future."

A cleantechnica.com editor says the findings by Queen's University don't even take into account health, energy security and environmental costs of fossil fuels "and it STILL finds that solar has reached grid parity in many places."

The recent Durban Climate Summit clarified the dangers of allowing pollution to continue without restraint. The cost and potential damage of unparalleled production of greenhouse gases is impossible to determine. But one thing's for certain, it will be huge.

The rapid innovation of solar technology offers a way to cut into reliance on fossil fuels. Whether it will make a difference is anybody's guess.

Solar interest high

A solar research symposium at the University of California, Merced, Dec. 9, 2011, draws students and researchers from UC Merced's program, which is fast becoming a leader in solar research, and University of California campuses of Berkeley, Davis, Santa Barbara and San Diego as well as other universities. All report that their programs are working hard to improve the efficiency of solar cells.

At the symposium, Sarah Kurtz, interim director of the National Center for Photovoltaics and principal scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, tells my co-worker Sandy Nax that costs are dropping "spectacularly."

Nax also reports in a recent post that the industry is expanding at a robust rate with photovoltaic shipments doubling every two years.

Gaining efficiency

While many photovoltaic cells on the market range between 12 and 20 percent efficient, moves are being made to increase that number significantly. However, those technologies also cost more. "The challenge is to make high efficiency with low cost and high reliability," Kurtz says.

Some in our sun-drenched valley are concerned about seeing solar panels everywhere, especially on prime farmland. Nax tells me that efficiencies reduce solar's footprint and likely will improve its image, especially amongst concerned farmers.

That and estimated $1 per watt equipment costs will go a long way toward influencing standards that include photovoltaic panels as part of nearly every newly constructed building or major retrofit and remodel. Toss in escalating electricity rates, and solar may become as common as flat-screen television sets in American households.

But rather than offering entertainment, this electronic device will create a new era of distributed energy.

Nothing's easy

There will be challenges. For instance, what happens when the sun falls below the horizon? Cheap solar provides options that weren't otherwise available. Perhaps production of hydrogen will become more widespread that either can be used in fuel cells or in other applications.

Political leaders also will have to knuckle under and institute more laws like California's Global Warming Solutions Act, which seeks to reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels, and the requirement that utilities get a third of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. Otherwise, the incentive by the private sector to start figuring out cleaner alternatives might not great enough to foster widespread change.

It can be done. Even at Durban, which drew representatives from 190 countries, leaders in the final hours of the Climate Summit put together what some media sources call a road map to a legally binding climate treaty by 2020.

We'll see.

Mike Nemeth, project manager of the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization, spent 24 years working as a newspaperman editing and reporting from Alaska to California. The SJVCEO is a nonprofit dedicated to improving quality of life through increased use of clean and alternative energy. The SJVCEO is based in Fresno, Calif. and works with cities and counties and public and private organizations to demonstrate the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy throughout the eight-county region of the San Joaquin Valley. For more information, go to http://www.sjvcleanenergy.org/.

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Engineering Unlimited Energy Resources and Value

Put enormous magnifying glasses on the outsides of Egyptian-like pyramid structures focused towards the center of a geodeisic dome. Change ocean water into into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas.

Envision taking the biggest pyramid in Egypt and turning it upside down. Get enough of those pyramids to create an enormous sphere, with the bottoms of the pyramids on the outside of the sphere, and all the tips focused towards the center.

Put half of the sphere underwater at sea level, and the top above sea level would look like a giant dome.

Put mirrors on the bottom side which is underwater, so the Sun will reflect back to the thermal collector at the center, significantly increasing the amount of heat focused, magnified, and collected.

The Sun will focus, from sunrise to sunset, through the magnifying glasses on the dome, and will reflect off the mirrors on the underside dome. These two powerful mechanisms would focus a tremendous amount of heat energy on the thermal collector at the center. This heat would be a lot hotter than magma from a volcano. If it was not, according to simulated computer models, then increase the size of the sphere could be increased.

Use the heat from the thermal collector to change the Ocean water into pure water and some other byproducts, using two available processes. The division of water into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas can be accomplished using the process of hydrolysis. The electrical power necessary to run the process of hydrolysis can be created using the process of photovoltaics, using the heat from the sun to create electricity. There would be plenty of heat to vaporize the pure water into hydrogen and oxygen gases, to make products from different kinds of left over residue, and to recycle any waste.

Using formulas and methods in Physics and Chemistry, there would be 'no end' to what we could produce, and some Chemists and/or Physicists can show somebody who does not believe this is true, how to prove it for oneself.

If we needed to, we could simply use the thermal energy to pump ocean water through big pipes on the Ocean floor, to a dome on nearby land, where the ocean water could be separated into different products, especially for safety reasons.

It sure would help out with the problem of providing fuel for the World, and produce some valuable products to sell, if this kind of light magnification resource was engineered.

Horace W. Crosby, Jr., M.Ed.

My name is Horace W. Crosby, Jr., M.Ed.

This article is written "outside of the box", compared to many current micro-economic theories.

My website offers some new solutions to some old problems, and you can download a free ebook of my upcoming book, Astronomical Energy Resources, Value, and Lifestyles there.

The website URL is http://astronomical-energy-solutions.com/

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Ex PQ leader joins Questerre Energy

Canada's shale gas industry is turning to another Quebec political heavyweight to bolster its case for further exploration.

Alberta-based Questerre Energy has appointed former Parti Québécois leader André Boisclair as an advisor to its board.

The company was running shale gas exploration projects in Quebec when the province's Liberal government, under growing public pressure, announced a two-year moratorium on new developments.

Boisclair's "knowledge of Quebec culture" makes him a valuable advisor on "socio-political considerations" in the province, Questerre Energy said in a news release.

Boisclair said that Quebec's energy independence remains a priority for him, noting the moratorium offers time to engage in a "constructive dialogue" about shale gas.

Boisclair served as Quebec environment minister under PQ premier Bernard Landry a decade ago.

Opposition to the controversial energy source is based largely on concerns about groundwater contamination during extraction.

The extraction process known as "fracking" can lead to underground leaks.

Another ex PQ leader is already heavily involved in the shale gas industry.

As president of the Quebec Oil and Gas Association, former premier Lucien Bouchard is entrusted with selling skeptical Quebecers on the merits of shale gas exploitation.

Boisclair and Bouchard's involvement in shale gas is a betrayal to the sovereignty movement, according to one elected official in Quebec City.

Québec solidaire MNA Amir Khadir said it's sad to see public figures with clout and "knowledge of the workings of government" serving corporate interests.

Their work on behalf of shale gas interests contributes to general cynicism among voters, Khadir said, especially given Quebec's ongoing struggle with corruption allegations.

Quebec's Lower Saint-Lawrence region is rich in shale deposits.

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