|
| California Setting the Trends, As Always... |
| Jobs & Skills : Marketing |
| 03/15/06 |
As always, California will be the state that emerges with the answers to the energy crunch. A lot of people call us a bunch of loons because we think differently out here, but it always seems like the trends that we set end up becoming the norm for the rest of the country, eventually. I'm glad to see that most of the country is starting to wake up to the fact that we need to come up with new, clean methods for producing our energy. The idea of clean and renewable energy is a threat to the oil industry but even they are losing their grasp due to rising costs and all the problems that come from purchasing oil from Middle Eastern countries. Did any of you know that Canada is our #1 provider of oil? I was pretty surprised when I discovered that fact.
Calif. taking power of sun mainstream
By John Ritter, USA TODAY Thu Mar 9, 7:17 AM ET
On a sunny winter morning, Reg Gage's electric meter is spinning backward - and that's good. It means the 36 rooftop solar panels are producing more electricity than his new five-bedroom house is using.
The surplus electricity goes out to the "grid" - back to his utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. - and Gage gets a credit that lowers next month's bill.
"Any savings you can get you need to take, because energy is very, very expensive," says Gage, 61, a high-school math teacher. "I don't anticipate the energy crisis getting any better. I think it's going to get exceedingly worse."
Gage and thousands of other California homeowners and businesses are taking solar energy mainstream. For years a pricey, exotic alternative, solar is growing across the USA, especially here in California.
In January, the state's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved $3.2 billion in rebates over 11 years to spur growth and competition in the industry, bring down consumer prices and take pressure off tight supplies of conventional energy, especially during peak summer periods when California is vulnerable to blackouts.
3rd biggest solar market
The PUC's action made California the world's third biggest solar market behind Germany and Japan.
"It is genuinely historic and puts California into the front ranks of the global solar economy," says V. John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology in Sacramento. "As opposed to promises and good intentions, this sends a signal to financial markets that California is serious."
The state's goal is to create 3,000 megawatts of solar electricity by 2017 - more than double the amount of solar installed worldwide last year - and to raise solar's share of the statewide energy mix to as much as 4%. California's current peak demand is about 60,000 megawatts, just 100 megawatts of which are solar. One megawatt can power up to 1,000 homes.
In the USA, only New Jersey has solar incentives that rival California's, though it's a much smaller market. New York, Indiana, Washington, Colorado, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Arizona have or are considering rebates. A number of cities, including Chicago, San Francisco, Austin and Denver, have aggressive solar programs.
In his State of the Union address,
President Bush promised to ramp up spending on solar research after years of cuts. Congress, in last year's energy bill, gave households and businesses 30% tax credits on solar installations through 2007.
Critics say California's $3.2 billion investment may bring down the cost of solar panels but won't help make them capture sunlight more efficiently. A solar kilowatt costs 20-30 cents vs. about 9 cents for electricity produced by natural gas, 5 cents by coal.
"We should be putting that money into research and development to improve the technology," says Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California Energy Institute. The PUC earmarked up to 5% of the $3.2 billion for R&D, but Borenstein says that isn't enough.
Others say technological advances that slashed solar's cost from more than $1 per kilowatt in the past 20 years will continue. The PUC is betting that as the rebates decline each year before ending in 2017, solar manufacturers will scramble for more efficiency to hold onto the consumer market.
"It's no different than what's happened with flat-screen TVs, cellphones or other new products," PUC President Michael Peevey says. "Demand increases, supply increases, companies get competitive, they try to provide a better product, they put more money into research."
Later this year, the PUC will require solar systems to meet performance standards to qualify for the rebates. That, Peevey says, will encourage more efficiency.
In California, adding just a small amount of solar could make a big difference. A solar system's peak performance overlaps the power grid's most stressful period: hot summer afternoons when air conditioners statewide are running.
"It's expensive to produce and hardest to deliver power at those times," says Dan Shugar, president of Powerlite, a solar manufacturer and installer.
Because solar is produced where it's used, the more solar becomes widespread, the less need to invest in new transmission systems as electricity demand grows, Shugar says. And solar is clean because there are no greenhouse-gas emissions.
In a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California in July, 76% of Californians endorsed solar incentives. Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a key supporter. The PUC took the lead after the governor's proposal for a "million solar roofs" died in the Legislature last year.
Prices rise with demand
Lawmakers still must enact a key feature of Schwarzenegger's proposal: requiring builders in California's booming housing market to offer solar systems to buyers.
For now, some builders do but most don't. John Ralston says his company, Premier Homes, made solar standard in every house in its latest subdivision, outside Sacramento. But the cost of solar panels has shot up 40% because of demand, forcing Premier to reduce solar to an option on its 65 houses here.
Buyers like Gage and his wife, Sheri, had to commit to solar before the foundation of their house was poured. The state rebate shaved $7,000 off the $22,000 cost of their system. Ralston expects one buyer in five here to choose solar.
Even with rebates, solar can be a tough sell. In about seven years, buyers here will save in energy bills what their systems cost. But for some it becomes a choice between amenities such as hardwood floors and granite countertops or solar.
"We're serving a price-sensitive market," says Ralston, Premier's marketing vice president. "People are trying to get the best value. There are decorative items they want. If you're making an economic decision, you do the best you can."
|
|
