Sanders leads with proposal for 10 million solar rooftops, Bush Admin puts brakes on solar projects

The legislation sponsored by Senator Sanders, et, al is laudatory and a must to accelerate the transition from petroleum and fossil fuels. I certainly hope there will not be a disregard for ocean energy. There are a number of technologies which have harnessed energy from ocean currents and tides. The most promising of these technologies, the Gorlov Helical Turbine (GHT) discussed below, needs much more support from the U.S. government because it has the highest potential for replacing imported oil and carbon emitting fuels. Water comprises 70 percent of the earth's surface and contains enormous potential as a source of energy. The Amazon River alone, which transports more water than any other, could generate enough electricity to power all the towns and villages along its shores. The same is true of other great rivers around the world. So why aren't we tapping more from water's pulse? That's the aim of Alexander Gorlov, a professor of mechanical engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, who invented the Helical Turbine and won the Edison Prize for his efforts in 1992. The GHT harnesses the power of currents and tides.His deceptively uncomplicated-looking Helical turbine can successfully transform the awesome forces of oceans, rivers, and bays into electricity, it radically changes hydropower. And thus, it will solve the world's energy problems. Today's forms of hydropower account for much of the 7 percent of world electrical output not generated by fossil fuels. Although hydropower is a clean and unlimited source of energy, it often comes at a high price. It is currently dominated by models that require huge, expensive dams - which can displace people, flood vast areas, and wipe out fish populations that need open rivers to spawn. Holding back further use of hydropower has been the lack of an efficient, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly device to extract energy from water - not to mention the competitively low costs of coal and oil. But the current energy crisis - with rolling blackouts in California and rising fuel prices - might be enough to boost America’s appetite for the GHT. Gorlov's Helical Turbine (Alexander Gorlov, a professor of mechanical engineering at Northeastern University in Boston) is based on the so-called Darrieus turbine, developed for windmills in the 1930s. The original never proved practical. The design, with its straight airfoil blades, was efficient but unstable, tending to break easily because of extreme vibrations. When Gorlov tested it in flowing water, however, he found it worked better than any other turbine, although it still had vibration problems. After laboratory testing, he found that twisting the blades into the shape of a helix, like a molecule of DNA, would solve the problem. In flowing water, the Gorlov turbine captures 35 percent of the water's energy, compared with 23 percent for a straight Darrieus turbine and 20 percent for a conventional turbine. That may not seem like a huge improvement, but it's a lot, because [the turbines] operate all the time, and after a while, the advantages really build up. And unlike other turbines, Gorlov's device works well regardless of the direction of water flow, making it practical in tidal flows as well as river. Estimates of the worldwide economically recoverable wave energy resource are in the range of 40 to 750 Tera W/yr for existing wave-capturing technologies that have become fully mature (ETNWG 2003). With projected long-term technical improvements, this could be increased by a factor of 2 to 3 (Thorpe 1999). The fraction of the total wave power that is economically recoverable in U.S. offshore regions has not been estimated, but is significant even if only a small fraction of the 2,100 TWh/yr available is captured. The total annual average wave energy off the U.S. coastlines (including Alaska and Hawaii), calculated at a water depth of 60 m has been estimated (Bedard et al. 2005) at 2,100 Terawatt-hours (TWh) (2,100--10 to the twelfth). (Currently, approximately 11,200 TWh/yr of primary energy is required to meet total U.S. electrical demand.) WEC devices have the greatest potential for applications at islands such as Hawaii, and peninsulas like S. Korea, Florida, Puget Sound, etc., because of the combination of the relatively high ratio of available shoreline per unit energy requirement, availability of greater unit wave energies due to trade winds, and the relatively high costs of other local energy sources. Gorlov also envisions huge underwater "power farms" that could create electricity from hundreds or even thousands of the devices linked to each other in a grid, which is anchored under water. In full production, the cost of an installed open-river hydropower system of his turbines, Gorlov says, should be $400 to $600 per kilowatt - less than the cost of constructing other power-generation systems. And that's before operating costs of fossil-fuel plants are taken into account. Wave energy can be produced and distributed at .04 to .08 cents/kw. But Gorlov's turbines have other advantages, proponents say: When they generate electricity, you can't see them, you can't hear them, and they're virtually disruption free. Generators can be deployed on land rather than in underwater concrete encasements where they can be serviced frequently and economically. In a tidal pool in Vinalhaven, Maine, an investor is currently testing Gorlov's turbine which is expected to pump 5 kilowatts of energy into the Maine grid starting this fall. That's not much, but it will be enough to power the 14-bedroom motel directly above it. If the prototype proves successful, Sysko plans to install more turbines along the Maine coast. Another test installation is now in operation in a remote area of the Amazon River in Brazil. There, local residents, who are far from the nearest power lines, use the turbines to recharge dozens of car batteries to run their television sets. Gorlov's long-term solution is to use the turbines to break down seawater into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis, storing hydrogen in pressurized vessels offshore. The stored hydrogen could then run through a generator to make electricity - just as a gasoline or diesel generator would. Right now, the big thing about energy is there's a difference between what is generated in one place and what is demanded in another, and the grid is what transfers that energy. When a power-generating plant makes too much energy for the demand, a whole lot of it leaks out in terms of heat in transformers. When there's too great a demand, people get brownouts. There's no reason why the grid can't be provided with decentralized generators. There could be millions of them powering the system, reducing the demand for more natural gas and fossil fuels, which is the whole issue. Yet, despite storage and funding problems, interest in Gorlov's invention continues to grow. The South Korean government recently asked Gorlov to design an arrangement of turbines for the narrow Uldolmok channel that separates the peninsula from Jindo Island. Gorlov came up with a system that produces more than 80 megawatts - enough to power 80,000 houses - without disrupting the channel's extensive shipping. Recently, the Government of S. Korea announced plans to install clusters of the GHT rather than construct four more nuclear plants. The substitution will save the Korean government approximately $20 billion in nuclear plant construction after including the cost of purchasing and deploying the GHT cluster. When Freedom is constrained, there is no Creativity, therefore, there is no Progress.

Solar cells provide all the electricity in our home. We are very pleased with how well they work. They should be everywhere but they aren't because our energy policy is pretty much directed by the fossil/nuclear cartel. Recently, we visited Grand Junction, Colorado. We had the dog in the car, it was very hot. We wanted to do some shopping but the parking lots of all the stores were baking and we didn't want to leave the dog in the car. I was thinking at the time about how useful solar carports would be in those huge, sunny parking lots. We could do it if there was will power. The technology is here. Will we have enough support in Congress to defeat the oil/nuclear cartel?

We needed such a program in place of the $150 Billion stimulus package that sent dollars to China, further weakened the dollar, and did nothing to help lower the long term energy costs to all Americans.

Reducing end user energy consumption can work in the near term and will reduce load on the grid and prices. It is much more efficient at reducing total energy costs than Bush's current drill drill drill policy.

We need to get off oil and retain our remaining supply of crude for when it is needed instead of lowering the costs of oil for China at the expense of our environment.

Check out the update!

Now get your head out of the clouds and stand with Russ Feingold in his effort to stop the FISA bill in the Senate.... stand up for the Constitution and the restoration of the rule of law...by helping Dennis Kucinich impeach the criminals in the White House...or sit down and shut up

So the Bush Administration has stopped all development of solar power generating facilities on public lands for at least two years. Their reason: to assess the environmental impact of solar facilities. This solar freeze is being mandated at the very moment that Mr. Bush and his colleagues are advocating - very loudly and out of the other side of their mouth - immediate expansion of oil and petroleum drilling in the pristine wilderness of Alaska and off the coast of our nation’s most treasured shorelines. If this doesn’t tell us why we should never put oil barons in charge of our nation, nothing will.

I have been investigating the idea of selling and installing home photovoltaic power systems here in the New Orleans area. I have discovered a number of encouraging things. Louisiana has a tax credit policy that will provide up to $12,500 in credits for a home system - 50% of the first $25,000. If you don't pay that much state income tax, the state sends a Check for the difference. Also, it is LA law that local utilities must buy excess power from a home system and provide a meter that can run "backwards" for free when requested by the homeowner. They do charge about $250 for the installation costs. There are also the federal tax credits currently available. I was pleasantly surprised at Louisiana being in the forefront of sound energy policy at the state level. Considering that we are near the top in producing oil and gas in the US, it is amazing.

The oil companies and their minions in the White House will do anything to maintain their stranglehold on the American public.What about the utility companies? AEP would soon be nonexistant.Columbia Gas? Gone. Solar could also heat homes and hot water nearly everywhere.This is where the rub lies with these companies.Until they can come up with a new plan for a monopoly,they have to do everything in their power to thwart these clean energy initiatives.Just think of the extra income Americans would have if there was no electric or gas bill every month.Our country must move on for the good of the planet and the well being of the populace.

Nothing will improve until Bush is gone and the dems take over. Between Bush and Sen. McConnell, they will crush anything that helps the American people. And isn't it nice that Bush's home in Crawford is run on geo thermal energy. Kind of says, "I got mine. The rest of you can pay through the wazoo, heh, heh."

There are about 100 million homes (25% are apartments) in the USA. We are spending $400 billion per year on defense budget, not counting the two ongoing wars and nuclear power sums not located under defense. If we dropped the defense budget to $200 billion a year, we would be spending 25% of the entire world's defense budget rather that the 50% we are now spending. This would amount to a savings of over $350 billion/year. An average sized home (apartments are more reasonable) needs approximately 3000-5000 watts of solar power to be self sustaining WITHOUT cutting back on appliances, etc. If we were REALLY concerned about oil and our status in the world, we could just transfer this amount of funds and have EVERY home in the USA with solar power in sewer than 15 years. With solar power in homes, the excess could be used for manufacturing and industry, and I am certain that hydrogen power for vehicles would be advanced enough for hydrogen production at home to be relative cheap within the next five to ten years (it now costs about $2 dollars a gallon to produce. None of this will occur, however, because saving money and keeping security and high gas problems are not our REAL goal. Keeping the folks who are in power at ANY cost is our real concern, and it does not matter how many innocent lives are lost to attain this goal. Everyone is expendable when it comes to keeping the powers to be in charge... IMHO

Bravo for Sen. Sanders! But Solar panels are only half of the the energy policy that could IMMEDIATELY put a HUGE dent on America's voracious oil consumption.

The other is... ELECTRIC CARS, with modern, high energy density batteries.

They are not a "futuristic" hope, either... they are here today, in production form... but HIDDEN behind a curtain of Chevron lawsuits, Chevron executives SUING Toyota and Panasonic to STOP producing these modern, high tech batteries, that power the 2002 Toyota RAV4-EV all electric car to THREE TIMES the per-mile energy cost of the externally and internally identical gas powered Toyota RAV4 small SUV.

Here is the Wiki entry for this amazing case of both Congress and the American public being entirely ignorant of the shenanigans the major oil companies are pulling to make America - to make our entire economy - MORE DEPENDENT on their damn oil!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV
"Whether or not Toyota wanted to continue production, it was unlikely to be able to do so, because the EV-95 battery was no longer available. Chevron had inherited control of the worldwide patent rights for the NiMH EV-95 battery when it merged with Texaco, which had purchased them from General Motors. Chevron's unit won a $30,000,000 settlement from Toyota and Panasonic, and THE PRODUCTION LINE for the large NiMH batteries WAS CLOSED DOWN and DISMANTLED. Only smaller NiMH batteries, incapable of powering an electric vehicle or plugging in, are currently allowed by Chevron-Texaco."

Chevron execs have all the "patriotism" of then Halliburton Chairman & CEO Dick Cheney selling oil-field equipment.... to Iraq in the late 1990s, at a time when the US was enforcing an embargon on Iraq, and US military aircraft were bombing Iraqi positions (and the Iraqi military was trying to return the favor, shooting at US aircraft) in the "no fly zone"!
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/iraq1/oilforfood/2001/0627chen.htm

This particular small SUV boasts a 120 mile range without recharging. Simply bolting a stock 5,000 watt store-bought generator on a hitch-rack, and wiring it into the car's electric control unit (the way yachts plug in to power cords when they arrive at a dock), extends the range of this vehicle to unlimited with gas fillups every 250 miles or so. Needless to say, auto manufacturers could make a more elegant installation of a small generator to keep the batteries charged.

Not only do electic cars get three times the mile-per-energy-dollar of their gas siblings, but they have almost NO fluids to consume... or pollute. No anti-freeze, no oil, no transmission fluid... and no gas! These fluids, leaking into roads and highways, are the number one pollutant source for America's streams, rivers, lakes, and coastline.

Now imagine every baking-in-sun parking spot in every parking lot the Sunbelt had a... solar panel carport. Who wouldn't pay a dollar or two to park for 8 hours in the shade.. WHILE you car is being refueled, that is, recharged!

for the price of EXISTING materials and technology, you have a massive jobs program that slashes America's energy consumption and dependence, greatly reduces pollution... and keeps your car cool on hot days!

Just imagine how much more efficient solar panels, batteries, and production of both would become if America were spending several billion dollars per year on them, once again harnessing America's natural genuis and energy to a progressive, forward looking cause.

Keep up the great work

Is anyone surprised that Bush would want to hurt the solar companies? He's done everything possible to hurt the middle class so why not any business that could help them. Plus, he has to keep his oil buds happy!

It would take the only Socialist in Congress to propose solar power. This is a great plan.

A well configured system would run the Meter backwards when power output exceeds power usage.

Recently in Florida they spent millions changing all the meters to digital and with special design so they cannot run backwards

Watch Power Companies fight this tooth and nail as every watt generated takes the income from that watt off their Profits and the CEO's Golf Jet

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If the Gang Of Pirates think that the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat, only a fool would think it bipartisan to accommodate them by acting the part.

At least we have some members of Congress who understand what the future needs. Sign me up to join the program when the bill is passed.