Green Friendly California

> > >WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Despite plowing billions of taxpayer dollars into the ailing U.S. renewable industry, there’s been little sign of new life in the sector, says the head of one of the largest manufacturers in the business.

And without a federal mandate requiring an increasing percentage of electricity to come from renewable sources such as wind and solar power, the U.S. industry is likely to remain in a funk for at least another year. said Randy Zwirn, Siemens Energy.< < <

EXCUSE ME!

Come on folks, the last thing we need is more mandates. It is time for the Government to get out of the way and let private industry drive this bus. President Barack Obama signed into law a nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package, right or wrong it’s law now. That stimulus package contains nearly $15 billion in tax credits for the renewable industry, and tens of billions of dollars in grants, loans and loan guarantees.

The article mentioned above goes on to state that although there are billions of dollars in renewable energy production tax credits available, many of the biggest financiers have limited tax liabilities in the current economic woes to offset and can’t or haven’t stepped up to take advantage.

Too Bad! If the big boys in private industry like Siemens and General Electric don’t reach out and grab handfuls of that cash the new breed entrepreneurs will. Individual Americans, raised with the “can do” attitude and “Christian work ethic” will step up and better ideas will come into play. The grass root movement already started to wean the United States off of fossil fuel and into renewable energy will prevail, with or without the government’s unwanted involvement.

Effective use of Solar Energy and the future of the Electric car

Lighting buildings via windows and skylights is the most common way we take advantage of solar energy today. Passive solar room heating, solar hot water and pool heating are other common applications of solar “thermal” energy.

We already know it is possible to harness solar energy by directly converting sunlight into storable electricity by the use of semi-conductors and solar electric power cells. The problem comes from the inefficient storage systems currently available. Electric car development has been held back by heavy batteries that limit driving range.

Effective, responsible use of solar thermal energy incorporated into electric car technology still remains one of the twenty first century’s biggest challenges. Recently Japanese and European Union officials conducted talks aimed at jointly developing advanced solar cells and rechargeable batteries for electric cars. Here is a link to the article.

Solar energy is free, and its supplies are unlimited. Using solar energy produces no air or water pollution but does have some indirect impacts on the environment. For example, manufacturing the photovoltaic cells used to convert sunlight into electricity, consumes silicon and produces some waste products.

Efficient storage systems could be deployed to meet your energy needs in the future and greatly reduce our carbon output. Any advancement in the technology must include safeguards.