The Obama economic stimulus package, which invested so heavily in renewable energy like wind and solar power, is finally having an effect on the green industries.

In a statement to the NY Times the vice-president of Sharp Solar, Ron Kenedi, said that although December, January and February had been “miserable,” things are starting to pick up.

“I call this the green shoots period. We’re seeing new growth,” he said.

Kenedi went to allude to a large-scale, unnamed solar project, which lost its financing late last year. Now, with banks willing to invest “they’ve unstuck their project.”

He also made mention of the stimulus money that will soon be flowing to state governments via conservation-oriented block grants. This should show a marked influence on small-scale solar projects.

However, he added, the industry is still looking for clarity on how a new Treasury grant program (an important stimulus measure for renewable energy that turns tax credits into straight grants) will work. “We are also noting that the financing of projects already slated to go forward is taking extra time to get done,” he said.

Lawyer with Chadbourne & Parke, Keith Martin, stated in an email that a recent call he had conducted with bankers indicated a consensus that the stimulus package is resulting in more activity, if not yet money, in the renewable energy sector.

“There are lots of proposal letters and term sheets circulating,” he said in an e-mail message. “The mood is improving, but it has not translated yet into closing and fresh capital flowing into deals.”

The Age of Stupid premiered on March 15 in London. The film is a drama documentary set in 2055 depicts a world that has been ravaged by climate change and the inability to react on the part of humans. The Age of Stupid explores the critical threshhold we’re at in history – when, we were aware that we were destroying the planet, but did little to stop it. This is the central theme of “The Age of Stupid,” a pioneering climate change documentary that aims to turn every viewer into climate change activists. The film stars British actor, Pete Postlethwaite, whose character watches “archive footage” from 2008 and asks why action against global warming was not taken when there was still a chance.

For the premiere, filmmakers went all out to create a green environment. The event was held in a special tent and was dubbed “the world’s first solar-powered film premiere.”

Attendees including Vivienne Westwood and Gillian Anderson were asked not to fly in to attend, but to arrive by foot, public transportation or bike. Postlethwaite, the film’s star, also arrived via bicycle.

Check out the Age of Stupid trailer. The film will premiere in the U.S. in May.

Back in 2007, the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) looked like it was setting a wonderful green precedent when it adopted a feed-in tariff for renewable energy. This allowed people who had adopted their own forms of renewable energy systems, like solar panels and wind turbines, to sell their excess power to the OPA at a set rate over a certain time period. Unfortunately, the OPA was accused by solar advocacy groups of setting the price too low and consequently failing to encourage the growth of any grass roots level renewable energy projects.

It looks like that issue might now be corrected as the legislature is now mulling over the idea of increasing feed-in tariff in concert with the proposed Green Energy Act. Both homeowners and renewable energy companies stand to start making better money for their clean energy this summer if the program gets approved. Renewable energy systems with the potential to qualify include: solar power, wind power, hydro, biogas, biomass and landfill gas turned to electricity.

The proposed new tariffs do a much better job of encouraging all of these, especially small-scale solar installations, which get the highest tariff. This is part of a larger effort to encourage 100,000 solar panel systems to be installed on residential rooftops. If this became a reality those solar panels would account for one percent of Ontario’s power supply. With the proposed feed-in tariff for small-scale solar projects proposed to be as high as 80.2 cents per kilowatt-hour; nearly double what a large solar plant would be paid, giving great incentive to start these kinds of small solar projects.

A Clean Edge report released today says that the wind and solar energy industries will be responsible for generating 2.65 million jobs globally in less than a decade. This expected number is about four and half times more than the current number of wind power and solar energy jobs which is approximately 600,000.

This positive predication is tempered by a less sunny short-term outlook, which predicts that renewable energy investments will plateau or even dip this year.

Chaos in the American economy is expected to seriously hamper what would’ve likely been massive, record-setting growth in the wind and solar power industries this year, but hopefully the rosey long-term outlook will keep the renewable energy jobs ball rolling at least somewhat.

The controversial Measure B was put to a vote yesterday and defeated by hair with 50.3 percent of L.A. voters saying “No.”

Measure B would have mandated L.A.’s utility to include more solar power in its supply. While this sounds fine in and of itself, detractors claimed it would unfairly exclude private installers from getting in on L.A.’s solar power program.

While the vote count shows a defeat for Measure B, the results aren’t official yet as the L.A. City Clerk’s Office requires 21 days to certify the results.

Specifically, Measure B would have mandated the installation of 400 megawatts of solar energy by 2014. The main sticking point for this for voters was that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) would be completely in charge of all installation, operation and maintenance of the solar panels.

Supporters of Measure B included Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, The California League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club and the utility worker’s union.

Asia will produce over 80% of all crystalline silicon solar cells by 2012, according to Greentech Media Research. As of last year, Asia manufactured just over 70% of all solar cells on the planet.

With continued and increased assistance from government programs and lower labor costs, Asia will expand their production and hopes to become the global leader in this increasingly important and relevant technology. Most international solar cell makers are looking for ways to keep costs low so they can get solar power work out to be of the same input and output value as traditional sources of energy. Inexpensive labor is one of the simplest ways to keep costs relatively low.

China, Taiwan and Japan are on their way to being the world leaders in solar cell production, producing 44% of all solar cells by 2012, which is the equivalent of 12 MW of power.

Panasonic recently announced that it was going to buy Sanyo for nine billion dollars. As a part of the Panasonic group, Sanyo will help Panasonic bust into the growing solar market by bringing to the table their large solar PV business.

As part of Sanyo’s long term commitment to solar power, the company plans to build a 70MW solar manufacturing facility in Oregon in 2009. Panasonic wants to make gains on projects like these, and while they are at it, further expand into crystalline silicon solar cells and the development of next-generation solar cells.

To add to this major expansion into the solar business, Panasonic will be making active investments in lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles. Panasonic hopes the collaboration with Sanyo will initiate big money contracts with some of the big players in the fumbling auto industry.

Sanyo, one of Japan’s largest electronics companies, has come up with an innovative and beautiful architectural design that allows a large solar power facility to exist within Japan’s need for clean aesthetic. The Solar Ark, in Gifu, is over 1,000 feet wide and 120 feet tall. The Solar Ark’s outer surfaces are covered with more than 5,000 active solar panels which generate over 500,000 kilowatt-hours of green energy in ideal weather conditions.

The Solar Ark’s subtle design and unique features make it a truly stunning example of eco-architecture .The Solar Ark has a gentle curved design that turns up at both ends. A modified space frame and cantilever engineering make it lightweight yet exceptionally strong, so it is capable of withstanding typhoon winds and earthquakes.

The desire, and need, to completely subsidize building energy costs for everything from heating to lighting is beginning to be more of a reality. Post the conception of integrated solar power the most common use has been discreet roof top tiles that appear to be regular roofing material but are actually solar panels.

Now RSi Solar has added to this conception with the announcement of the “world’s first transparent, photovoltaic glass window”. The company claims it can save up to 50 percent on heating and cooling requirements for a building.

Depending on the size, these photovoltaic windows will generate 80 – 250 watts each. That is amazing in itself but what I really like are the fact that while these solar windows are harnessing the sun’s abundant energy, they reduce heat. This of course results in less energy needed to cool a building. Oh and as an added bonus they also provide 100 percent UV reduction and infrared radiation plus they can be made bulletproof or tailored to specific weather and climate needs.

RSi has plans in place to install these bad boys into buildings in Hollywood and Vegas. These windows sound amazing and I would love to have the chance to actually stand behind one and marvel at its creation. I would prefer to have that day come when they are install in my apartment building and not have to travel to the one or two locations where they actually get put into use.

[Source: Treehugger]

Photovoltaic cells, better known as solar panels, are plates made of extremely sensitive semiconductors – which are special silicone based compounds – that are able to absorb electrons transmitted from sunlight rays. The energy rattles the electrons loose, allowing them to flow freely, and then be absorbed to flow in a specific direction and create electric current that later on can be used to power equipment. Photovoltaic arrays, or arrays of solar panels, generate a powerful form of renewable electricity.