As product rolls off the assembly line, there has been much talk about wafer thin nanosolar panels. Nanosolar shows great promise as the cost to produce will be below $1 per watt making solar electricity cheaper from the sun than from coal. Coal is currently considered one of the cheapest ways to produce electricity although many states do not allow coal to be used due to enviromental impacts. Electricity produced from the sun at a cost less than coal is as an understatement, a huge breakthrough.

As with any major step forward, downsides do exist. Although studies in the lab show nanosolar to be as efficient and durable as silicon based photovoltaic solar systems, they have yet to be field tested. The other disadvantage to consumers is that systems for residential customers are years away as any production in the near future will go to large scale projects.

If any customers want to use solar but do not want to pay more than what they pay with their current provider, the Citizenre rental program may still be the best option. While Citizenre does not have product either, chances are very good that product will be available far ahead of nanosolar. The best part is that since Citizenre is a rental model, the customer has now no investment (other than a $500-$1000 deposit) for the system. If nanosolar becomes available to residential customers at a price that makes purchasing economically feasible, then customers can make the switch to purchasing. Using the strategy will also allow time for nanosolar to be field tested. Since Citizenre is technology agnostic, they may offer thin film for sale. Those having a rental system would be first in line to purchase or rent any alternative!

Here is an article from Guardian Unlimited that sheds more light on the nonosolar possibilities. The story was written by John Vidal on 12-29-2007. The source is in Brittan but is the first article that I have seen that addresses the issue of delivery times to residential customers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/dec/29/solarpower.renewableenergy

The holy grail of renewable energy came a step closer yesterday as thousands of mass-produced wafer-thin solar cells printed on aluminium film rolled off a production line in California, heralding what British scientists called “a revolution” in generating electricity.

The solar panels produced by a Silicon Valley start-up company, Nanosolar, are radically different from the kind that European consumers are increasingly buying to generate power from their own roofs. Printed like a newspaper directly on to aluminium foil, they are flexible, light and, if you believe the company, expected to make it as cheap to produce electricity from sunlight as from coal.

Yesterday Nanosolar said its order books were full until mid-2009 and that a second factory would soon open in Germany where demand for solar power has rocketed. Britain was unlikely to benefit from the technology for some years because other countries paid better money for renewable electricity, it added.

“Our first solar panels will be used in a solar power station in Germany,” said Erik Oldekop, Nanosolar’s manager in Switzerland. “We aim to produce the panels for 99 cents [50p] a watt, which is comparable to the price of electricity generated from coal. We cannot disclose our exact figures yet as we are a private company but we can bring it down to that level. That is the vision we are aiming at.”

He added that the first panels the company was producing were aimed for large- scale power plants rather than for homeowners, and that the cost benefits would be in the speed that the technology could be deployed. “We are aiming to make solar power stations up to 10MW in size. They can be up and running in six to nine months compared to 10 years or more for coal-powered stations and 15 years for nuclear plants. Solar can be deployed very quickly,” said Oldekop.

Nanosolar is one of several companies in Japan, Europe, China and the US racing to develop different versions of “thin film” solar technology. It is owned by internet entrepreneur Martin Roscheisen who sold his company to Yahoo for $450m and, with the help of the founders of Google, the US government and other entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, has invested nearly $300m in commercialising the technology.

At the moment solar electricity costs nearly three times as much as conventional electricity to generate, but Nanosolar’s developments are thought to have halved the price of producing conventional solar cells at a stroke.

“This is the world’s lowest-cost solar panel, which we believe will make us the first solar manufacturer capable of profitably selling solar panels at as little as 99 cents a watt,” said Roscheisen yesterday.

However, the company, which claims to lead the “third wave” of solar electricity, is notoriously secretive and has not answered questions about its panels’ efficiency or their durability. It is quite open about wanting to restrict access to the technology to give it a market advantage.

Jeremy Leggett, chief executive of Britain’s leading solar energy company, Solar Century, said that it would be “breathtaking” if the technology proved as efficient as projected by the company. “This is a revolution. But people are going to be amazed at other developments taking place in solar technologies. We will be thrilled if this technology is as efficient as the company says. It will not change the direction of solar power in itself. Spectacular improvements are also being made in other parts of the industry,” he said.

Figures released yesterday by the Earth Policy Institute in Washington showed that solar electricity generation was now the fastest-growing electricity source, doubling its output every two years. It is now attracting government and venture capital money on an unprecedented scale.

The technology is particularly exciting because it can be used nearly everywhere. “You are talking about printing rolls of the stuff, printing it on garages, anywhere you want it. It really is a big deal in terms of altering the way we think about solar,” said Dan Kamman, director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley.

“The next industrial revolution will be based on these clean green technologies,” said Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth. “If the UK wants to be part of it, as Gordon Brown says it does, then it needs to rethink its strategies. Ministers have so far shown a distinct lack of vision.”

Power from light

Photovoltaic (PV) devices convert light into electrical energy. PV cells are made of semiconductor materials such as silicon. When light shines on a PV cell, the energy is transferred to electrons in the atoms of the PV cell. These electrons become part of the electrical flow, or current, in an electrical circuit. First wave photovoltaic cell used thick silicon-wafer cells but were cumbersome and costly. The second generation of photovoltaic materials were developed about 10 years ago and use very thin silicon layers. These brought the price down dramatically but still need expensive vacuum processes in their construction. The third wave of PV, now being developed by firms such as Nanosolar, can print directly on to other materials and does not use silicon.

The Citizenre renewable energy program will make solar systems affordable to nearly all homewoners across the U.S.  The program will allow customers to rent solar as opposed to making the large initial investment to purchase. The company states that systems will begin to deploy in the middle of 2008. Many cities have also taken steps to help Americans make the tranition to green more affordable. Check out this story written by BRIAN SKOLOFF of the Associated Press.

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Free hybrid-car parking. Cash rebates for installing solar panels. Low-interest loans for energy-saving home renovations. Money to tear up desert lawns and replace them with drought-resistant landscaping.

Frustrated by what they see as insufficient action by state and federal government, municipalities around the country are offering financial incentives to get people to go green.

“A lot of localities recognize they’re going to get a lot more done using carrots and incentives rather than regulatory means,” said Jason Hartke, director of advocacy for the U.S. Green Building Council.

In Parkland, where the motto is “Environmentally Proud,” the city plans next year to begin dispensing cash rebates to its 25,000 residents for being more environmentally friendly.

“We will literally issue them a check,” said Vice Mayor Jared Moskowitz. “We’re sick of waiting for the federal government to do something, so we’ve got to do what we can.”

Residents who install low-flow toilets or shower heads will get $150. Replacing an old air conditioner with a more energy-efficient one brings $100. Buying a hybrid car? An additional $200 cash back. And the list goes on.

Based on an estimate of 1,000 residents participating in the rebate program during the first year, the city predicts it will cost up to $100,000.

“Could this bankrupt the city if the program grows by leaps and bounds?” Moskowitz asked. “I can only wish that so many residents want to go green that that becomes an issue.”

Many states already offer similar rebates and incentives through tax breaks, loans and perks such as allowing hybrid-car drivers to use car pool lanes.

Utilities have long provided incentives to buy energy-efficient appliances, solar panels and toilets that use less water. The federal government, too, offers tax incentives for purchases of many hybrid vehicles and energy-saving products.

Still, for many cities, it’s just not enough.

“In terms of waiting for the federal government, we’ve waited a long time, and frankly, we haven’t gotten very much,” said Jared Blumenfeld, director of San Francisco’s Department of Environment. “And how do you change someone’s behavior? The simple answer is cash.”

Starting next year, San Francisco will offer homeowners rebates of up to $5,000 for installing solar panels if they use a local contractor. Coupled with state and federal incentives, that could cut in half the $21,000 cost for an average household, Blumenfeld said.

The city will also cover up to 90 percent of the costs of making apartment buildings more energy-efficient, and will pay residents $150 to replace old appliances.

The neighboring city of Berkeley is financing the cost of solar panels for homeowners who agree to pay the money back through a 20-year property tax assessment.

Nearby Marin County offers a $500 rebate to homeowners who install solar systems.

Baltimore offers at least $2,000 toward closing costs for people who buy new homes close to where they work. It is called the “Live Near Your Work” program.

“Just living near your job and taking transit or walking to meet your daily needs provides basically the same environmental benefit as buying a hybrid car,” said Amanda Eaken of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Residents of Albuquerque, N.M., get fast-track building permits and other perks if they agree to make their homes more energy-efficient.

In Arizona, many cities pay residents to replace grass with artificial turf or plants that use less water. Scottsdale, outside Phoenix, will pay up to $1,500.

“We’re in the middle of a desert and water is absolutely the most precious resource we have,” said city spokesman Mike Phillips.

Click on comments for solar news in Massachusettes.

BDV-399298-BDV

By Lisa Petrillo
STAFF WRITER June 2, 2007

______________________–

Host note:

I normally would not include a story that is 6 months old, but Solarjoules recently found out about this project. The story did come out before we began this BLOG and since the project is located in our “backyard” I did not want to let it go unnoticed.

I will let you decide for yourself as to weather you think it is a good idea that tax dollars should subsidize projects such as these.

Click on, “Articles on Citizenre” to see how you can rent solar in California and many other states at a cost less than your current electricity bills!

_______________________

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070602/news_1mc2solara.html

POWAY – For Abby Indiongco-Magtoto, what’s not to like about her new apartment where she’s saving both money and the planet?

She saves on rent: Leases run, on average, 40 percent below market at Solara, the city of Poway’s newest affordable-housing complex in the heart of town.

She saves on utility bills: There aren’t any – not for Indiongco-Magtoto or any other Solara tenant.

That’s such a deal that even her 8-year-old son Jacob gets it. As the second-grader explained: “It’s solar-powered, so the lights are free.”

In Solara, Poway has built an environmentally pioneering low-income apartment complex that basically powers itself.

Experts call it the first of its kind in the state, and possibly the nation: a green-built, government-financed, affordable-housing complex that’s virtually climate neutral, constructed with minimum pollution and maximum energy efficiency.

Even the landscaping is edible; Solara’s grounds include sage and rosemary and lemon trees.

“It’s really an innovative project. It serves as a living, breathing program to serve as a model,” said Adam Gottlieb of the California Energy Commission. “Not only are they building smart and fighting climate change, but they are reducing greenhouse gases for the rest of us.”

The energy commission subsidized the $18.5 million Solara complex to help create a working example for developers in the public and private sectors on how to build cheap and green.

What Krissy Toft of Poway’s Redevelopment Agency likes about the 56-unit Solara, which gets its official ribbon-cutting Tuesday, is that they’ve created a lasting resource that writes the book on environmental public policy.

“We’re setting the bar. I don’t see us stopping this and going in another direction after what we’d gained,” Toft said.

She expects the city of 50,000 residents to follow the green wave in future public housing projects, six of which are in the pipeline.

What Jacob Magtoto, who lives in Solara, likes is that when he needed a Jedi light saber to join the “Star Wars” battles with his new friends in their new complex, he and his mother could simply walk to the store to buy one.

“You have wiggle room in your budget here,” said Indiongco-Magtoto, membership services director for the local chamber of commerce.

Her eyes gleam with the possibilities imagined with what she’ll be saving from not paying an estimated $1,200 per year in utilities and on gas. Because of Solara’s central location, she and her son will be able to walk to stores, movies, the market, the pool, the parks and the library.

During a recent after-school light-saber duel on Solara’s colorful grounds, Jacob and his new neighbor, Jeffrey Lopez, 8, paused to talk about what makes their place special. “My house is really cool, because the sun does all the work,” Jeffrey said.

Their youthful grasp of the politics of ecology drew proud smiles from Mary Jane Jagodzinski and Anne Wilson of Community Housing Works.

Jagodzinski and Wilson led the team for the San Diego-based nonprofit that developed this complex and now manage it, complete with educational orientation programs for all new residents, children included, about the whys and hows of sustainable building.

“We want them to know what makes them special so they can spread those lessons to others,” Jagodzinski said.

It wasn’t easy being green.

When planning began on the Solara project five years ago on 2½ acres on Community Road near Poway Road, the only direction from city officials was to make it save money through energy efficiency. But also do it without making the place look like a science experiment.

“We found there was nothing out there like this. There was no road map, no book. We were going to have to figure it out ourselves,” said Wilson, director of housing and real estate development.

Only 2 percent of affordable-housing developers integrate renewable energy features into their projects, according to the Energy Commission. Yet utility bills can be the crushing blow for some people living on the edge financially.

Those involved with developing Solara say they wanted to achieve the important balance of providing solidly built low-cost housing to help their tenants, while at the same time making that housing ecologically friendly.

While Community Housing owns and manages 25 affordable-housing complexes countywide where they strive to save energy costs, Wilson said achieving climate neutrality was beyond its expertise. It hired as consultants Global Green USA, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit that combats global warming and nuclear proliferation.

Global Green spokesman Ted Bardacke said the organization helped find ways to make Poway’s complex financially feasible, while still using the best materials and technologies available. It helped Community Housing solve problems such as where to find alternative air conditioners that don’t run on ozone-depleting Freon, yet don’t cost so much that they escalate the cost-efficiency of an affordable-housing project.

After the success with Solara, Bardacke said he’s seeing its design become the new wave in public housing projects. His organization has been tapped to assist with several similar fully green projects in California and nationally.

The complex is first and foremost a haven for low-to moderate-income families. There’s a staggering demand for affordable housing in high-rent San Diego County, where some 13 percent of workers earn less than $20,000 per year, while the median home price tops $550,000. There are 800 families on Solara’s waiting list.

Residents must meet income requirements, based on formulas factoring in median-area incomes and housing costs. A typical family of four earning less than $42,000 per year would qualify. Rent runs from $388 to $1,075 per month in the complex of standard-sized apartments, with one-, two-and three-bedroom units that feature built-in-shelves and extra closets.

The green is what’s unseen.

The shade structures for the carports hold the solar panels that convert the sun’s rays into electricity. Also, the architectural firm Rodriguez Associates shifted the buildings to take advantage of natural breezes and designed window openings to offer cooling cross-ventilation.

Double-paned windows restrict temperature loss. Roofs use heat-reflecting materials; attics and walls are filled with nontoxic, formaldehyde-free insulation. There are energy-saving, tankless water heaters and dual-flush toilets.

Threaded through the complex is eye-catching public art, all using recycled materials. In the community center, which features a computer lab where after-school tutoring programs will be held, there’s a large kaleidoscope filled with glittering bits of broken glass that children can turn like a bicycle wheel.