As part of on-going efforts to increase the use of renewable energy, Japan may soon unveil a plan to make rooftop solar arrays a required feature of all new buildings and houses by 2030, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday.

The plan may be announced in a statement on energy policy by Prime Minister Naoto Kan at the G8 summit, which will be held in northern France this week. As relayed by Reuters, Kan will likely make clear Japan’s intention to continue to use nuclear energy after steps are taken to improve safety standards. Workers are still struggling to control the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northern Japan.

Like nuclear reactors, solar panels are a low- to no-emissions source …click here to read more

California Governor Jerry Brown yesterday signed into law a mandate requiring utilities get a third of their electricity from renewable resources like solar panels and wind turbines.

The new bill promises to bring certainty to a fast-growing market for solar energy, in particular. With the transition to a new Governor this year, the future of California’s renewables portfolio standard was periodically brought into question (see here and here). Without formal legislative action, the standard would have remained stuck at 20 percent rather than the more aggressive 33 percent. …click here to read more

Faced with the on-going nuclear crisis in Japan — the costs of which could make the March earthquake and subsequent tsnuami the most expensive natural disaster the world has ever seen — nearby China may be moving to double its target for solar photovoltaic (PV) power capacity over the next five years.

Citing unnamed sources, China Securities Journal today reported that the country’s solar target might be raised to 10 gigawatts (GW) of PV by 2015, up from the current target of 5 GW. For comparison, global solar PV capacity was about 40 GW in 2010.

This news comes after a report released yesterday found that, in terms of clean energy investment, the United States has slipped to third place behind China and Germany. …click here to read more

Wrestling the energy boogieman has become a perennial rite of passage for U.S. presidents, dating at least as far back as Nixon.

Fittingly, President Obama today was at Georgetown University, where he outlined a broad initiative to cut oil imports, boost domestic production of oil and gas, and increase the use of cellulosic ethanol and natural gas to power vehicles.

With gas prices topping $4 a gallon in some parts of the country, like southern California, and the summer driving season not that far off, the president’s comments couldn’t come a moment too soon.

“In an economy that relies so heavily on oil, rising prices at the pump affect everybody,” the Obama said in what the White House billed as a significant energy address. …click here to read more

Regular readers (among others) will know that California is the nation’s clean energy leader. The state has on the books a law requiring that a fifth of all electricity come from renewable sources by 2010. A 2009 executive order by former Governor Schwarzenegger raised that target to 33 percent. But, thanks to procedural nuances, the Governator’s move could technically be rolled back. In order to still, the new (higher) renewable energy standard must pass formal legislative muster.

That’s what’s going on today, via Adam Browning of the Vote Solar Initiative:

Just got the word that today is the day that the California Assembly will take up SB 2x, a bill that would require utilities to procure to 33% of their electricity from renewable sources.  The Senate has already passed it by a 26-11 margin, and Governor Brown has already said he will sign it.  All that stands in the way of the strongest renewable standard in the country is a positive outcome in the Assembly.  It’s a big deal, and it’s all going down this afternoon.

As of the time of this post, the Assembly has been in session for precisely 19 minutes. If you’re a California voter with a pro-solar mindset, you may want to mosey on over to Vote Solar to see how you can get involved.

UPDATE: The Assembly approved California’s 33 percent renewable portfolio standard! The bill will now be passed to Gov. Jerry Brown to be signed into law.

As a follow on to yesterday’s blog post, where we broadly discussed the country’s electricity sources, I got to thinking: Where, exactly, are our nuclear power facilities?

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission offers a lot of useful information, including this map:

…click here to read more

With the on-going calamity in Japan and phrases like “nuclear meltdown” and “radiation sickness” in headlines, it’s to be expected that people discuss with renewed attention the risks and benefits of nuclear energy. At very least, it’s helpful to stop and take a moment to think about where our electricity comes from.

Here in the U.S., we get about one-fifth of our electricity from nuclear power. Coal is still king, representing nearly half of total electricity generation, nationwide. Natural gas is number two, used to meet about a quarter of our demand.

…click here to read more

Pay attention, freshman members of Congress… In case you missed it, a couple of weeks ago Gallup released results from a recent poll suggesting that Americans want more alternative energy. Here’s what folks were asked:

What’s really interesting here is that, of all eight potential legislative actions, the passage of an alternative energy bill ranks at the top of the list. What’s even more interesting is that a majority of both Republican respondents (75 percent) and Democrat respondents (93 percents) voiced their support for such a bill. Try finding that much bipartisan support on any other issue — I dare you.

One more thing worth noting: you’ll see that, beyond alternative energy, Americans also seem to support expanding exploration and drilling for oil and natural gas. While renewable energy and fossil fuels are by no means incompatible, it’s interesting that respondents support both. This suggests to me that Americans are interested above all in energy sources that are clean (like solar, wind and other renewables) and domestic (like solar, wind and natural gas). Shocker, I know…

Notably absent from the poll question is coal, which is dirty, domestic and divisive. It also accounts for about half of all electricity generation, nationwide.

Some California environmental groups want 2011 to bring about a friendlier relationship between themselves and the solar energy industry. To that end, several state environmental organizations, led by the California Desert and Renewable Energy Working Group and Defenders of Wildlife, have come up with a list of recommendations they hope the U.S. Interior Department will consider when approving future solar energy projects. The U.S. Interior Department had a regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, February 10, and discussed the list of requests submitted by the group of environmentalists. The department has yet to formally respond.

On the groups’ list is a request for more communication with the public during the project approval process. Also, the group advocates for siting solar energy plants in areas that are considered “low-conflict,” meaning the projects won’t require the mass relocation of native wildlife, disturb cultural sites or use an abundance of the area’s natural resources, like water.

Kim Delfino, program director for Defenders of Wildlife, spoke about comprise rather than tension between California environmentalists and the U.S. federal government:

“It’s not everything that the environmental community wanted, and it’s not everything that the solar industry wanted, but it is a good middle ground for which we can build and move forward on.”

If you’ve been following solar development in California, you’ll remember that 2010 was mired in a series of lawsuits filed by several state environmental groups against renewable energy development companies and the federal government. The groups claimed that both the companies and the government had neglected to take into account the full scope of environmental impact before approving several large scale solar energy plants to be built in the the Mojave Desert along the California-Nevada border.

Specifically, the groups felt that the companies and government were only pushing one side of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), a 2008 executive order signed by then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that promised to ensure the safety and habitat of long-term endangered species during construction of solar energy power plants in California. In 2011, the groups hope more consideration will be taken. We’ll keep an eye on the situation.

In February 2009, the U.S. government passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) – a bill intended to create new jobs and spark economic activity. Roughly $94 billion of the $787 billion act was set aside for invesments in renewable energy.

A new report from SBI Energy, a Maryland-based market research firm, details how ARRA has helped advance the use of clean energy throughout the country:

• Aided by ARRA investments, the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) reports that domestic manufacturing capacity for solar photovoltaic (PV) modules is forecasted to grow from less than one GW per year in 2008 to nearly 4 GW per year in 2012.
• ARRA investments are accelerating the rate of innovation in solar photovoltaics and according to the CEA, gains could drive down the costs of solar panels by as much as 50 percent over the next five years.
• U.S. wind power capacity grew 40 percent in 2009 over the prior year, despite weak economic and investment conditions. In July 2010, the CEA reported that ARRA was responsible for approximately 6 GW of wind capacity installation that might not otherwise have occurred in 2009.
• An April 2010, the U.S. Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) survey indicated a 26 percent increase in new projects under development in 2009 and concludes that the stimulus funding played an important role in propelling geothermal growth amidst recessionary economic conditions.

Granted, the CEA advises the President and his administration. Thus it’s not entirely surprising the group is highlights the gains achieved under ARRA. Nevertheless, it’s difficult to argue with the data showing growth in renewable energy and green jobs over the course of 2009 and 2010. SBI Energy, for its part, estimates that the ARRA solar grant program has led to over $13 billion in renewable energy investments and has led to the construction of more than 650 renewable energy projects across the United States.

For more info on the types of projects ARRA helped, check out the following stories and resources on federal grants, military solar installations, energy efficient appliance rebates and local solar installations. Arguably, ARRA helped the U.S. become one of nine countries worldwide to surpass 250 MW of solar PV by 2010.

Also, you can track ARRA spending here.