Solar Energy Stocks Jump After EPA Gas Ruling

Shares of solar energy stocks climbed Monday as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared greenhouse gases a danger to public health and as an analyst turned bullish on several solar names, saying he expects strong demand to continue into the first half of 2010.

The so-called "endangerment finding" announced by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is necessary for the administration to move ahead with new light-duty vehicle emission standards and is the precursor to wide-ranging regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.


SACE STATEMENT IN REACTION TO EPA DETERMINATION ON GLOBAL WARMING

New Ruling through U.S. Clean Air Act Demonstrates US is Ready to Lead on Climate

Knoxville, Tn. – Today Stephen A. Smith, Executive Director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, issued a statement in reaction to yesterday’s determination by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that global warming pollution does threaten public health and safety. Administrator Jackson indicated the agency would begin taking action under its Clean Air Act authority. This decision was announced just as the first day of international climate talks ended in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“This announcement strengthens the Obama administration in their efforts to regulate carbon in the United States and reinforces our commitment to clean energy in preparation for the international agreement in Copenhagen. While I agree with President Obama and Administrator Jackson that a legislative solution to the problem of climate change is preferable, I believe that if Congress fails to pass comprehensive climate legislation then the EPA should fulfill its obligation to respond to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that determined that greenhouse gases fit within the Clean Air Act definition of air pollutants. This ruling provides at least one route for the necessary and serious measures that are needed to reduce global warming pollution in this country.”

Underground Renewable Solar Energy?

A research team at Georgia Tech makes a game-changing breakthrough for the solar industry -- fiber optic solar cells that can work indoors (or even underground).

November has been a breakthrough month for the solar industry. On the heels of an announcement by an Australian research team that broke the 43 percent efficiency barrier in solar PV technology, another team at the Georgia Institute of Technology headed by Dr. Zhong Wang pioneered a new kind of solar cell that uses fiber optics to generate electricity.

This is one of the biggest breakthroughs in the industry, promising an eventual "liberation" from the traditional solar panel and the potential to produce electricity without having to max out your south-facing roofs with heavy and expensive rigid solar cells.

The researchers call it "3D" solar because protons are allowed to move in multiple directions via a bundle of transparent fiber optic cables coated with zinc oxide. The tips of the cable bundle would be exposed to direct sunlight, and as the photons collected moved through the cables, they generate electricity. Then each photon bounces back, allowing the cable to collect additional energy missed in the first pass.

The polymer cables are tiny (just slightly thicker than human hair) but they provide a low-cost method of producing electricity on demand. A single 10 centimeter cable can produce 0.5 volts, and a 10 watt light bulb could be powered by a 10-cm long bundle (equivalent to handful of human hair — 10,000 cables).

What the cables lack in efficiency (3-8 percent) they make up for in ease of production, low temperatures and no silicon. And because the cables are protected from outdoor weather, they could be made from cheap plastic. A great use, in my book, for petroleum.

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New York to Finance Homeowners Renewable Energy Projects

New York has joined more than a dozen other states in approving a fast-spreading new method of financing renewable-energy and energy-efficiency improvements.

This week, the legislature passed a bill enabling homeowners and businesses to finance improvements through higher property taxes — thus avoiding hefty up-front payments. It was signed by Gov. David Paterson on Thursday.

By enabling homeowners to pay for clean-energy projects through increased property taxes, the financing model allows them to avoid the high up-front costs often associated with these projects. Typically, the municipality, which can borrow at low rates, covers the up-front costs, and then a homeowner provides reimbursement through taxes. In a report released last month by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s office, the federal government said that it would also help to finance the up-front costs. New York clearly wanted its municipalities to have access that new pool of funds.

“To ensure New York’s ability to tap into this federal funding, we needed to pass this legislation, which authorizes municipalities to administer” the programs, Mr. Paterson said today in a statement.

Since the financing mechanism is through property taxes, the system allows homeowners to pass on the cost of energy improvements to future owners, if the house is sold.

Without the legislation, “each municipality (county, town, city, village) would have to get their own special enabling legislation passed in Albany allowing them to set up such a program,” said Carol Murphy, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, in an e-mail message.

“The passage of this law means that all municipalities now have the ability to enact such a program once they also pass a local law,” Ms. Murphy added. But she emphasized that New York also needed to fix a law that provides incentives to businesses, schools and nonprofit groups to put in solar systems that meet only a fraction of their energy needs.

According to the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, 16 states — including New York — now allow these programs, which originated in California and Colorado last year.

New York has had a somewhat similar mechanism, perhaps modeled on a widely praised efficiency initiative from the town of Babylon, in place since August, according to the database. But Ms. Murphy of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York said the new law was far more inclusive. For example, she said, the August version applied only to towns, but the new law includes towns, cities, villages and counties.

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Workers to receive green jobs training

The Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board has won a $98,364 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to focus on training opportunities for workers in the solar and weatherization fields.

The "green capacity building" grant aims to expand Milwaukee Builds, a program designed to train low-income and unemployed people.

The initiative of the Workforce Investment Board should be a stepladder to lift people out of poverty, said Don Sykes, chief executive of the workforce investment board.

"The model will put people back to work and provide the necessary basic skills as a first step in their career path," Sykes said.

A total of $5.8 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is being allocated to boost training capacity for 62 Labor Department grant recipients across the country, with a focus on underserved communities, the federal agency said.

Training is envisioned for solar installers and weatherization-related construction and contracting jobs designed to make homes more energy-efficient.

The grant is the latest of several green jobs initiatives that are being funded by the federal stimulus package in Wisconsin. They include:

• A $3.2 million grant to the Midwest Renewable Energy Association to train technical college instructors and others on solar panel installation - an initiative aimed at having those instructors train more solar installers as the demand for green energy sources grows.

• The Wind Energy Education Collaborative, a joint effort of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Area Technical College. The two schools were awarded $330,184 in May to help train workers for jobs in the wind-power industry. The project seeks to increase the number of people in southeastern Wisconsin able to find jobs in the growing wind industry and to serve as a training model for other colleges and universities, said David Yu, associate dean in UWM's College of Engineering & Applied Science.

Meanwhile, student interest in green fields is expanding, says the University of Wisconsin Extension.

Nearly twice as many students have enrolled in an online degree program in sustainable management as university officials expected, the University of Wisconsin-Extension said Thursday.

The sustainable management degree attracted 166 student enrollments, compared with projections that 90 would enroll.

Enrollment for spring offerings is projected to expand again, to 275.

"With green jobs a centerpiece of the economic recovery plan, we predicted there would be a high demand for the sustainable management degree," said UW-Extension Dean David Schejbal. "Wisconsin is the first major university system to offer undergraduate students this online option for a degree."

Statistics released by the university show 75% of the students hail from Wisconsin, but the online offering attracted students from eight other states as well as China and Germany.

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Colorado's Green Ski Resorts

Worms that eat coffee grounds. Old motor oil that heats workshops. Patio furniture made of recycled milk jugs.

Colorado ski resorts are going beyond standard recycling in an effort to green up their industry — and lure skiers and snowboarders concerned about the impact their sport is having on the mountains they love.

Sometimes it's hard to reconcile our ski-loving, traveling side with the side that cringes at the environmental effect of all those people on the snowy slopes and the travel we do to get there. On one hand, you're gliding past pristine, snow-frosted pines, sucking crisp mountain air into your lungs and bursting with love for the outdoors. Then you sit down for an hour at an on-mountain restaurant and watch heaps of napkins, disposable silverware and plastic cups get tossed in the garbage can.

Happily, resorts today seem more and more interested in reducing waste, pushing alternative transportation, using renewable energy, recycling and teaming up for environmental partnerships. Sure, there's a long way to go. But the effort is gaining speed, kind of like a downhill skier on a steep run.

In the past five years, Vail ski resort has doubled the amount of trash it recycles. Today, 70 percent of everything that comes off the mountain is recycled, says Luke Cartin, the environmental manager for Vail Resorts Eagle County.

"We fill the equivalent of three city buses every week with bottles, cans and glass," Cartin says.

It's not the only example. Used engine oil is re-used to heat workshops, antifreeze is recycled and a plan to reuse vegetable oil for electricity is in the works. The resort is even gearing up a composting program. "And I have worms in my office that eat coffee grounds," Cartin says.

But some things aren't yet recycled — like restaurant food waste and general trash from waste bins at the base area.

Vail is making a push to reduce energy use by 10 percent in two years. Cartin has been prowling the resort, taking infrared photos of buildings on the mountain to see where heat escapes and to repair those leaks. Crews installed solar panels on the roof of a mountain restaurant, and crews have changed out 3,500 light bulbs to compact flourescents. They're also looking at obvious ways to make the place more efficient, like consolidating food storage during off months.

"If we shut down Two Elk (the on-mountain restaurant) for the summer and leave the ice machine on, that's not a good thing," he says.

Gas consumption has dropped 16 percent in the past two years at Vail ski resort. "That's just by changing the way we do things, being more aware, not leaving trucks idling or out driving around for the sake of driving around," he says.

Aerators have been added to faucets to save water. Low-flow toilets and urinals have been installed. In the last five years, the resort has reduced its consumption of treated water by 27 percent.

On the slopes, crews are teaming with the U.S. Forest Service to study how stands of pine trees killed by a pine beetle explosion are regenerating. They're also looking at how to use the dead wood left behind. One answer? Replace natural gas firepits with pits that burn wood.

And at the on-mountain Nature Discovery Center, operated by the Gore Range Natural Science School, kids and adults learn about the environment through free guided snowshoe hikes, exhibits and interpretive programs.

Bat boxes have been put up around the mountain to encourage a population of mosquito-eating flying mammals, and the famous back ski bowls are closed in spring for elk calving.

"It's really, truly being responsible," Cartin says. "You have to be able to lay your head on your pillow every night. It's intrinsic to why people come out here — for the natural beauty. When people come out here, they feel that tie back to nature, so we want to lessen our impact on those surroundings."

Vail is not alone.

More than a third of Colorado resorts already offset 100 percent of their energy use through the purchase of renewable energy credits. Leading the way are Arapahoe Basin, Copper Mountain, Crested Butte and Wolf Creek, which offset all their energy use. Resorts including Powderhorn, Steamboat, Telluride, Winter Park, Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass offset part of their operational energy use.

Here's what other Colorado resorts are doing to green up operations:

Arapahoe Basin:Kitchen oil and grease are recycled, along with cardboard, bottles and paper. The new deck at Black Mountain Lodge is being built with recycled products. Employees are encouraged to compost food scraps. Worms are harvested, and the vermacompost (worm manure) is given away to staff for their gardens. The resort uses an airless snowmaking system that uses less electricity. It has expanded shuttle bus service and discounted lift ticket rates to carpoolers.

Aspen/Snowmass: Aspen's executive director of sustainability, Auden Schendler, recently published a book about how corporations can go greener. The ski area recently funded the ski industry's largest solar array and is exploring hydro and wind energy sources.

Copper Mountain:The resort's environmentally friendly buses are nearly 60 percent more efficient than standard buses. The resort has reduced snowmobile fuel consumption by 40 percent in two years and installed solar panels in its transportation center. Recycling is a priority, and carpooling incentives like parking and season pass giveaways are available. Copper has partnered with the National Forest Foundation to fund local conservation projects.

Crested Butte:Besides resortwide recycling and green building, the resort donates a percentage of property sales and business sales to preserving open space in the Gunnison Valley.

Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort:The resort uses bio-fuels in vehicle fleets and machines and operates a resortwide recycling program and an employee carpool program. Guests who carpool get free close-in parking.

Silverton: This no-frills ski area has been built of recycled products either donated or bought used. The base lodge was donated by the town of Silverton, and the only lift was purchased used from Mammoth Resort in California. The equipment facility is an old school bus.

Steamboat: Three chairlifts use a combination of alternative energies including solar and wind power. Besides recycling glass, cardboard, aluminum, plastic, tin, and paper, the resort recycles coffee grounds. New patio furniture is made from recycled milk jugs. Disposable products used at the resort are made from renewable resources and are biodegradable. In a joint project with the U.S. Forest Service and the Boy Scouts of America, more than 800 spruce seedlings were planted at the ski area's kids area. Low-flush toilets and auto shut-off faucets have been added.

Telluride: The resort uses biodiesel in some on-mountain machinery. Restaurants use natural sugar cane to-go containers, and food receipts are printed only when guests specifically ask for them. The maintenance department now uses bulk chemicals and is phasing out aerosol cans. It uses cloth rags for cleaning instead of paper towels. A waste oil heater burns all food and beverage fryer oils and some maintenance shop oils. Old rental shop skis are used for trail sign posts.

Winter Park: Besides recycling, the resort uses biodegradable products such as plates and cups in food service areas.

Wolf Creek: Wind power and solar power are used to power small outlying buildings. The resort recycles just about everything, including kitchen oil, and is working to get ski boot manufactures to recycle old plastic ski boots. The resort has introduced a free online carpool service designed to match up visitors coming from anywhere in the country to the resort.

pleblanc@statesman.com; 445-3994

Who's green?

The Ski Area Citizens' Coalition ranks ski resorts from best to worst, according to what they are doing to save the environment. Among the greenest, according to the coalition, are the Colorado resorts of Aspen, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands and Telluride. Among the least green? Copper Mountain and Breckenridge ski resorts.

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California School District Announces Solar Installation

The Irvine School District in Orange County, California recently announced its intention to partner with Beltsville, Maryland-based SunEdison, a design/build solar firm, to install solar panels on 21 schools across the district.

In what is being described as the biggest solar photovoltaic installation project in California schools, Irvine school officials say the distributed solar network will save the district up to $17 million in energy costs over the next two decades by reducing the amount of electricity purchased from Southern California Edison (SCE).

The installations will be created by leasing some of the district’s property to SunEdison, who will design, build and maintain the systems at its own expense and sell the electricity back to the school district, presumably at a rate less than that offered by SCE, and under a power purchase agreement, or PPA, that allows the district to predict energy costs for the full term of the contract, which hasn’t been specified but likely runs for at least 20 years.

Such PPAs allow solar firms to take advantage of federal and state tax credits that schools can’t access because of their non-profit status. This creates a win-win situation for solar firms and schools, and also furthers the agenda of solar energy as a significant player in America’s energy mix.

The project will begin at Rancho San Joaquin Middle School, and expand to an additional 20 campuses and school district locations. The systems will also be connected to a display terminal allowing students, teachers and staff to view electricity production and other data, though whether as cumulative totals or in real time is not mentioned.

In September, SunEdison installed a 440-kilowatt, roof-mounted solar photovoltaic system at glass-maker Owens Corning’s Kearney, New Jersey facility – a project completed just one day before SunEdison was awarded the first energy stimulus grant in the solar industry via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA.

In November, SunEdison and Proctor & Gamble, or P&G, announced the activation of a 1.1- megawatt solar PV system at P&G’s paper products manufacturing megawatt plant in Oxnard, California.

SunEdison, reportedly the first solar firm in the U.S. to offer a PPA as a financial tool for otherwise unaffordable solar energy installations, currently manages more than 82.5-megawatts of solar power in the U.S., and 6.2-megawatts in Europe.

More recently, SunEdison is reportedly in negotiations with St. Peters, Missouri-based MEMC, a solar chip technology expert working in the semiconductor and solar industries, which will allow MEMC to acquire SunEdison for $200 million, 70 percent in cash and 30 percent in MEMC stock. The move, according to MEMC, integrates the two firms vertically across the solar energy marketplace, combining the best of both worlds.

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Cost of Installing and Owning Solar Panels Set to Fall

A new research has indicated that the cost of installing and owning solar panels will fall even faster than expected.

According to BBC News, the independent EU Energy Institute has said that tests show that 90 percent of existing solar panels last for 30 years, instead of the predicted 20 years, which brings down the lifetime cost.

The institute said that the panels are such a good long-term investment that banks should offer mortgages on them like they do on homes.

At a conference, the institute forecast that solar panels would be cost-competitive with energy from the grid for half the homes in Europe by 2020 - without a subsidy.

Incentive programmes for solar panels in Germany, Italy and Spain have created manufacturing volume that’s bringing down costs.

Solar panel prices dropped 30 percent last year alone due to an increase in output and a drop in orders because of the recession.

But, Heinz Ossenbrink, who works at the institute, said that China had underpinned its solar industry with a big solar domestic programme, which would keep prices falling.

There are large-scale solar plans in the US and India too.

Panels had been expected to last for 20 years and price calculations were based on this.

But, according to Dr Ossenbrink, the institute’s laboratory has been subjecting the cells to the sort of accelerated ageing through extremes of heat, cold and humidity that has long been a benchmark for the car industry.

It has shown that more than 90 percent of the panels on the market 10 years ago are capable of still performing well after 30 years of life, albeit with a slight drop in performance.

Dr Ossenbrink said that 40-year panels will be on the market soon.

“Basically everything (in the industry) is bound to grow still further. Growing further means less cost. Less cost means grid parity,” said Dr Ossenbrink.

“We have been surprised in the past five years at the drop in prices. It’s due to good incentive programmes first in Germany then Spain and Italy. That created a kind of a boom that was helping industry to reduce costs and get into profitability. And when an industry is in profit it drives on its own,” he added.

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Solar Crematorium - No Electric or Gas Cremation!

A crematorium running on solar energy is being built near Goraj Ashram in the city, a first of its kind initiative in the country of India.

The trust which runs the ashram has been aggressively trying to implement the use of solar energy for various requirements at the hospital, school and other facilities set up by it. Earlier, solar power was used for cooking, power and other requirements at the school.

The crematorium has been built as a chamber with special scheffler reflector developed specifically for this concept. The reflectors are designed to heat a two meter long crematorium chamber to above 700 degrees centigrade. "The facility was made operational on an experimental basis recently. It will be commissioned within two months and shall be free of cost for everyone using it," said trustee Uday Dalal. As an alternative to this, biogas will be used for cremation at the crematorium when sunlight is not there.

The traditional system of cremating people on woodpile consumes over 300 kilogram of wood. Many trees are felled to meet the requirement. The old method the woodpile was then to some extent replaced with electric and gas fired chambers.

"The crematorium is the brain child of the chairman of the trust, Dr Vikram Patel and expert on solar energy Deepak Gadhia. In fact, the concept of solar crematorium is unique and first of its kind initiative in India, developed with the aim of conserving environment," said Dr Rajesh Kantharia, associated with the trust.

Built with an investment of 75 lakh, the solar crematorium does not need electricity or gas. It makes it an energy and cost efficient method of cremation.

The trust has already got an inquiry from the Valsad municipality that wants to establish such a crematorium there. Dalal said that they have started contacting villages near Goraj to create awareness and acceptability of such crematoriums.

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NY Training for Solar Electric Systems

Residential solar electric systems have become extremely popular in New York state because of a variety of incentive programs and tax breaks that are available to homeowners.

But the problem here and elsewhere across the country is that there aren't enough qualified people to install solar electric panels -- also known as photovoltaic, or PV, systems -- which can be dangerous to install without proper training.

"There's people being killed by PV systems, and they're burning houses down," said Jim Dunlop, president of Jim Dunlop Solar, a solar training and design firm based in Cocoa, Fla.

Dunlop was speaking Friday at the Albany Marriott hotel on Wolf Road in Colonie during a renewable energy work force training conference. The event was sponsored by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

He was trying to make the point that the country needs a stable group of trained solar system installers, and it needs them now.

"The key thing is training the trainers," Dunlop told a capacity crowd in one of the hotel's conference rooms. "Unfortunately, the training centers don't get the subsidies that the public programs get."

Luckily for the Capital Region, money to pay for training is coming from the federal government. Last month, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that Hudson Valley Community College in Troy will be getting nearly $3.5 million for solar electric system installation training.

"This funding will allow us to establish a network of certified instructors across the Northeast, which will have a significant impact on the photovoltaic industry and the promotion of sustainable renewable energy," HVCC President Andrew Matonak said in a statement.

The money is part of $27 million that the Department of Energy is spending on nine regional training centers across the United States, with $10 million of the amount coming from stimulus funding. A center to serve New England was designated at Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield, Maine.

Mark Frickel, an energy analyst with a company called Sentech Inc. of Bethesda, Md., who is working on the Department of Energy training program, says that the solar industry got a black eye in the 1980s with poorly-trained installers.

"Nobody wants that to repeat," Frickel said.

He said there is a shortage of solar installers right now, and so the outlook for training the trainers is promising.

"Solar training needs to be high quality, local and accessible," Frickel said.

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Smart, Green Buildings

Homes and office buildings consume three-quarters of U.S. electricity, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory wants to lower that figure by erecting what it believes will be the largest “net-zero” energy building in the world — one that produces as much power onsite as it uses.

The Department of Energy, which runs the Golden, Colorado-based lab nestled in the foothills west of Denver, and its contractors hope the $64 million structure will provide a national blueprint for making buildings greener and cutting energy use.

“Our hope is that it really starts to change the direction of society and the way we think of buildings,” said Byron Haselden, president of Haselden Construction, the general contractor.

Achieving a zero-energy “green” building is driving the 220,000-square-foot complex’s design and construction.

“What typically happens is when a building gets designed, the architects design something and the engineers figure out how to build it, how to heat it and how to cool it,” said Eric Telesmanich, project manager of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s infrastructure and development office.

In this case, engineers steered the design. Stantec Consulting started by studying what materials to use and how to orient the building. What emerged is a large H-shape structure with the two prongs on the west end closer to each other than are the two prongs on the east end. That configuration provides the best daylight and cuts the amount of electricity needed for lighting.

The connecting structure is the lobby, which will feature paneling made from pine trees killed by the bark beetle infestation in Colorado’s central mountains. The wood also is used to fuel a heating plant on the campus.

Other features include natural ventilation, large windows to let in light and evaporative cooling.

For comfort, no employee will be farther than 30 feet from windows, which are 6 feet wide and 7 to 9 feet tall. The windows have a combination of glass and coatings to let in light while keeping out unwanted heat.

Transpired solar collectors — metal sheets with strategically cut holes designed by the energy laboratory — will pull air heated by the sun into the building on cold days.

In the basement, a labyrinth of concrete walls will capture the day’s heat or the night’s cool air to be slowly released upstairs. Engineers wrote a computer program to determine the labyrinth’s size and shape and calculate air flow.

Exterior walls feature an insulated precast concrete panel system. Water will flow through piping in the floors to warm or cool the air. Recycled materials include reclaimed natural gas pipes as the columns to support the floors and walls.

And the building will let people know when it’s a good day to open the windows or leave them closed, based on temperatures and historical climate information.

“There will be a little icon on your computer,” said Philip Macey of RNL Design Inc., the project’s designers. “It will tell occupants how the building is doing over the course of the year.”

Once completed in June, the building will provide offices for 740 National Renewable Energy Laboratory employees. It’s expected to use one-half to one-third the power of an office structure of similar size.

The project’s architects, engineers and contractors have an exacting client. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory evaluates private-sector buildings for energy efficiency and is starting to track zero-energy buildings.

“It allows us to demonstrate what we can do with our technologies,” said Jeffrey Baker, director of the office of laboratory operations at the Department of Energy’s field office in Golden. “That’s what this project is all about. This is walking the walk and shouting the talk.”

The energy laboratory is documenting all work and will make that information public. Contractors working on the project insist that following the energy laboratory’s example won’t be too costly or cumbersome for the private sector, considering savings in energy costs over the life of the structure.

The roughly $280 per square foot construction cost is in line with comparable office buildings, Macey said.

“NREL and the design team should be commended for the vision and effort to go far beyond the minimum standards that many buildings are built to,” said Gordon Holness, president of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

The Department of Energy wants the complex to exceed by 50 percent the standard for energy efficiency used as a basis for building codes nationwide.

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Green Jobs are Good for Wisconsin

State and local energy policy expert Satya Rhodes-Conway told an audience at Lakeshore Technical College that the green economy could create up to 5 million jobs in the coming years, and many American workers already possess most of the skills needed to fill those positions.

"Renewable energy generates more jobs per megawatt of power installed, per unit of energy produced and per dollar of investment than fossil fuel energy," said Rhodes-Conway, a senior associate with the Center on Wisconsin Strategy and organizer of the Wisconsin Apollo Alliance. "These jobs are really attainable for a lot of the folks who are unemployed or are just coming into the workforce. They don't require us to attain many new skills, but to produce something new with a skill set we already have."

Her talk was last Wednesday.

Rhodes-Conway defined a "green job" as a good, family-supporting, middle-skill job in the primary sector of the green economy. She said technical colleges are "a key part" in the process of supporting this economy, as they provide services to advance workers' skills so they can be applied in new areas.

"Places like Lakeshore Technical College, which trains people for green jobs, are key in all of this," Rhodes-Conway said. "You can't do the work if you don't have the workers to do it."

She emphasized retraining as key in not only preparing workers for new jobs, but in saving current jobs as well.

"Saving jobs counts more than ever these days," Rhodes-Conway said. "Conversion or retooling is important, and states need to help industries retool for the clean energy economy. If we enact the right policies and focus on the training, we really can move into a green economy — employing people doing good, well-paid work in an industry that is less harmful to our environment."

Rhodes-Conway cited Orion Energy Systems, Tower Tech, Flambeau River Paper, Franklin Energy, Cardinal Glass and Energy Composites Corporation as examples of green companies that have supported and grown Wisconsin's workforce in recent years.

Wednesday's presentation was part of LTC's EnVISION series, which brings thought leaders together with local business leaders and college staff to share their insights on timely topics.

"There's a lot of opportunity out there for businesses to start up and be successful in this new green economy," said LTC President Mike Lanser. "At LTC, we're committed to creating awareness and understanding of energy policy affecting the state economy, jobs and education."

The Center on Wisconsin Strategy is a national policy center and field laboratory for high-road economic development — a competitive market economy of shared prosperity, environmental sustainability and capable democratic government. The Apollo Alliance was founded as a joint project of COWS and the Institute for America's Future. The Wisconsin Apollo Alliance is administered through COWS.

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Renewable Energy Classes Fill Up Quickly

Ryan Light expected to get just 15 students this semester for his community college classes in Bettendorf on installing wind and solar power equipment. Instead, 40 signed up, and enrollment since has grown to 45.

It's not just because he has the perfect name for an instructor on power generation. It's the prospect of good-paying jobs - starting salary about $40,000 - in a down economy.

Community colleges across Iowa are trying to fill the demand for green jobs by starting training programs in wind energy and biofuels and revising their curricula in automotive repair and building

Twenty of Light's students at Scott Community College have jobs lined up, and an Illinois company is interested in 25 more.

"Our industry needs trained people," said Light, who set aside his own business installing small-scale wind generators to start the program at Scott.

Iowa Lakes Community College has 165 students enrolled in a program preparing workers for large-scale wind generation. Des Moines Area Community College has 60 students in a similar program in Ankeny.

The wind industry "is a big growth area, they pay well, and there are not a lot of programs out there," said Scott Ocken, DMACC's dean of industry and technology.

At Council Bluffs, Iowa Western Community College has 19 students studying wind-industry management. The school has overhauled its automotive technician program to train students to maintain hybrid vehicles and revised classes in construction trades to train students on energy-efficient measures.

Programs in biofuels often tend to be smaller, reflecting the problems in the ethanol and biodiesel industries, college officials say.

"The biofuels economy dried up, so there hasn't been much going on," said Jack Thompson, a professor coordinator at DMACC's campus in Carroll, where a program on biomass processes was shelved.

But gearing up for this sector has raised concerns with presidents of the community colleges: They want to produce enough trained workers to attract new businesses but they need to avoid training more workers than there will be jobs.

To better coordinate their training programs, the colleges are hoping to commission a study of the state's job and educational needs in the energy sector.

"We're concerned that the jobs are lagging behind the production of workers," said Pat Keir, chancellor of the Eastern Iowa Community College District, which includes Scott. "We have to be careful and not climb on the renewable energy bandwagon without assessing how many will be needed."

But one of the challenges the colleges will face is that the renewable energy sector is heavily dependent on federal policies and it's not clear what those will be.

Climate legislation being considered in Congress would increase demand for wind and solar power by increasing the capping of greenhouse gas emissions and requiring utilities to produce increasing amounts of renewable electricity.

"I really hope they do" pass a climate bill, Light said. "It's going to help our business a lot."

The uncertainty about where the energy field is headed isn't missed by some of the students. Light knows of two in his classes, both laid off from the local Alcoa plant, who are on the fence about getting into the renewable energy field.

"If Alcoa rehires again I think they'll be out of the program and back in the factory. It's safe."

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