THIS SOLAR PANEL-LIKE DEVICE CAN GENERATE ELECTRICITY IN THE DARK

Solar panels are great — but when the Sun goes down, they turn into expensive slabs of metal.

But a new invention could allow us to continue generating renewable energy even in the dark, the New York Times reports. Electrical engineer Aaswath Raman, at the University of California in LA, has come up with a device that can harness energy from a dark night sky to power an LED — hinting at a new frontier in renewable energy.

Power Of The Dark Side
Raman’s findings were published in the journal Joule today. His device — made from easy-to-find materials including Styrofoam and off-the-shelf aluminum parts — takes advantage of radiative cooling, the process that allows objects to release heat after the Sun sets.


The top portion of the device cools down more quickly than the bottom, allowing it to turn the temperature swing into electricity with the help of a thermoelectric generator.



Reality Check
Unfortunately, it’s not very powerful. The prototype was able to power a white LED, but was still three orders of magnitude less powerful than a solar panel per square meter, as the Times points out.


“They have suggested reasonable paths for increasing the performance of their device,” MIT materials scientist Jeffrey Grossman told the Times. “But there is definitely a long way to go if they want to use it as an alternative to adding battery storage for solar cells.”

Solar energy is renewable, but is it environmentally just?

Dustin Mulvaney speaks about his new book which explores the complex environmental and social impacts of the global solar industry.
[The book is Solar Power, Innovation, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice published by the University of California Press. ]


DHARNA NOOR: It’s The Real News. I’m Dharna Noor.

The solar industry has been soaring over the past several years. The US is now home to some two million solar installations. Solar energy now provides about a fifth of California’s power and it makes sense that environmentalists champion the industry. Almost a third of the Earth’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the energy sector, so renewable energy sources like this are crucial.

But in a new book, our next guest shows that while “the net social and environmental benefits of solar are uncontested— more jobs, higher quality of life, and much less air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions— the industry supply chain still poses problems for specific communities, ecosystems and landscapes.”

So that’s what I’m here to unpack today with Dustin Mulvaney. He is an Associate Professor in the Environmental Studies Department at San Jose University and his new book that he’s here to talk about today is called Solar Power: Innovation, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice. Thanks so much for being here, Dustin.

DUSTIN MULVANEY: It’s a pleasure to join you. Thank you.

DHARNA NOOR: So, I want to start by talking to you about the conception of solar power. You maintain obviously in this book that solar power plays a really important role in fighting the climate crisis, but you also take a critical look at the political economy of solar. That’s something that’s often missing from environmental movements, because solar has what you call in the book a green halo. It’s sometimes exempt from critical examination. What do you hope that this book will achieve within that broader climate conversation?

DUSTIN MULVANEY: I certainly wouldn’t even consider myself an advocate for solar power. It’s a free renewable resource that once you build the devices you could collect and displace some more polluting energies. I am interested in making sure that people realize that this is a commodity that is produced, and that it requires extractive industries and chemical industries and landscapes, end of life management plans.

So I just want people to be thinking critically about this industry because it doesn’t inherently come with sustainability. It may be better than our current energy systems, but we want to make sure that it’s just made better in general. So we don’t want to see worker exploitation and solar energy commodity chains. We don’t want to see land use change that might undermine our carbon goals through the development of solar energy. We don’t want to see end of life electronic waste scattered about our landfills and recycling centers with this industry.

So, I just want people to be cognizant of that this is a production system. And with all production systems, there are environmental impacts. We need to bring attention to this because if we don’t carefully deploy solar power, we could reproduce some of the environmental inequalities we see in other energy systems. Even if it’s less overall inequality or environmental impact, the goal here is really to raise all boats— as we’ve heard with many of the conversations around green jobs and such. We don’t want to have a green job in California, installing rooftop solar on someone’s home linked to a gray dirty job in Malaysia or China or some other part of the world.  ….  (Full transcript here)

The Land Politics of Solar Energy (2/2)
August 26, 2019

In part 2 of his interview on his new book, Dustin Mulvaney examines the complicated environmental impact—and political economy—of U.S. solar projects, and explains his hopes for the industry’s future



Partial transcript:  (Full transcript here)

…. DHARNA NOOR: So a major debate over solar in the US has been the fight over utility-scale solar, particularly on public lands in the southwest. After the 2008 recession, huge swathes of public land were used to construct solar farms. I think something like 10% of all public lands. And your book points out that environmental justice advocates and Indigenous groups actually demanded that other lands were considered instead— abandoned farmland, industrial brownfields. But instead, of course, there was this huge seizing of public lands. Talk about how that happened. You actually say that it turned into what you call a Green Civil War between some of the bigger green organizations and some smaller climate justice groups.

DUSTIN MULVANEY: Yeah. The origin for this conflict really goes back to 2001 with the Bush-Cheney Energy Taskforce. And one of the major recommendations to come from that taskforce was to expedite energy development on public lands. Of course, they probably were not talking about solar, wind and geothermal. They were mainly talking about oil, coal and natural gas.

Yet, that policy was applied to the solar industry when public lands came under pressure for development, as you said, around 2008 through 2012 or so, was really the big push for a lot of this. The origins for that are a bit complicated, but one of the reasons I believe that public lands were targeted in this initial wave of solar development was that these are just big parcels of land. The Bureau of Land Management is the nation’s largest landlord with over 250 million acres of land that they manage. And to some extent the renewables industry had always been jealous of the fossil fuel industries because they get access to public lands and their lobbyists basically said, “Well, you should give us public lands too.”

So the BLM in the 2005 Energy Policy Act was mandated, and I would put that in air quotes— “mandated”— because it actually doesn’t say that in the legislation. But it was interpreted as a mandate, that they would develop 10 gigawatts of solar on public lands, and that was expanded actually to 20 gigawatts under the Obama administration. So the BLM, it became part of their mission to actually dispossess their lands and virtually privatize them for industry essentially. I call it virtual privatization because it wasn’t that these solar companies were buying the land. It’s that they just got to occupy it, fence it in, bulldoze it, and basically treat it as their own, but eventually it’s supposed to be returned to the federal government.

Now, the other reason for public lands is, and this is a similar argument, but the large parcel sizes mean that they only have to deal with one landowner. So if you want to build a really large solar farm, let’s say eight square miles, and there are some that are that big. If you want to build an eight square mile solar farm, imagine trying to do that in a rural community where you’ve got to deal with 15 to 30 different landowners and you’ve got to negotiate prices and such. The BLM became a lot easier to deal with, so a lot of the solar companies would rather have dealt directly with BLM and that was the major impetus.

The other reason that the BLM lands were targeted was because they were able to be fast tracked, as I mentioned earlier. And the reason fast tracking became important here is because there was stimulus money available to these solar companies in the form of loan guarantees and cash grants, which sometimes could be used to pay off the loans. And if those projects didn’t break ground before a certain date, that money would be basically taken back by the next Congress. So that fast tracking really was driven by the need to get shovels in the ground. And if you remember from that conversation around the financial crisis in 2008, shovel-ready projects was the catchphrase that we were looking to invest in. We, meaning the United States, during the economic downturn. And fast-tracked solar projects on public lands were considered shovel-ready, and it’s not clear that they could’ve even built them as quick on private land, but we’ve seen a lot less projects built on public lands more recently.

Go Solar: Govt Schemes & Subsidies You Can Avail to Harvest the Sun!

In all probability, all your household appliances and gadgets run on the electricity that you get from the state run electricity grid which can be unreliable and also a cause of pollution and environmental damage. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could have your own source of generating electricity, with the added bonus of reducing your carbon footprint?

Solar power can provide you with those benefits, and now it is possible for you as a household to harness the power of the sun.

If you are looking for some healthy clean eating snack options, then you could try this 7 day vegan roasted snack bundle available right here.

Given India’s geographical location, there is ample sunlight all year long. According to this report, about 5,000 trillion kWh per year energy is experienced over India’s land area with most parts receiving 4-7 kWh per sq. m per day.

Promotion

Tapping into this potential, India has earned itself the title of being the fastest developing solar power industry globally, while also boasting of being the lowest cost producer of solar power in the world. With the government is working towards establishing solar power as a primary source of energy, there are various schemes that have been launched to encourage the domestic use of solar power.

Rooftop Scheme
Installing solar rooftop systems can help people generate electricity and use it for different purposes—residential, commercial and even industrial. While this is a great option, there are not many takers for rooftop solar panels due to their huge installation costs.

To make it easier, central and state governments have launched various schemes to encourage the implementation of rooftop solar panels.

What are these schemes?
Solar panels running the Lewis Household. (Source: Dr Reema Lewis)
Representational image (Source: Dr Reema Lewis)
Those who plan to install rooftop panels can avail priority sector loans of upto 10 lakhs from nationalised banks. According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the central government pays 30 per cent of the benchmarked installation cost for the rooftop Photovoltaic system.

This is for the states in the general category, while the states and UTs in the special category i.e Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Lakshadweep, get upto 70 per cent of the predetermined installation cost.

Besides this, you can also sell surplus solar power generated in your household solar unit to the grid at Rs 2 per unit. This will be done through the concept of ‘net metering’.

What is net metering?
solar-lokhandwala-war-heroes-mumbai
Net Metering Rooftop Solar – Lokhandwala, Andheri West
Net metering is a process in which the electricity board keeps track of the energy consumed as well as generated by a solar-powered house. It allows consumers to feed surplus solar power into the state’s power grid when they don’t need it, and receive a credit on their electricity bill.

For example, if you live in a state that has implemented the net metering policy, then you get credited for the electricity you give to the grid at the same retail price that you pay for the electricity you take from the grid. For more details on how this works, you can read this article here.

Does this really work?
As this report highlights, Retired IAF officers residing in Trishul Cooperative Housing Society in Mumbai spent Rs 8.38 lakh to install 40 solar panels atop their 14-storey building in November 2016. The electricity generated from these panels is powering the common areas of the housing society (lights, fans, elevators and motors) and has helped reduce the monthly electricity bill from Rs 20,000 to Rs 350 — a drop of almost 98 per cent.

A look at some state policies:
Tamil Nadu

As of January 2017, Tamil Nadu has the highest amount of solar power commissioned at 1590.97 MW. The Tamil Nadu government has taken several steps to promote renewable energy and its adoption. In 2013, the government issued an order offering a capital subsidy of Rs 20,000 for each 1 kW solar rooftop system installed.

Tamil Nadu’s draft policy on solar power mandates that 30 per cent of the energy requirements for street lights, water supply and even public buildings is to be met from solar energy by 2022.

I-SMART – Gujarat

This programme launched by the state government is likely to directly benefit more than 2 lakh families to adopt solar in the financial year 2019-20. Under this scheme,  a subsidy of 40 per cent will be applicable to those who install systems upto 3 kilowatts (kW) and a subsidy of 20 per cent for a system of 3 kW to 10kW. To implement this rooftop solar policy, the state government has made a provision of Rs 1,000 crores. This scheme will only be available for residential customers.

Key points about rooftop PV systems under the subsidy schemes

Roof Mounted Solar System. Source
· Approximately 100 square feet of space is required for the installation of the rooftop PV system.
· The average cost of installation of rooftop PV system without subsidy is around Rs 60,000 – 70,000.
· After availing 30 per cent subsidy, people just have to pay Rs 42,000 – 49,000 for installing a rooftop PV system.
· In order to avail generation-based incentive, the customer should generate 1100 kWh – 1500 kWh per year.
· Under the scheme, a customer can earn up to Rs 2000 to 3000 per annum as generation-based incentive.

Application process for the scheme
· Interested people should contact their electricity provider to express their interest. Next, officials concerned will visit the installation site, assess it and give approval.
· They will also explain the necessary details for installation along with fee structure.
· Users can also seek approval for the installation of monitoring systems from the inspection officers during their visit.
· The customer needs to call the electricity provider for inspection after completion of the installation process as well.
· Next, the officer will inspect the installation and give their approval for availing the subsidy.
· Then, customers can avail the subsidy amount. They can also get tariff details of the excessive units that will be sold to the government.

While there are success stories, there are still many states who continue to be hesitant in providing a conducive environment for the robust growth of rooftop solar. DISCOMS are weary of sacrificing premium customers who pay a rather high tariff for electricity. According to this report, the approval process is yet another challenge for net metering policies in many states. In Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, for example, developers face lengthy approval processes which can last anywhere between three to six months. In contrast, the approval process in Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Rajasthan are more streamlined and takes anywhere between 25 days to 30 days.

With solar energy being the energy of the present for a better future, India should be leading the way in moving from fossil fuel based energy to solar. It is definitely beneficial from multiple perspectives – including the environment (reduces pollution), economy (creates local jobs in installation, maintenance), and also helps reduce India’s foreign currency burden by reducing imports. Eurpoean countries have demonstrated that large-scale domestic solar energy generation is viable, and it is only a matter of time that India also becomes a domestic solar powerhouse. Solar Energy is a clear winner and literally provides more power to you!

Bloggers Bash 'Dr. Doom'

Are bloggers good fact-checkers? This week, a prominent scientist made a speech about population that bloggers loudly booed. But were they right? Plus, the war between Apple and Microsoft has come to an end and bloggers couldn't be happier. And what's a Blooker, you ask? Find out below.


And That's How Rumors Get Started

Forrest Mims wrote on his blog that "a few hundred members of the Texas Academy of Science rose to their feet and gave a standing ovation to a speech that enthusiastically advocated the elimination of 90 percent of Earth's population by airborne Ebola." Dr. Eric R. Pianka, a University of Texas professor who the Academy named the 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist, gave the speech.

Trending News
Within days, the story catapulted through the blogosphere, making Pianka one of the week's most blogged about people.

But, the story isn't quite true, according to bloggers who have read Pianka's work.

As Jason on Evolutionblog notes, "what he actually believes is that it is inevitable that overpopulation and overexploitation of the Earth's resources will lead to a catastrophic event for humanity, probably via a major outbreak of some disease." Not exactly uplifting news, but the scientist isn't advocating mass destruction, either. He explains his views in an essay, "What noboday wants to hear."

Some bloggers say politics is at play in the misinterpretation of Pianka's comments, pointing out that Mims, chairman of the Environmental Sciences section of the Texas Academy of Science, is a creationist who took issue with Pianka's evolution work.

"Mims then spread this misleading summary to other creationists, from which point it spread into the right-wing community in general," Daylight Atheism writes. Although the slightest modicum of fact-checking would have made it obvious that Mims' accusations were completely false, this modicum was, as usual, not performed, and the predictable torrent of rage and invective followed in utter ignorance of Pianka's actual beliefs.

But the blogosphere is a powerful force, and many bloggers say they have no doubt about "Dr. Doom's" beliefs.

"The lizard man PREACHS that 90% of humanity should be falling down in agony with blood pouring from every orifice of their body," Mickey at New York Blog Of Mine writes. "What I am bit confused about is how the nut bag came to be a respected member of the scientific community, then again all I really have is the word of a few Texans. But his students seem to love him..."


Over at Watchblog, Eric Simonson writes, "Be-a-u-ti-ful. Pianka is sort of the David Koresh of biologists wouldn't you say? It warms my heart to find another dedicated and committed academic hard at work teaching our best and brightest the skills they need to compete in the 21st century, it really does."

A blogger at This Was America is also worried about Dr. Pianka's students. "Must now we worry that a Pianka-worshipping former student might someday become a professional biologist or physician with access to the most deadly strains of viruses and bacteria?," the blogger asks.

Protecting Children From Homeland Employees

While lawmakers last week questioned the commitment of the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to halting the online exploitation of children, bloggers were questioning how the Department of Homeland Security handles this issue among its own employees.

The media was covering the resignation of Brian Doyle, the deputy press secretary of Homeland Security caught chatting online with someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl, but bloggers were talking about another Homeland Security official.

Think Progress alerts readers that Frank Figueroa, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security's program to stop child predators (Operation Predator), pleaded no contest last week to charges he exposed himself to a 16-year-old girl in a mall food court in Orlando and ran away from security officers.

"I'm not sure what's going on at the Department of Homeland Security, but significant background checks certainly are not," Ed at Captain's Quarters writes. "Voters may not remember who Jack Abramoff is come November, but they will certainly remember who hired the Dirty Old Man of the DHS."


Tim at Balloon Juice writes, "Put two and two and two together. Increasing government power, decreasing oversight, lax hiring policies. What kind of person do you think that is going to attract?"

Many bloggers question who Homeland Security is actually protecting. Pete at Disturbing the Comfortable asks if Homeland Security has "predators protecting children from predators?" He says, "Now it appears that the agency in charge of our domestic security is the place to be, if you're a predator. Homeland Security needs to either be totally reorganized or disbanded: the unthinkable has become commonplace."

And Jonathan at Past Peak writes, "Who is going to start protecting us from the Department of Homeland Security? It kind of makes you long for the good old wholesome days of the Clinton administration."


Apples And Oranges No More
The decades-long rivalry between Apple computers and Microsoft has rested on the fact that you couldn't use Windows on an Apple computer. Now, that is all about to change and no one is happier than bloggers (aside from, I presume, Apple stock holders). Apple announced Wednesday that it would offer users of its latest models a simple way to run the Microsoft Windows operating system as well as its own, through software called Boot Camp.

The move was greeted with cheers from loyal Apple enthusiasts who rallied around their computers even before Apple became cool again, thanks to the iPod.

Boot Camp has won over Digital Hobbit, for one. "For the most part, this sounds like a pretty good deal to me," he blogs. "I don't own a Mac, but I am pretty certain that my next computer (Notebook or Desktop) will be a Mac, and this feature adds extra confidence to first time Mac users that they will be able to continue to run their Windows applications."

And in music to Apple's ears, Dave at Dave's Rants writes, "So I finally cracked and ordered a MacBook Pro, I had been planning on waiting for the next revision but the release of boot camp and the fact that some bugs have been fixed made my decision easier. Now the next pain — actually paying for it!"


But Gavin Shearer reads between the lines. "Boot Camp is basically nine months of free marketing for Apple," Gavin writes. "Between now and January the public is going to hear nothing except 'Macs can run Windows!' from the popular press, the blogosphere, and their geek friends. And guess what? By the time Christmas rolls around, a lot of those people who are in the market for a new PC are (finally) going to consider an Apple computer instead of one from HP, Dell, Toshiba or Sony."

South Park Vs. The World

South Park is well-known for its off-beat, non-conformist satire, and even won a Peabody award this past week for it. But last Wednesday's show take on the cartoon riots was perhaps its most daring…and many bloggers couldn't have been happier.

The episode focuses on panic caused by a decision by Fox's "The Family Guy" to air an episode where the Prophet Mohammed makes a cameo appearance…and well, being animated, he would be a cartoon. Everyone fears a repeat of the violent response to the Danish cartoons, so Fox decides to censor Mohammed. For now. The show's second part airs tonight, and the decision is not final.

For the most part, bloggers praised the show's creators and writers as courageous for taking on a sensitive topic.

The Right Hand of God writes, "I know the show is generally crude and filthy (though hilarious), but the point remains that the writers are among the most brilliant and non-partisan writers in television today. One of the few shows that actually does rip on everyone, instead of just picking on one group (usually the right/religious right)."

Count John Noonan at The Officers' Club as another fan. "Sometimes it takes an unlikely hero like South Park to step up and put things into perspective," John writes. And Boogusby also praises the show's courage. "I've been thrilled with South Park since the beginning. Most people act as if Matt and Trey (the creators), really don't have opinions on anything, that they just make fun of everything and everyone. This seems true to most people, but I think they clearly have opinions...They are one of the last voices on Television who will speak up against anything," Boogusby writes.


A blogger at Onegoodmove sees last week's episode as a public service mission of sorts, calling it "South Park at its best, discussing the important questions raised by the Danish Cartoon controversy and doing it in a humorous way."

And The Blooker Goes To...

It was only a matter of time. The winners of the first annual Blooker Prize have been announced. The prize is for books based on blogs and it's awarded by a "print on demand" book publisher.

The Blooker folks say scores of blooks have already been published, both by traditional publishers and self-publishers, and their contest offers "fresh evidence that the oft-touted rumor of the death of books is greatly exaggerated." Check out the winners here.

By Melissa McNamara