Wals Environmentally Friendly News Blog: 2010-10-03

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Net feed-in tariff begins in WA

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From 1 August 2010 householders in WA will receive a feed-in tariff of 40c per kilowatt hour for surplus solar power they produce and feed into the grid. The rate is in addition to buyback schemes offered through Synergy and Horizon Power.

The WA Government has determined the feed in tariff will be paid to homeowners for 10 years, however the scheme itself will be reviewed every three years or after every 10 megawatts of renewable energy generation.

For more information go to the Office of Energy website.

http://www.ingenero.com.au/admin/reports/updates

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Peace Corps to Latin America: Give Green a Chance

The U.S. State Department has given the Peace Corps $1 million to start a grassroots program that will help mitigate the effects of climate change and bring renewable energy to developing communities in Central and South America. The new Peace Corps effort is part of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA), which President Barack Obama created in April 2009.

"We can strengthen the foundation of our prosperity and our security and our environment through a new partnership on energy," said Obama when proposed the ECPA at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. "Our hemisphere is blessed with bountiful resources, and we are all endangered by climate change. Now we must come together to find new ways to produce and use energy so that we can create jobs and protect our planet."

Under this newest ECPA program, Peace Corps volunteers will educate local communities about climate change and energy conservation and teach them how to install, operate and maintain clean-energy technologies such as biodigesters, solar water heaters, photovoltaic devices, solar and fuel-efficient stoves, and wind or mini-hydroelectric power generators. Volunteers will also help people in their host countries adapt vehicles to run on alternative fuels.

The goal of the partnership is to make clean energy more accessible to rural communities, reduce carbon emissions, improve public health, and provide new income opportunities for people and small businesses in developing communities. Not a bad idea.

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UQ Australia's largest solar PV flat panel array to host

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Press release June 2010

Be fitting his home in the Sunshine State, hosts of the University of Queensland soon developed the largest flat panel monitor-solar plant in Australia, and installed a solar leading firms Ingenero in cooperation with Trina solar - the world's largest and the most innovative solar PV companies. The University of Queensland's (UQ) St Lucia campus in Brisbane will soon be a 1.2MW home solar system installed on four roofs. The system will integrate cutting edge solar technology, including over 5000 polycrystalline silicon solar panels manufactured by Trina solar. This large-scale solar power system installation will provide not only a major source of clean green energy UQ but also valuable data about the positive effect which embedded within power distribution networks can have solar generators will supply. "It is the latest project in a range of renewable energy that Ingenero and UQ worked on the basis of research projects closely to the last two years." The solar UQ represents the leading edge of the commercial and industrial scale solar energy in Australia. "The University significantly reduce your carbon footprint and provide an excellent learning system for the future leaders in the renewable energy industry", said Ingenero CEO Steve McRae.Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield praised the State Government for its commitment to solar research and technology. "UQ recognised leadership as a generator and user of solar energy and also as a provider of international teaching, research and development of solar technologies will show," said Professor Greenfield. Professor Paul Meredith, leading the research project at the University of Queensland said: "not only is this a significant piece of infrastructure for UQ array, but it is a leading global institution for research and teaching."Our goal is that array integrated in the business of UQ and provide the community to optimize the industry and the Government with important information about the deployment and solar energy systems on this scale. "We look forward to creating productive and expansive research partnerships with Ingenero and Trina solar."As part of project UQ, Ingenero are donations a Solfocus concentrated photovoltaic (CPV)-array for research and teaching purposes. Trina will help solar research activities through cooperation on several leading edge solar technology research projects the UQ's.

This successful tender of Ingenero follows another milestone for local Brisbane society, also a major solar project awarded for Alice Springs Airport.This 235kW plant is built first Solfocus CPV power plant in the southern hemisphere and generates up to 28% of the airport energy requirement

The University of Queensland's (UQ) St Lucia campus in Brisbane will soon be a 1.2MW home solar system which is about four roofs only.the system cutting edge solar technology, including over 5000 polycrystalline silicon solar panels manufactured by Trina solar integrate.

This large-scale solar power system installation will provide not only a major source of clean green energy UQ but also valuable data about the positive effect which embedded within power distribution networks can have solar generators will supply.It is the latest project in a range of renewable energy that Ingenero and UQ worked on the basis of research projects closely to the last two years.

"The UQ solar system represents the leading edge of the commercial and industrial scale solar energy in Australia.""The University significantly reduce your carbon footprint and provide an excellent learning system for the future leaders in the renewable energy industry", said Ingenero CEO Steve McRae.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield praised the State Government for its commitment to solar research and technology.

"UQ recognised leadership as a generator and user of solar energy and also as a provider of international teaching, research and development of solar technologies will show," said Professor Greenfield.

Professor Paul Meredith, leading the research project at the University of Queensland said: "array, not only is this a significant piece of infrastructure for UQ but it is a leading global institution for research and target's Lehre.Unser array integrated in the business of UQ and provide the community, industry and Government with important information about the deployment and solar energy systems on this scale to optimieren.Wir look forward to creating productive and expansive research partnerships with Ingenero and Trina solar."

"As part of project UQ, Ingenero are donations a Solfocus concentrated photovoltaic (CPV)-array academic Zwecke.Trina is solar also through collaboration on several leading edge solar technology research projects to UQ's research activities contribute."

This successful tender of Ingenero follows another milestone for the local Brisbane company which built a large solar project for Alice Springs Airport awarded notified.the 235kW plant is the first Solfocus CPV power plant in the southern hemisphere and generates up to 28% of the energy needs of the airport.

Ingenero is the leader in commercial and industrial solutions to its customers cost-effective renewable energy access allow to accelerate their move to sustainability.

Your systems integration laboratory, research partnerships with the University of Queensland and extensive remote monitoring functions for a supplier of choice for commercial and industrial power users make Ingenero.

Ingenero offers a range of turnkey and outsourced solar power solutions, including power purchase agreements users all the benefits of solar energy without the initial cost of in place solar energy generation can access.

Ingenero's-installations are supported by extensive maintenance and warranty provisions.

The residential market for solar energy and hot water also complies Ingenero.

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Electricity price hike for Qld

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The independent Queensland Competition Authority has approved an increase in electricity prices by 13.29%. The price hike is blamed on increasing demands on the Queensland electricity network.

For further information go to the Department of Mines and Energy's media release.

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$ 129 / yr - electricity - price increase in Queensland

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BP Oil Well Finally Capped, But Environmental Damage Continues

The BP Macondo oil well has finally been laid to rest--nearly five months to the day after the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and caught fire on April 20 [2010], killing 11 workers, rupturing the well, and starting one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in U.S. history.

The federal government declared the well officially dead on Sunday [Sept. 19, 2010], after BP finished drilling a relief well 18,000 feet beneath the ocean surface and pumped cement into the damaged well to create a final seal that will prevent the escape of any more oil and gas.

Adm. Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard officer who is leading the federal spill response, said in a statement that the well "poses no continuing threat to the Gulf of Mexico." That may be true of the damaged well, but it's certainly not true of the oil spill it caused.

Scientists recently discovered a new underwater plume of oil and found a thick layer of oily sediment on the sea floor, stretching for dozens of miles in all directions from the site of the damaged well. But the oil is not staying underwater. It's starting to resurface and wash ashore on the beaches and in the coastal marshes of states that border the Gulf, from Louisiana to Florida, a situation that scientists say could continue for years. And in Florida, scientists have discovered a mix of oil and chemical dispersants, toxic to marine life, floating farther east than anyone had previously expected.

Shrimp fishing in the Gulf has come to a standstill. No one is willing to buy the shrimp even if the fishermen could find them. And the claims of many people whose lives and livelihoods were seriously disrupted by the oil spill remain unpaid. On top of everything else, many Gulf Coast residents who worked to clean up the spill are now reporting a variety of illnesses that appear to be linked to the oil spill and the chemicals used in the cleanup.

About the only good news to come out of the Gulf recently, except for the final capping of the well, is a report from government scientists that natural microbes are consuming the oil without depleting so much oxygen in the water that they create additional dead zones where fish and other marine life cannot survive. Yet even that news is tainted by reports showing that the annual summertime dead zone in the waters south of the Mississippi Delta was twice as big in 2010 as in 2009, nearly 8,000 square miles according to the most conservative estimates.

It seems pretty clear that the full extent of environmental damage from the BP oil spill of 2010 won't be known for many years, perhaps decades. Scientists still aren't sure how much oil, natural gas and chemical dispersants remain in Gulf waters and surrounding marine environments nor can they predict with any certainty the long-term effects on the species that live, nest or migrate in the area.

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Friday, October 8, 2010

$129/yr electricity price rise in Qld

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Ingenero installs 750th solar school

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Ingenero has installed the 750th solar power system on a school rooftop as part of the Queensland Government Solar and Efficiency Program which aims to put solar power in all Queensland state schools.

The installation at the Yeronga State High School in mid-April was number 234 for Ingenero.

Ingenero is one of three suppliers to the Queensland government program.

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Is Obama Soft on Environmental Crime?

President Barack Obama may be tough on pollution, but he's gone soft on the worst corporate polluters, according to government records released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) that show the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency criminal enforcement program is understaffed and under-performing.

We're not talking about bureaucrats or policy wonks here. Investigators for the EPA Criminal Investigation Division (CID) carry guns and badges and investigate the most serious environmental crimes and corporate pollution offenses.

The U.S. Pollution Prosecution Act of 1990 requires a minimum of 200 CID agents. According to EPA statistics, however, there were only 173 agents in 2010, down from 205 in 2003. PEER says the number of agents working in 2010 is actually 160, because the higher figure of 173 includes 13 open positions that are budgeted but unfilled.

The EPA is not unaware of the problem. The FY 2010 EPA budget summary declares: "The program will increase the number of agents to complete its three-year hiring strategy of raising its special agent workforce to 200 criminal investigators." Unfortunately, with only a few months left in 2010, the number of active CID investigators is going down, not up.

Too few agents leads to other problems. According to Justice Department figures:

CID referred only 339 criminal cases for federal prosecution in 2009, a 40 percent decline from 1999 Criminal prosecutions filed from EPA cases and convictions obtained are both down more than 25 percent from 1999 to 2009

It's not a new problem. During President George W. Bush's first term, negative publicity about the White House diverting CID agents to Homeland Security led to a management review that recommended a series of reforms to restore the emphasis on investigating and prosecuting environmental crimes. Unfortunately, the bulk of these reforms were never implemented.

"It is simple--without pollution cops on the beat, polluters go free," said Florida PEER Director Jerry Phillips, a former state enforcement attorney. "Besides staffing and resources, CID needs leadership that helps rather than hinders its special agents in making busts that stick."

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Field of ‘giant sunflowers’ to power Alice Springs Airport

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Media Release 21 April 2010
Alice Springs Airport will soon derive over a quarter of its total electricity requirements from 28 solar power arrays that will track the sun across the sky each day – like a field of giant sunflowers.
One of Australia’s leading solar power companies, Ingenero Pty Ltd, is to design and construct a 235 kilowatt solar power station for the airport. Part of the Alice Solar City project, the power station will use leading edge solar concentrator technology from American company SolFocus.
A field next to the airport terminal will soon be home to the 28 concentrated photovoltaic arrays, each pole-mounted and designed to capture maximum energy by tracking the path of the sun across the sky. Every year the solar power station will produce approximately 600 megawatt hours of electricity – the equivalent power used by about 70 homes in Alice Springs.
At the end of the day each 8.4 kilowatt array will close down for the night by turning its panels a few degrees off vertical (like a sunflower) to protect them from dust and other hazards.
“Alice Springs is the ideal location for concentrated photovoltaics, especially with its status as an Australian government Solar City. Ingenero is proud to be able to bring this exciting solar technology to Australia for the first time” said Rodger Whitby, GM of Generation at Ingenero.
The power station, one of five iconic projects planned for Alice Solar City, will be the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere. The system incorporates highly efficient triple junction photovoltaic (PV) cells originally developed for satellites in space. These PV cells are capable of operating at twice the efficiency of standard solar panels and at much higher temperatures. The SolFocus technology also uses panels made up of inexpensive mirrored dishes about 300mm in diameter to concentrate the sun’s rays by 650 times.
The airport’s solar power station will produce around 28% of its electricity and will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by around 470 tonnes of CO2e per annum.
Ingenero CEO Steve McRae said, “Alice Springs Airport has been visionary in choosing this world leading SolFocus CPV technology and the Australian government has provided invaluable financial support for the project.”
The project will cost approximately $2.3 million, up to half of which will be met by the Australian Government under the Solar Cities program. Construction will begin in the next few weeks and is expected to be complete by August 2010.
Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of SolFocus, Steve Horne, who is originally from Australia, said, “CPV works best in environments with clear skies and little cloud cover – so that means most of Australia other than the coastal fringe. SolFocus is very optimistic about the future prospects for our technology in Australia and we are very happy to be entering this market with Ingenero as a development partner.”
Ingenero is the market leader in delivering commercial and industrial solutions that allow its customers to access cost-effective renewable energy, accelerating their move to sustainability.
Their Systems Integration Laboratory, research partnerships with the University of Queensland, and extensive remote monitoring capabilities make Ingenero the supplier of choice to commercial and industrial power users.
Ingenero offers a range of turnkey and outsourced solar power solutions including Power Purchase Agreements which allow users to access all the benefits of solar power without the upfront costs of on-site solar power generation.
Ingenero's installations are supported by extensive maintenance and warranty provisions.
Ingenero also meets the needs of the residential market for solar power and hot water.
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Go to solar Ezy way

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Free energy wind power & renewable energy solar energy options

Create a home is its own wind and solar power. Pays 75%. Huge back-sales and Commission $ 54. This is the next water 4 gas? www.FreeEnergyOptions.com/affiliates niche-related section.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Friday, October 8, 2010

Thursday, October 7, 2010