By producing solar power on site, USFloors is able to take advantage of excellent Government and Utility benefits; a 30% Federal Grant, a 35% State Tax Credit and accelerated depreciation. North Georgia EMC pays USFloors a premium for the solar power that it generates. Ownership of power provides business owners with the opportunity to hedge against dramatic cost increases, and carries strong financial benefits.

The system was installed by Alpharetta based United Renewable Energy, LLC. William Silva, President of United Renewable Energy LLC added that “USFloors continues to show leadership in sustainable manufacturing practices and job growth. This solar power system is impressive in it’s size alone, but more importantly because this is the largest commercial solar photovoltaic installation in Georgia since the 1996 Olympics.”

Installing this solar array is just one of the many sustainable practices of USFloors, a company actively working towards a solar powered future for Whitfield County. “Through our work with the Whitfield County Chamber, we have demonstrated how being sustainability stewards can benefit all local businesses,” said Dossche. This solar array created at least fifteen jobs, and preserved many more by reducing operating costs, developing a new industry and introducing Dalton’s business community to ways to stay sustainable and competitive.

About USFloors- USFloors’ commitment is to provide consumers and specifiers with beautiful and durable floors at a good value, while minimizing our impact on the environment and enhancing and improving it whenever possible. USFloors is committed to sourcing and utilizing sustainable resources for its flooring products whenever possible and specifying raw materials and processes that meet stringent U.S. and European environmental standards, USFloors NEVER sources from clear cut or unmanaged forests. USFloors continually strives to actively reduce its environmental and energy footprint, creating better indoor air quality and promoting Green Building through renewable energy and LEED initiatives.

About United Renewable Energy, LLC- Alpharetta, Georgia based United Renewable Energy, LLC (URE) delivers practical, economical, renewable energy solutions to businesses and homes throughout the East Coast. URE is the leading integrator of commercial photovoltaic solar electric power systems in the state of Georgia, and one of the fastest growing renewable energy companies in the country. URE’s president is a NABCEP Certified PV Installer_TM, and as Adjunct Coordinator of Solar Programs at Lanier Technical College, shares best practices with aspiring solar installers. URE is committed to promoting quality solar installations, to educating the public and promoting supportive legislation for renewable energy.

Via : u-renew.com

Enel Green Power and the Marcegaglia Group signed an agreement for the installation of a photovoltaic system with a capacity of more than 4 MW on the roof-tops of the industrial facilities of the Marcegaglia Group, a world leader in the steel processing industry and, among other operations, also active in the production of energy from renewables.

The project, one of the largest innovative technology roof-top systems in Italy, will be implemented in Taranto on the roof-tops of the Marcegaglia Group’s plants, fully integrating the system into the existing architecture. The system will be mostly equipped with innovative flexible thin-film amorphous silicon photovoltaic modules. It is scheduled to start operating in 2010.

Once fully operational, the system – owned 51% by Enel Green Power and 49% by Marcegaglia Group – will be able to produce over 5 million kWh annually, enough to meet the energy needs of approximately 1,900 households, thereby avoiding the atmospheric emission of some 4,000 tons of CO2 per year.

“We are very pleased to have reached this agreement”, said Francesco Starace, Chairman of Enel Green Power, “with the first concrete implementation at the Taranto facilities of Marcegaglia, a major group that, like us, understands the considerable potential for the development of photovoltaics. Enel Green Power has an ambitious growth plan and a substantial pipeline of photovoltaic projects in Italy and abroad: this agreement enables us to further strengthen our presence in the steadily expanding domestic market, in which we firmly believe.”

“The agreement with Enel Green Power”, remarked Antonio Marcegaglia, Chief Executive Officer of the Marcegaglia Group, “is a significant one both for its scale and because it is the first project to be developed with Enel Green Power as part of the broader collaborative initiatives that our groups could pursue in the photovoltaic sector and in energy generation from renewables. An important part of the plant will be implemented with the BrolloSolar photovoltaic panel, manufactured in our Taranto facility, with which we have already carried out major roof systems, among the largest in Italy.”

Enel Green Power is the Enel Group company devoted to the development and management of power generation from renewable resources at the international level, with presence in Europe and the Americas. It is the European leader in its industry thanks to 17.2 billion kWh of electricity generated from water, the sun, wind and the heat of the earth, enough to meet the annual consumption needs of some 6.5 million households and avoid the emission of 13 million tonnes of CO2 each year. The company’s installed capacity totals about 4,700 MW, produced by more than 500 plants in operation around the world, with a generation mix that includes wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass.

The core business of the Marcegaglia Group, wholly owned by the family of the same name, is steel processing. With 6,500 employees and 50 manufacturing plants in Italy, Europe, the Americas and Asia, it operates in markets around the world.

As part of its diversified activities, Marcegaglia Energy is the business unit devoted to generating electricity from renewable resources. It has been operating since 1995 in power generation from biomass and refuse- derived fuel (Euro Energy Group). In 2006 it introduced photovoltaic technologies: with Arendi in the area of thin-film on glass substrates and with Marcegaglia Buildtech for flexible thin-film systems.

Tioga provides project financing through its SurePath^SM Solar(PPAs), and maintains and operates solar systems on behalf of its customers.  Tioga’s offering deliver spredictably priced power and enables organisations to to both ‘green’ their operations and reduce energy costs.  In order to illustrate the benefits of solar, Tioga needs to estimate future electricity prices and make comparisons by showing the savings from a new solar system.

To forecast possible price increases, Tioga Energy inputs California’s historical electricity rate data into a model developed using Palisade’s risk analysis software, @RISK.  This generates a probability distribution for electricity rate rises over the 20-year PPA period, which shows that there is a 25 percent likelihood that price increase swill be less than 4.8 percent, and a 25 percent chance that rate rises would be more than 8.7 percent.

The @RISK model therefore helps Tioga Energy evaluate the likelihood that acustomer will save money for a variety of PPA scenarios (i.e. the rate at which electricity would initially be charged and the amount by which it would then increase each year).  It also calculates the magnitude of savings for the different combinations of first year costs and subsequent rises.  Consumers are therefore able to better understand the pricing and make an informed decision about whether to sign up for a PPA.

“Using historical data and @RISK’s modelling capacity, we can offer consumers a robust view of the potential benefits of a solar PPA.  This enables them to hedge against rising electricity rates, as well as feel confident that they are playing a part in tackling global warming,”explains Kristian Hanelt, VP Project Finance for Tioga Energy.

Hanelt confirms:  “@RISK is a flexible and technically adept tool that, in addition to enabling in-depth analysis, makes it easy for us to present relatively complex ideas in an easy-to-understand graphical format.  As a result, it plays a key role in helping Tioga Energy to differentiate itself from its competitors.”

Tioga Energy’s full report on its study, ‘Hedging Against Utility Rate Fluctuations with a Solar PPA’ is available to download here: http://www.tiogaenergy.com/tioga-energy-reports.php

BEIJING, China and PASADENA, Calif. – January 8, 2010 – eSolar, a global provider of reliable and cost-effective concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, and Penglai Electric, a privately-owned Chinese electrical power equipment manufacturer, announced a master licensing agreement to build at least 2 gigawatts (GW) of solar thermal power plants in China over the next 10 years.

The deal was signed in the Chinese State Council building with government officials in attendance and represents the country’s largest CSP project. Groundbreaking of the first 92 megawatts (MW) will take place in 2010.

Penglai Electric plans to develop 2 GW of power plants by 2021 using eSolar’s proven solar thermal technology. The solar thermal power plants will be co-located with biomass electricity generation facilities. Penglai Electric will leverage local manufacturing to source some of the equipment. In total, the plants will eliminate 15 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

“Using the power of the sun, eSolar’s technology minimizes the environmental impact on manufacturing and deployment while maximizing land and cost efficiency,” said Liu Guangyu, chairman and CEO of Penglai Electric. “We are extremely grateful to the Chinese government for playing a major role in promoting zero-carbon renewable energy.”

“With Penglai as our partner and with the strong support of the Chinese government, eSolar is proud to be the first company to deliver the benefits of cost-effective solar thermal power to China,” said Bill Gross, founder and chairman of eSolar.

China Huadian Engineering Co. will lead the construction process. At completion, China Shaanxi Yulin Huayang New Energy Co. will own and operate the first 92 MW plant. “To date, eSolar offers the only CSP tower technology that has demonstrated commercial maturity and economic feasibility,” added Zhao Weikang, chairman and president of Shaanxi Yulin Huayang New Energy Co. “We’re excited to build our initial hybrid plant as part of the 170-square kilometer Yulin Alternative Energy Park, the first large scale alternative energy park in China. Our work is aligned with the government’s continuing policy to curb carbon emissions and combat climate change.”

China is currently the market leader in the PV manufacturing industry. The deal represents the country’s first major move into concentrating solar thermal power. The Chinese government recently announced its aggressive plans to increase the country’s renewable power generation capacity to 15 percent by 2020.

About Penglai Electric

China Shandong Penglai Electric Power Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd was founded in 1987 as the preferred vendor for the state-owned Chinese Power Complete Equipment Co., Ltd (CPCEC) and the Chinese Academy of Electric Power Design (ChinaPower.com.cn). Penglai Electric is one of the many independently owned and operated enterprises conceived as a result of the Chinese economic reform. With its own core team of about 1,000 employees, its main line of business includes manufacturing auxiliary and energy-saving components for 200MW, 300MW, and 600MW to 1,000MW fire-powered electrical power plants. Since 2001, Penglai Electric Power has been granted ISO9001 quality assurance and self import and export privileges. By synergistically combining its technical expertise, manufacturing capability, and trading know-how, Penglai Electric offers comprehensive solutions in research and development, technical consultation, auxiliary component introduction and manufacturing, installation, and tuning for more than 60% of the major fire-powered electrical plants in China. Penglai Electric is based in Penglai, Shandong, China.

About eSolar

eSolar is an Idealab company founded in 2007 to develop modular and scalable solar thermal power plant technology. In the summer of 2009, eSolar unveiled the 5 MW Sierra SunTower Plant, the only commercial CSP tower facility in North America. The eSolar solution marries a low-impact, pre-fabricated form factor with advanced computer software engineering to meet the demand for reliable and cost-competitive solar energy. eSolar’s proprietary solution resolves issues of price, scalability, speed of deployment, and grid impact that have historically stymied solar thermal adoption, thus affording dramatic reductions in the cost of solar thermal energy. eSolar is based in Pasadena, California. For more information, please visit www.esolar.com.

The concept consists of two parts – a wearable sensor unit which can sense and analyze your environment, health, and local weather conditions, and a dedicated mobile phone.

The sensor unit will be worn on a wrist or neck strap made from solar cells that provide power to the sensors. NFC (near field communication) technology will relay information by touch from the sensors to the phone or to or to other devices that support NFC technology.

Both the phone and the sensor unit will be as compact as possible to minimize material use, and those materials used in the design will be renewable and/or reclaimed. Technologies used inside the phone and sensor unit will also help save energy.

Stay in touch with your health and local environment

To help make you more aware of your health and local environmental conditions, the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept will include a separate, wearable sensing device with detectors that collect environment, health, and/or weather data.

You will be able to choose which sensors you would like to have inside the sensing device, thereby customizing the device to your needs and desires. For example, you could use the device as a “personal trainee” if you were to choose a heart-rate monitor and motion detector (for measuring your walking pace).

Here are some other examples of customized sensing devices you could build:

A mobile device that builds on the “three Rs”

Reduce, reuse and recycle – the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept is built upon all three of these underlying principles of waste reduction. Emphasis will be placed on materials use and reuse in the phone’s construction:

A phone for the energy-conscious consumer

To complete the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept, the phone and detector units will be optimized for lower energy consumption than phones in 2007 in both the manufacturing process and use. Alternative energy sources, such as solar power, will fuel the sensor unit’s power usage. Thus, we aim to create a self-powered sensing device to reduce dependence on external, non-renewable energy sources.

Innovative Services

The possibilities to introduce creative and useful mobile applications and web services that build upon the environmental data collected from such a design concept are numerous. These services can range from personal health monitoring and improvement, to large-scale collective efforts to promote sustainable lifestyle choices. Even very simple environmental variables can bring about novel solutions when shared and integrated into a global network of mobile explorers.

“My electric bill was skyrocketing,” he says. “I really needed to get a handle on what was going out, versus what was coming in.”

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Mr. Gelber’s solution was to purchase a solar-power generator for his home, with rooftop photovoltaic panels. He says that while concern about the environment played a role in his decision to go solar, economics convinced him to take the plunge.

“I’m in support of anything that will address global warming and our power consumption,” the 65-year-old Mr. Gelber says. “That’s very important to me. But I think that’s secondary to the economics of it. It’s going to pay for itself in eight to 10 years, and essentially I have free electricity for the rest of my life.”

As electricity prices rise and government incentives and technology improvements make renewable-power systems more affordable, a growing number of people are embracing self-generation. And while as much as 85% of the demand for home solar-power generation is in California — the state with the most generous financial incentives — the market is growing in other states, including New Jersey and New York, and could take off nationwide if more states implement favorable rules and funding, advocates say.

“This market wouldn’t be happening without these government incentives,” says Lisa Frantzis, managing director of renewable and distributed energy at Navigant Consulting, an independent consulting firm in Burlington, Mass. “There’s a convergence with prices coming down, concern about climate change, volatility in the power market and people concerned about energy security.”

California Takes Lead

By far, the most widely used home renewable-power systems are rooftop solar panels that absorb the sun’s rays and convert them into electricity.

In California, people who install their own solar power or other renewable generators can get rebates of as much as $2.50 per watt of electricity produced. Residential customers of San Francisco-based PG&E Corp. utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co., who install an average-size system of about 4,600 watts, can expect to obtain a rebate of at least $10,000, utility spokesman Keely Wachs says. California’s rebates are based on the electricity output of the solar generator. The highest-performing, most efficient system would qualify for the full $2.50-per-watt rebate, whereas systems on roofs that have heavy shade, or smaller surface areas, for example, would qualify for a lower rebate amount, such as $2.20, $1.90, $1.55 or less per watt, Mr. Wachs says…

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