Pacific Gas & Electric on Wednesday announced it has gone into solar-power contracts with Oakland’s BrightSource Energy to produce a total of 1,310 megawatts of electricity. That’s enough to power 530,000 California homes during peak hours— 12 noon – 7pm.

Solar farm by BrightSource Energy

Go California! Wait! Let me check my PG&E bill. Somebody has to pay for this.

The new agreement includes seven power plants. This is in addition to a deal the two companies struck in April 2008. In that deal 900 megawatts would come from solar thermal power.

BrightSource now has 2,610 megawatts under contract. The new PG&E contract is the largest. BrightSource folk say their output represents more than 40 percent of all large-scale solar thermal contracts in the United States.

“The solar thermal projects announced today exemplify PG&E’s commitment to increasing the amount of renewable energy we provide to our customers throughout Northern and central California,” senior vice president of energy supply for PG&E, said in a statement. “Through these agreements with BrightSource, we can harness the sun’s energy to meet our customers’ power requirements when they need it most — during hot summer days.”

CEO of BrightSource Energy, said the additional contracts came about after BrightSource showed off its technology in Israel with results that were “at or above all the specifications.”

“It proved to them that our technology works. They saw us executing and delivering” efficient solar energy production.

Gov. Schwarzenegger terminated in “more evidence that reliable, renewable and pollution-free technology is here to stay and sunshine will eventually power hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across our golden state.”

Construction costs for BrightSource will be at least $3 billion and the facilities will be located in the southwestern deserts of California, Nevada and Arizona. The first plant, a 110-megawatt facility at Ivanpah in eastern San Bernardino County will begin operation by 2012.

What I want to know is who is going to pay for this? More specifically, how much will my PG&E bill be going up each month to fund this new venture?

If you're new here and you like our articles, how about subscribing free for our updates via RSS feed.

Olive waste is something that really does not catch our imagination, as most often it is the edibles and the peace-preaching branches that hog our attention.

An Israeli company is finding new ways to turn the trash into energy source by compressing and using olive waste into solidified rolls.

Olivebar turns waste produced from the olive plant into an energy source that produces 2.5 times the energy generated by burning the same amount of wood.

Using the waste is a double-edged sword that does the planet good in more than just one way. The rolled up stacks can be used in wood-burning stoves and their high efficiency compared to wood, ensures that fewer trees are chopped off each year.

Also, the natural decomposition process makes the waste a lot more harmful for the planet and the local water sources when left alone. Olivebar obviously is trying to extract every last ounce of energy from what we normally discard and that surely is a good thing. Even the residue left over after burning, can be used as manure for your home garden.

“It’s a totally green product, all natural, without any glues or chemicals,” according to general manager Eli Karniel. “Whereas once it was more economical to buy heating oil, today people are looking for all kinds of alternatives. People went over to wood, but now governments don’t want people to cut down forests, so they’re turning to natural alternatives like ours.”

That’s the good thing about editing/writing this blog. You learn as you go, and most of the time it’s pretty interesting stuff. I never knew the good part about olives, other than the benefits of olive oil up until now. Did you? [via Israel21c]

The “Energy (R)evolution: A Sustainable World Energy Outlook” says that two-thirds of Asia’s electricity needs can be met by renewable energy sources by 2050. If so, the aggressive investment could create an annual $360 billion industry worldwide and save $18 trillion in future fuel costs.

I wonder if the men and women punched their calculators to determine how many people depending on the fossil fuel industry will LOSE their jobs.

“With renewable energy growing four-fold not only in the electricity sector, but also in the heating and transport sectors, we can still cut the average carbon emissions per person from today’s four tons to around one ton by 2050,” said Philippines Campaign Manager for Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

“The global market for renewable energy can grow at double digit rates until 2050, and overtake the size of today’s fossil fuel industry. Currently, the renewable energy market is worth 70 billion dollars and doubling in size every three years,” said the Policy Director of the European Renewable Energy Council.

Well, for all I know, if Greenpeace said it, there’s got to be something wrong with the figuring. Still, we can dream, can’t we?

Source: Xinhuanet Image: myuiibe

Hokkaido is Japan’s northernmost main island. The island recently hosted the G-8 Summit at Lake Toya. I know the place, got a speeding ticket there once, which, btw, has nothing to do with this post.

The Wakkanai Alternative and Renewable Energy Study Group and Heiren Energy Inc. are jointly testing a system that will store hydrogen that was produced through electrolysis of water.  Wakkanai sits to the extreme north of Hokkaido. What’s different is that the electricity used to run the project is coming from wind turbines that have been installed in the area. Confusion starts – “The hydrogen will be reacted with toluene to produce an organic hydride, allowing it to be stored in a liquid state at room temperature and ambient pressure, then transported safely by tank truck.”

There’s an energy summit that is going to take place in Hokkaido next week July 25-28 in Sapporo, the capital of the island. Hydrogen made from the wind turbine/electrolysis will be used to power an automobile that will be demonstrated at the summit.

Wind + hydrogen = cars on the move. Good Earth-friendly equation. No?

source