A Sustainable Energy Blog
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From Renewableenergyworld.com this week, CALSEIA Executive Director, Sue Kateley, speaks out on finding a reputable solar panel system integration firm in her article, "Solar Works, Scam Artists Don't." Here's an excerpt:
Solar works. Solar products are available for your home or business that will produce electricity, heat water for your household uses and even heat your pool. There is no reason why any reputable company needs to oversell or hype the benefits of solar energy.
Many solar companies in California have been selling and installing solar systems for decades. Most companies started up their solar business in the last several years. Unfortunately, however, more recently the industry is experiencing something new: people who have created fancy websites and presentations and act like they will sell you a good product, when in fact they have little or no expertise. Customers should do their research to make sure that the solar company they are considering has a good reputation and sufficient experience.
In the last few months, there have been reports from several customers in California who gave very large deposits to a solar sales people but never received a solar system. These people lost their deposits and it is likely they will never get their money back. The California Solar Energy Industries Association (CALSEIA) is trying to help these unfortunate people but it also wants to make sure that there are no new victims.
From MSNBC this week, "Solar power companies look abroad as sun sets on tax credits" written by Celia Lamb of the Sacramento Business Journal, looks at the solar industry focused on finishing projects by end of the year and looking to a last minute extension of the Federal Incentive Tax Credits.
Solar power companies are racing to finish projects and are looking to overseas markets as the deadline for federal solar-power tax credits draws closer.
When the tax credits expire Dec. 31, small solar power installation companies could be hit the hardest because they depend on new business in their local markets. But even large companies are scrambling to finish as many projects as they can this year.
“We’re horrified,” said Sue Kateley, executive director of the California Solar Energy Industries Association. “I’ve stopped betting on it.”
But some industry executives are counting on the extension.
“We believe Congress will do the right thing and extend the tax credit,” said Phil Rettger, executive vice president of Hayward-based OptiSolar Inc., which is building a solar-panel manufacturing plant in McClellan Park. “There’s a history of waiting until the last minute and then extending the tax credit.”
For the full story, click here.
From today's Sacramento News & Review, reporter John Motsinger offers up an in-depth review of the upcoming November green energy proposition, "California ballot: Betting on Big Solar – Utilities and enviros team up against Proposition 7."
We all get it. The glaciers are melting. The sea is rising. Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more severe. And no matter how many bike miles we log or how many fluorescent light bulbs we buy, conservation alone may not avert the most disastrous consequences of climate change.
Harnessing the near limitless power of the sun, wind, water and earth could help. But how do we do it? Who is going to pay for the solar panels and wind turbines? And how fast does it have to happen?
…Even representatives of the renewable industry are concerned that the initiative won’t treat all technologies fairly. Sue Kateley, executive director of California’s Solar Energy Industries Association based in Rio Vista, said the new standards are biased towards large-scale energy plants instead of distributed, rooftop solar.
NY Times Op-Ed columnist, Thomas L. Friedman, addressed the state of the economy this week, in his piece entitled "Anxious in America."
He begins here:
Just a few months ago, the consensus view was that Barack Obama would need to choose a hard-core national-security type as his vice presidential running mate to compensate for his lack of foreign policy experience and that John McCain would need a running mate who was young and sprightly to compensate for his age. Come August, though, I predict both men will be looking for a financial wizard as their running mates to help them steer America out of what could become a serious economic tailspin.
Within the broad review of the country's economic status is this quote pertaining to green energy:
I continue to be appalled at the gap between what is clearly going to be the next great global industry — renewable energy and clean power — and the inability of Congress and the administration to put in place the bold policies we need to ensure that America leads that industry.
For the entire article, click here: Anxious in America