Renewable Energy. Solar Power. Soltage-Greenwood Solar Walpole MA

Game-changing Solar Finance Model for Mid-size Projects

JBS News Renewable Energy. Solar Power. Mid-size solar farms hit the ‘sweet spot’ with investor groups by packaging together multiple solar projects in states with favorable renewable polices — to create the scale and standardization required for big investors to take notice.

Combine that with equity financing and a business model of partnering with leading solar developers, solar engineering, procurement, and construction contractors through the joint venture model, to handle every aspect of such projects, from engineering to procurement and construction, through maintenance.

By vertically integrating the solar development model, mid-sized developers can reach the scale needed to attract institutional investors, ensuring project financing through construction and interconnection, allowing power-purchase agreements (PPA) to be put in place, to provide a positive return for eager investors.

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Renewable Energy. Solar Power. Veterans solar jobs

Solar Jobs For Veterans: New Report Highlights Growth

JBS News Renewable Energy. Solar Power. Fresh off the news that President Obama is making noises about withdrawing all US troops from Afghanistan, the organizations Operation Free and The Solar Foundation have released a first-of-its-kind report that offers returning veterans the prospect of civilian employment in the US solar industry.

In a nutshell, the new report demonstrates that veterans are employed in the solar industry at higher than average rates.

That’s a note of optimism for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, who in this generation have faced a challenging employment picture.

The new report, Veterans in Solar: Securing America’s Energy Future, is all the more significant in light of Republican leadership policy pushing for cuts in food stamps and other safety net services on which many veterans and their families depend.

It’s worth pointing out that more than a few returning veterans already have experience with solar equipment on active duty, as the Department of Defense has been pushing aggressively to transition out of dependency on fossil fuels and into more flexible, logistically sensible forms of power. That includes bases here at home as well as forward operating bases and field maneuvers overseas, too.

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Renewable-Energy-at-Davis-Monthan-Air-Force-base

US Air Force completes biggest military Solar power installation

JBS News Renewable Energy. Solar Power. It looks like the Air Force wins the week in terms of military renewable energy projects.

The biggest military solar power plant in the US has just been completed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, the latest solar power plant there is a 16.4 megawatt installation that is expected to save about $500,000 in electricity costs yearly and provide about 35 percent of the base’s electricity needs.

These numbers are additional to other, smaller, solar power plants that are already operating at Davis-Mothan AFB.

If you’re keeping score at home, the new military solar power plant nudges the Air Force ahead of the Army, at least for now.

Earlier this week, the Army Corps of Engineers and Energy Initiatives Task Force announced 15 contracts for military solar power, which is pretty impressive, but that was a preliminary step involving the formation of a pool of eligible bidders for future renewable energy projects.

The latest solar power project at Davis-Monthan allows the base to avoid about 17,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, 11 metric tons of nitrogen oxides, and 17 metric tons of sulfur dioxide annually — just on this 16.4MW solar installation alone.

It was built under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with no up-front cost to the Air Force, so no taxpayers were harmed in the making of this renewable energy project.

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Energy policy. Walmart Hybrid Semi tractor trailer unit.

President Obama Pushes Fuel Efficiency For Big Trucks

JBS News Renewable Energy. Energy Policy. America’s Supertruck project aims to improve big rig fuel economy by 50% — no later than 2016.

Medium and heavy-duty trucks account for 25% of all fuel used in America, and President Obama wants to improve their efficiency by an “ambitious” amount.

But can Obama get it done before his presidency comes to a close?

In his most recent State of the Union address, Obama’s energy goals were fixated on natural gas and semi-truck fuel economy. This isn’t exactly new territory for the Obama administration, which has helped to fund the Supertruck project.

So far, the Supertruck has delivered some promising results, achieving an average fuel economy of nearly 10 MPG without fancy drivetrains or alternative fuels.

Not that Obama isn’t pushing for those advances either. Testing on hybrid and CNG-powered semis is already under way on several different fronts, and natural gas man T. Boone Pickens isn’t sitting quietly on the sidelines either.

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Renewable Energy. Offshore wind power. Horn's Reef, Denmark. Image courtesy of: Whatsupwiththat.com

Denmark Success! Turns Climate Goals into Climate Law

JBS News Renewable Energy. Denmark has officially enshrined their climate goals into law, as has been reported in several locations over the past 24 hours.

Denmark’s Climate, Energy and Building Minister, Rasmus Helveg Petersen, noted that the decision made it “truly a great day.”

The official Danish Twitter account linked to a post on website ‘tcktcktck.org’, confirming reports that the ruling party — the Social Democrats — along with the Conservative People’s Party, the Socialist People’s Party, and the Red-Green Alliance, had made the country’s climate goals a legislative reality.

Denmark have committed to reducing their country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020.

In December of 2013, wind power accounted for 55% of the country’s electricity.

Godt gået, Danmark!

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Renewable Energy. LEED Certified Buildings in 2014. Green building icon in hand

Illinois, America’s Green Building LEED-Certified Leader

JBS News Renewable Energy. America’s got a new number one when it comes to green building among the top states for LEED-certified construction, and this year’s winner may surprise you.

Illinois jumped from fifth to first in this year’s Top 10 States for LEED ranking from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), supplanting perennial winner Washington, D.C.

The list is based on a per-capita basis of 2010 U.S. Census data combined with commercial and institutional green building projects certified through the LEED certification program across 2013 – a whopping 1,777 projects and 22.8 million square feet across the top ten states.

Illinois ranked fifth in 2013 and placed third in 2012, so while its ascension isn’t shocking and shows a steady increase in green building projects, this year’s top rank is largely due to a technical change in how USGBC ranks states – namely dropping Washington, D.C. from the top 10 list.

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