From behind bars to the rooftop

California has an innovative program to train ex-convicts to install solar panels, which is a booming market in the state.

Some solar-installation companies say these new employees are among their most productive and trustworthy, according to this WSJ article.

It would be great if more states had programs like this. And prison inmates should be put to work fabricating rooftop wind turbines, in addition to license plates. The turbines could be installed on government buildings, saving taxpayer money.

Towers of power

A California utility plans to power more than 800,000 homes with solar electricity in a new project.

Southern California Edison plans to puchase electricity from a series of solar towers to be operated by BrightSource Energy.

Drawing from the design of a BrightSource "power tower" in Israel’s Negev Desert, the California towers will use heliostats or moving mirrors to concentrate light onto a tower. This concentrated energy will be used to make steam. The first project will be completed in 2013, according to this article.

Aiming to generate 100-megawatts of power in Ivanpah, Calif., Brightsource says it can power 65,000 homes via 286,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year.

Financial details of the deal are not being revealed, but some are calling this one of the biggest solar power contracts in the United States.

This is the kind of project that can be replicated in many areas of the United States.

Here's a video from Brightsource.

Tax credits for solar really do create economic growth

Because of federal and state incentives, the booming solar industry in California is adding exponentially more to the economy, according to this story.

Two years into the California Solar Initiative, the taxpayers’ investment of $775 million in solar rebates has yielded $5 billion in private investment in solar projects and rapidly expanded the state’s renewable energy industry, according to the report. That’s helped create strong solar companies like solar cell maker SunPower (SPWRA) and markets for thin-film solar companies such as First Solar (FSLR). The decade-long program is on track to achieve its target of 3,000 megawatts of rooftop solar and in the first two years of the program more solar has been installed in California than in the previous 25 years.

Check out the report from the California Public Utilities Commission. According to a CPUC press release, "On average, for every $1 in incentive committed by the California Solar Initiative, an additional $6 in private funds is invested in solar technology in California."

More states need to introduce aggressive tax credits for solar, wind and other alternative energy production. And if the federal government went even higher than the 30% tax credit, we'd see huge investment by business.

As I've written before, the key to reducing our trade imbalance is curbing our energy imports. And if we curb our energy imports by creating a domestic economy based on green energy production, we will create an export boom.

Remember the huge boom to our economy from the Silicon Valley days? We can do it again, but this time the effects would truly be sustainable.

States to get right to set own automobile fuel efficiency and emissions standards

California and 13 other states that have sought to set fuel efficiency standards and limit emissions on new cars sold will get that right.

President Obama is set to issue a federal order Monday to make this possible, according to a New York Times article.

It's clear that people want to hold carmakers to a higher standard. This might make the cars more expensive, but the success of pricier hybrids has shown that people are willing to pay for cars that satisfy their conscience.

The more states that pass such standards on fuel efficiency and emissions, the more that automakers will make all cars more fuel efficient. Really, this is a long time coming. My wife's old 1998 Honda Civic would get 38 mpg on a good day. Now, a decade later, things haven't improved much, and that's not acceptable.

California's big energy gamble

California has been a world leader in design, style, entertainment and technology. If Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gets his way, the state will also be a world leader in reducing energy use and carbon emissions.

A recent episode of Nova on PBS focused on the Governator's initiative, called AB-32. Here's a link to the PBS Web site on this particular program, "California's Big Energy Gamble." You can get additional information and watch streaming video of the program.

The initiative hopes to slash predicted emissions by 30% by 2020. By 2050 it aims to reduce California's emissions to levels not seen since the early 20th century.

Critics say the initiative will destroy the state's economy by increasing energy costs to the point where jobs and capital leave the state.

The program compares TV stars and neighbors Ed Begley, Jr., and Bill Nye (The Science Guy). Begley has six KW of solar panels on his roof, Nye has four KW. Begley also is ahead of Nye by having dimmable flourescent lights. Watching the friendly competition and back and forth between the two is fun and illustrative of how people can put green initiatives into their homes.

But these improvements come at great cost. A single wind turbine on Begley's house cost $3,000.

Yet most ordinary Californian's can't afford such improvements. The show looks at Richmond, Calif., which is a low-income area between San Francisco and Sacramento. A local activist describes how leaky window frames cost an extra 30-40% in wasted energy, but that people can't afford to buy new windows with the already high costs of energy in their homes. It's a Catch-22.

This is where government tax credits for energy efficient windows fall short. My wife and I upgraded windows a couple years ago, and the tax deduction saved us only several hundred dollars - on nearly $13,000 in windows. It will take us a long, long time to recoup the costs through energy savings.

With 12 million low income people in California, there is no chance people can upgrade windows without true tax credits, instead of simple deductions.

Yet getting Americans to upgrade windows and other household elements to reduce energy costs should be a key strategy to wean us off foreign energy sources, and thus make us more secure from foreign threats like energy dictatorships, which harbor terrorists.

But there is hope in the big picture, because the power of the state is large. California now gets 10% of its electricity from renewable energy. Schwarzenegger plans to double that in just two years, and to have the state attain 33% of its electricity from renewables by 2020.

Of course there are numerous challenges to AB-32. But there are also some solutions within the private sector. I'll explore these in future posts.

The episode of Nova is thought-provoking, and definitely worth a watch.