Source: http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2008/08/16/solar-power-goes-big-box-at-ikea/

According to Inhabitat, IKEA has a $77 million Green Tech fund that it will use to invest in a variety of green technologies from solar panels to smart energy meters. 

Cleantech reports that IKEA has five main areas for green investment-“solar panels, alternative light sources, product materials, energy efficiency, and water saving and purification.” 

IKEA is already looking at companies to invest in and will begin investing this year.  The company looks to invest in about ten companies and plans to be actively involved on the boards of its greentech investments. 

With approximately 270 stores in 35 countries, IKEA’s foray into greentech products will have a major impact on the cost and accessibility of greentech products.  No longer will greentech merely be offered by a select few environmentally friendly companies.  Greentech will be available to the masses at prices more than the well-off can afford.

As with all things offered by the Swedish company, Johan Stenebo, managing director of Ikea GreenTech states that its main goal will be:

Really low prices, and they should be of very good quality. That’s the only thing we look at, we would never look at anything else, we would discard anything else that doesn’t fall into those boundaries, he said. Whether it’s home furnishings or it’s greentech products.

IKEA currently designs its own brand of furniture working with 1,300 suppliers in 50 countries.  IKEA already flat packs most of its furniture to cut down on shipping costs and waste.

IKEA plans to be able to stock its shelves with the products from its greentech investments within the next three to four years.  Hopefully, IKEA will build a store in my area to help me take advantage of its greentech offerings.

Source: http://greenlight.greentechmedia.com/2008/11/11/greentech-innovations-a-solar-cell-the-size-of-a-red-blood-cell-704/

Bloo Solar says it will shrink the size of solar cells down — waaay down.

The West Sacramento, Calif.-based company has devised a 3-D solar cell that’s about the same size as a red blood cell, says CEO Larry Bawden. The cells will be packaged in arrays and panels in a way that will, according to the company, drastically reduce the cost of solar cells while increasing the efficiency.

“The biggest challenge is pinholes” in the underlying substrate, said Bawden. “We call it ultra, ultra, ultra thin-film PV.”

Bloo’s first solar cells will use cadmium telluride, but it’s also possible to make them with copper indium selenide or CIS, according to Bawden. (Bawden will further outline the technology at Greentech Innovations: End to End Electricity on November 18 in New York.)

What’s going on here? The solar cells are tiny nano-scale bristles. The outside of the bristle holds the active solar materials. The material is electroplated onto a conductive post. Light strikes the bristles, electrons are extracted from the light, and then ferried away by the conductive post.

The efficiency will be higher than conventional solar cells because the structure of the bristles, combined with how they are spaced and arranged in relation to one another, allow a solar panel to trap more light than normal. The structure of the cells also prevents electrons extracted from the light from recoupling with positive charges.

“It traps more light than anything out there,” he said.

The 3-D nature of the bristles also means that it can harvest light during the early and late hours of the day, something planar solar cells can struggle with. Bloo in some ways is combining a number of trends into a single product: the popularity of cad tel, reducing the cost of thin-film solar cells, using 3D structures to extend the active time of solar cells like Solyndra and better light trapping. (Denmark’s Sunflake is trying something similar with III-V materials.)

The technology, which was created by professors at UC Davis during a leave at the university, is currently in the testing stage. Bawden said the company hopes to share some results from its lab work and move into commercial production by 2011 or 2012.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/greentech/

Ocean Power Technologies announced Thursday that it will be installing a water-power buoy system to tie into Hawaii’s Oahu Island power grid.

The New Jersey-based company makes ocean buoys that harness the energy of ocean waves to generate electricity that is then sent back to shore via underwater cable.

Through a partnership with the U.S. Navy, Ocean Power has been developing technology that could supplement electricity needs for the military in Hawaii .

“We are pleased to be a part of the Navy’s effort to develop and commercialize new technologies to reduce the Navy’s dependence on fuel shipments for power generation facilities, and to meet its strategic goals and other sustainability initiatives,” George W. Taylor, Ocean Power’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The company’s PowerBuoy, which on the surface resembles an ordinary ocean buoy, is about 12 feet wide and 55 feet long. As the buoy is jostled by naturally occurring offshore waves, it moves a piston-like device located at its core up and down. The electricity generated by the system, which is typically placed in about 100 to 150 feet of water, is then sent back to shore via a standard submarine transmission cable along the ocean floor.

The water-power buoy is loaded with onboard sensors and communications tools that allow it to be monitored and instructed from Ocean Power’s headquarters in New Jersey. But the device can autonomously adjust the way it pumps to accommodate changes in ocean waves and maximize its effect.

The U.S. Navy contributed $300,000 to funding this particular installation. But Ocean Power announced in early November that it has won a $3 million contract with the Navy to develop its PowerBuoy for use in conjunction with data gathering and communications.

Ocean Power also has the support of the U.S. Marine Corps. This latest PowerBuoy system will be placed about one mile off the coast of Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) at Kaneohe Bay and will be connected to Oahu’s power grid.

This is the third PowerBuoy that Ocean Power has installed within the last two months.

The Navy and Marine support is a coup for Ocean Power, which struggled with its IPO, and perhaps even for the ocean energy industry as a whole.

Ocean energy proponents have been swimming against a current of lackluster interest because of logistical issues like infrastructure costs, and the unpredictable nature of the energy source.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/greentech/

The anxious auto and clean-energy industries have received positive signals from President-elect Barack Obama in the past two days.

In an interview with 60 Minutes broadcast on Sunday, Obama said he intends to pursue a government stimulus package that includes investments to promote clean technologies, even though oil prices have fallen dramatically during 2008.

Interviewer Steve Kroft asked whether cutting oil imports was less important now that the price of oil has plummeted from $147 a barrel earlier this year to under $60. 

Obama: It’s more important. It may be a little harder politically, but it’s more important. 

Kroft: Why?

Obama: Well, because this has been our pattern. We go from shock to trance. You know, oil prices go up, gas prices at the pump go up, everybody goes into a flurry of activity. And then the prices go back down and suddenly we act like it’s not important, and we start, you know filling up our SUVs again.

And, as a consequence, we never make any progress. It’s part of the addiction, all right. That has to be broken. Now is the time to break it. 

Addressing the question of a bailout for cash-strapped U.S. automakers, Obama said that giving them government money with conditions is the best policy.

He said that allowing the U.S. automakers to collapse would be a disaster but that handing them a blank check won’t solve the problem. Instead, he said that the various stakeholders need to come up with a plan for a “sustainable auto industry.” From the interview: 

So my hope is that over the course of the next week, between the White House and Congress, the discussions are shaped around providing assistance but making sure that that assistance is conditioned on labor, management, suppliers, lenders, all the stakeholders coming together with a plan (for) what does a sustainable U.S. auto industry look like? So that we are creating a bridge loan to somewhere as opposed to a bridge loan to nowhere.”

Meanwhile, in his weekly radio address on Saturday that was broadcast as a video online, Obama reaffirmed his plans for long-term investments on green energy.

“It means investing $150 billion to build an American green-energy economy that will create 5 million new jobs while freeing our nation from the tyranny of foreign oil and saving our planet for our children,” Obama said.

Energy and environmental policy were certainly not the top topic of the president-elect’s public statements, given the pressing nature of the economic crisis and executing the transition between administrations.

But Obama’s recent statements, as well as those from his advisers, indicate that energy remains a high priority. The idea is that an energy policy focused on clean technologies can address environmental problems while stimulating the economy.

“The president-elect will move quickly on climate change,” Jason Grumet, a high-level Obama campaign’s lead energy and environment adviser, told a conference on carbon trading last week.

In addition to spending on energy infrastructure, Obama’s energy plan calls for incentives for energy efficiency, a national renewable energy mandate for utilities, a low-carbon biofuels standard, and a cap-and-trade system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. led a rally last Saturday, October 3 against a proposed plan to put yet another power plant in Astoria that would make a total of seven power plants in Northwest Queens. Vallone, joined by other community leaders, decried a decision by the New York Power Authority to choose Astoria over many other locations.

Vallone has called on the state to investigate the awarding of a contract for a 500-megawatt (MW) plant to Astoria Energy, LLC, a company whose past dealings with the government make its involvement particularly suspect, he claims. Vallone sent letters to state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and plans to meet with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to discuss the decision.

“Not only does this deal reek of smoke-filled, back-room politics, it will also make Northwest Queens reek of smoke as well,” Vallone said. “This decision reaches well beyond the bounds of good sense and fairness, and I believe that always suggests [that] foul play may be involved.”

In 2001, Astoria Energy, a Massachusettsbased subsidiary of SCS Energy, received approval to construct a 1,000-MW facility on a 23-acre site along Steinway Street in Astoria. The company had trouble raising the necessary investment capital and also failed to acquire tax-exempt Liberty Bonds, an initiative launched after 9/11 intending to help replace commercial space near Ground Zero. Vallone and other elected officials were able to stop that plan by raising public awareness and filing a lawsuit.

According to several sources, Astoria Energy leveraged its political ties to pressure Con Ed into awarding it a 10-year contract for their electricity, even though the company was not the lowest bidder, which enabled Astoria Energy to convince investors to fund the $850 million power plant. The facility opened in 2006.

In April, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) awarded a 20-year contract to Astoria Energy, essentially giving the company the same ability to generate the capital needed to build a second 500-MW plan. Astoria Energy then chose the Astoria site out of some 30 proposals. “It’s not a matter of ‘not in [my] back yard [NIMBY].’ Our back yard is already full,” Vallone said. “How in good conscience can this agency agree to put another power plant where there is already a glut of them? Are they trying to kill us even faster?”

The New York Power Authority and the Bloomberg Administration have lauded the new power plant because it is a combined-cycle system that minimizes pollution.

Vallone, an avid environmentalist, supports cleaner power technologies, but questions the logic of placing any power plant where so many already exist. Northwest Queens is already home to two Charles Poletti plants and one each run by Astoria Energy, US Power Gen and Ravenswood.

Proponents of the NYPA/Bloomberg plan have cited the closing of the Charles Poletti Plant implying that Astoria Energy’s new plant is intended as a replacement. In fact, due to the Vallone lawsuit, the Poletti closing is completely unrelated to this proposal and a new facility has already replaced the Poletti plant.

“When it came to waste transfer stations, everyone was expected to do their fair share. But with power plants, Northwest Queens is expected to do everyone’s share,” Vallone said. “Even if these plants emit less smog, that’s more smog than if they weren’t there at all.”

Exelon Energy’s bid to buy NRG Energy (including its highly profitable fleet of Houston-area power plants) met mixed reactions from analysts this past week.

Is it a stretch? Many think the price offered for NRG was too low and that the Princeton, N.J.-based firm can wait for a better deal. Will the huge drop in NRG’s stock price in the last year (along with Exelon and every other power plant operator) made a buy-out by the bigger firm a sure-thing.

But while the success of the courtship is hard to predict many insiders seem to indicate successful dating would lead to a happy marriage.The Motley Fool data suggests that stocks with top CAPS ratings offer the best oppportunity to capture the best returns.

A combination of two companies with high CAPS ratings “should bode well for the new firm’s future results, while a high-rated company that joins a lower-rated one may benefit one set of investors more than the other.”

So this piece from the Motley Fools indicates that Exelon has a four-star rating and NRG a five-star.

Exelon was down $1.33, or 2.7 percent, to $48.55 Friday after reporting third-quarter earnings were off 10 percent due to bad debt collections and reserve payments related to the failure of Lehman Brothers.

In a note to investors John Kiani at Deutsche Bank in Houston said Exelon’s stock price performance in the near term “… will likely be more dependent on its ability to navigate its potential acquisition of NRG, performance of the [Independt Power Producers] and its long-term earnings upside.”

NRG reports earnings on Oct. 30. Earnings dates for other Houston power companies include Dynegy on Nov. 6 , Reliant Energy on Nov. 7 and Calpine on Nov. 7 (ok, Calpine splits its HQ between San Jose and Houston, but you know which office is more important).

Reprinted with permission

Dear USGBC Constituents:

In recent weeks, a wave of fear and pessimism propagated by the world financial crisis has stolen the headlines, gripped the nation, and challenged our movement. In conversation after conversation, people are asking what will happen to the green building movement if our community is plunged into a recession.

And I have an answer for them. The greed that led the world economy into crisis will not defeat our commitment to good work. Fear will not dominate our agenda. And our commitment to change - even in the face of so great a challenge - will not waver.

Change doesn’t wait on Washington. And it doesn’t depend on Wall Street. Change comes from within. The green building movement has been demonstrating that fact for more than 15 years. Before there was a single government green building policy, before the business community stood up and took notice, before there was a LEED - there was you. Thousands upon thousands of committed individuals dedicated to doing better by doing good. You’ve built this movement. You’re building sustainable communities. And every single one of us has a contribution to make towards pulling our country out of this crisis.

We cannot lose sight of our mission. It is within reach.

How? It’s time for the green building movement to deploy the expertise and capacity we’ve built in new construction to green what we’ve already got. Ninety-nine percent of achieving our mission is wrapped up in our existing homes and buildings. It will save money. It will save energy. It will help save our climate. And directly relevant to today’s economic environment, it will create good, green, local jobs. As just one example, USGBC estimates that a 100% commitment to greening existing commercial buildings alone would create more than 1.5 million new opportunities for employment for out of work Americans.

In four weeks, we will meet together at Greenbuild. And when you get to Boston, we will celebrate everything that your individual commitments have accomplished so far. We’ll enjoy the fellowship of more than 20,000 friends and colleagues who share our vision for a sustainable future. And we will keep moving forward, together. I’ll see you there.

With gratitude,

S. Rick Fedrizzi
CEO, President and Founding Chair,
USGBC