Archive for category Air Quality

Solar Energy – Why All Eyes Are on Israel

Aug 9

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In spite of increased use of alternative forms of energy in recent years, the United States is still far too dependent on ever-dwindling fossil fuel resources. Solar energy is the cleanest source of energy, and we’ve known about it for years, but we haven’t really put it to use the way we should. The increasing affordability of solar hot water and higher costs of more traditional forms of power are causing more of us to consider installing solar panels. But to really keep abreast of the developments in solar technology, we can learn the most from Israel.

This may be surprising to some. Israel is by no means the richest country in the world, so how can they afford to be at the forefront of a technology that is widely considered so expensive? Well, this goes some way to highlighting just how affordable such technology is today, and in a country that is blessed by more than 300 days of sunlight a year – they have been benefiting from solar hot water for over 50 years.

In the 1950s an Israeli fuel shortage stimulated entrepreneurial engineer Levi Yissar to invent a solar water heater, which became a commercial venture by 1953. By 1967 one in 20 Israeli homes were using the heaters and 50,000 had been sold. Demand dropped over the next few years, but picked up again due to a national energy crisis in the 70s, pushing the Israeli government to pass a law assuring that every new home was built with a solar water heater installed.

Since then the country has grown to become the world leader in solar production – with the Ministry of National Infrastructures estimating that solar saves Israel around two million barrels of oil a year. However, despite the abundant amount of sunlight and the long-established use of solar for heating water, Israel is also at the forefront of making solar ever more efficient – to the point of matching fossil fuels.

In a report at NPR, David Faiman of Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Centre highlights the problems with solar. “Solar energy is a very dilute form of energy compared to fossil energy. If you take one metre of the sun rich Negev desert…it will take nearly a year to absorb from the sun the equivalent of one barrel of oil, and mankind is currently consuming energy at the rate of two hundred million barrels a day.” Despite this, Israel’s work with concentrator photo voltaics technology is speeding up the process – producing 1,500 watts of electric power from just a four inch by four inch solar panel.

Sarah Maple writes about energy management and renewable energy. The Green Project has been set up to give you and your community the best advice and recommendations on ways to make your home more energy efficient to reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Maple

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Reducing GHG Emissions in California

Jul 27

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Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32, 2006) mandates a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Since cars and light-duty trucks represent 46% of total greenhouse gas emissions, all we have to do is tell the automakers what emissions goals they need to reach, and that should solve the problem, right? Well, no. There’s a smarter way to go about it.

If we continue to assume that people will keep driving cars, and that the population is expected to increase, the carmakers alone are not going to be able to solve the problem. What about changing the existing assumptions? What if people didn’t have to drive as far? What if they more of them took public transportation? Could thinking like that, combined with lower emissions from the biggest polluters, enable us to reduce greenhouse gasses (ghg’s) in spite of an increase in population?

Enter Senate Bill 375 (SB 375, 2008), which requires a reduction of ghg’s to 1990 levels from new land development or redevelopment projects. It also called for the creation of a technical advisory committee to advise the California Air Resource Board (CARB) on how to reach the 2020 goal.

So where does this committee come from? Who has the knowledge to make such a comprehensive ten-year plan? Twenty-one people have volunteered their time to make this happen. For the most part, they fall into two groups: organizations whose goal is to reduce emissions and organizations who want their cities and counties to thrive. While these goals may seem to be at odds, the job of the Regional Targets Advisory Committee (RTAC) is to make a plan to do both at the same time.

Who is representing our community’s varying interests? Ten committee members are involved in local government and city planning, five are involved in public transportation, five are from organizations that support environmental issues, and one from a California new home builder. They come from all of the major metropolitan areas as well as universities and state-wide organizations.

The RTAC report to the California Air Resources Board is due at the end of September. In the next two months, they will put together recommendations of actions and measurements that will enable each region to meet the required goals, taking into consideration the capabilities of each entity and current and projected economic factors. No small feat.

When they’re done, they’ll have accomplished something that could not have been done without a huge long-term commitment from a wide variety of organizations. This is the only kind of effort that can possibly make a significant dent in greenhouse gasses in California.

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