OBI President Bill Horan demonstrates a solar ovenMost of us in the developed world don't think a lot about the source of fuel we use for cooking: unless there's a power outage, we can turn a knob or press a button, and we've got the heat we need. If we've got a gas stovetop, we don't even need the electricity! We know, of course, that people in the developing world generally aren't this fortunate, and wood-gathering is a necessary part of the food preparation ritual. But what do people in poverty do if wood supplies start to run low because of deforestation, desertification, or just a simple lack of usable wood?

In Gansu, China, a region that receives little rainfall and has no trees, a very old technology has provided a solution: the solar oven. The concept of using a curved mirror to focus sunlight, and the heat it provides, has been around since the ancient Greeks; relief and development agency Operation Blessing International has purchased and installed over 200 of these ovens (made from concrete and mirrors) in Gansu. The program has been so popular that the organization has just released funding for 200 more in the region. According to Operation Blessing president Bill Horan,

"In Gansu, like in many other poverty-stricken regions around the world, firewood is as precious as water. There are virtually no trees here, and so little rain, that the only bath most people take in their whole life is on their wedding day. These solar ovens are based on ancient technology and they are eco-friendly - a totally renewable energy source."

OBI is considering taking the program to another devastated region of the world: the Darfur region of the Sudan, where the organization operates several refugee and relief camps in partnership with a German charity.

We Westerners tend to associate "technology" with the latest devices: computers, cell phones, renewable energy installations, etc. This simple, time-tested technology, though, looks like just the thing for impoverished people around the world. And, even with the high carbon emissions associated with concrete production, this looks like a pretty climate-friendly alternative, too…

Operation Blessing International
Wikipedia: Solar Cooker
Video: Operation Blessing in Gansu, China (Windows Media format)

Back in December, the word leaked out that mega-retailer Wal-Mart had issued a "request for proposals" (RFP) on adding solar arrays to selected stores. When I interviewed Andy Ruben, the company's vice-president for sustainability, the company was still quiet about this program.

Today, the cat's officially out of the bag: Wal-Mart announced that it would purchasing solar power from "BP Solar, SunEdison LLC, and PowerLight, a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation, for 22 combined Wal-Mart stores, Sam's Clubs and a distribution center in Hawaii and California."

Keep in mind that this is just a pilot program — the company wants to explore the viability of using solar power in order to meet its long-term goal of being 100% powered by renewable energy. Furthermore, the company won't be buying solar arrays, but will enter into power purchase agreements with these companies: the contractors will install the solar arrays on Wal-Mart stores, and the company will buy the power generated by those arrays. With this model, which is also being used by GM and Whole Foods, the company avoids the massive investment in new equipment. What is unique about Wal-Mart's arrangement with these companies is that the retailer will also take ownership of renewable energy credits created by the power produced.

The company estimates that the solar power installations will provide up to 30% of the energy needed at the store at which its installed. Wal-Mart also claims that this move should result in greenhouse gas emissions savings of 6,500-10,000 metric tons per year.

Those savings are impressive, no doubt, and we hope that Wal-Mart's pilot is successful enough to install solar panels on other stores. The educational value of each of these installations may prove an even bigger benefit, as many Wal-Mart and Sam's Club shoppers will get a closer look at the benefits of solar power each time they shop. No word on whether the company will actively promote the use of solar energy to shoppers at these stores, but let's hope so — there's a great opportunity to spread the word…

Reuters and PR Newswire

We've got a couple of good questions that have shown up in the Discussion Forum over the past day:

1) GO member attacat asks about using biodegradable trash bags/bin liners:

The bin liners that are commonly used are made of synthetic polymers like polyethylene and polypropylene, and these are not considered biodegradable. Eventually, these plastics will break down, but only after being submitted to decades of heat and light.

Green Your Office proposes a new technology called d2w totally degradable plastics. Apparently, these refuse sacks will “degrade turning harmlessly into CO2 and water”. I may be missing something here, but isn’t CO2 one of the main gases that the greenhouse effect has been blamed on? Are biodegradable bin liners actually harmful to the environment as well?

Got an answer to this one? Is the amount of CO2 produced by these products negligible when compared to the impact of plastic?

2) GO member tamilee is likely not the only person with this question:

Where can I find home solar power systems and how they work explained in the simplest terms possible? I'm looking for a solar power for dummies website or book. I have been interested in solar power for decades but whenever I try to learn about it there is so much jargon used I just get lost.

There is a Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power to Your Home; the second edition will be released in May. Any thoughts on this book, or other recommendations?

As always, please answer these questions in forum where they were posted…

John Addison publishes the Clean Fleet Report (www.cleanfleetreport.com) and is the author of the 2008 book Save Gas, Save the Planet.

With panoramic views of the ocean, over 86,000 make Santa Monica their home. On the edge of Los Angeles, Santa Monica is a desirable place to work and live. Residents want to keep it that way and make the city a model of sustainable living.

Santa Monica plans to be the nation’s first “Net Zero” city. Through energy efficiency, solar and other renewable energy, the city envisions generating clean energy that matches its total energy consumption.

Santa Monica currently has over 60 buildings with solar power. Other residential and commercial buildings are in the process of installing solar roofing.

The Civic Center Parking Structure will have 250 kW of PV. Where the city government does not use solar power, the city has contracted with Electric America to supply the City with 100% renewable electricity. Electric America has the flexibility to use a mix of renewable sources including geothermal, wind, biomass power plants, and solar.

Solar Santa Monica launched a two year program on January 1, 2007. The voluntary program will start with 50 residential and commercial buildings. With the benefit of what is learned from these 50 projects, the program will be made available to all. The 50 buildings will include 30 to 35 residences, 5 to10 business and 5 municipal buildings.

Susan Munves estimated that over 20 years, $1.4 billion is the probable investment required to achieve being a “Net Zero” city. This is likely to be less than the current utility electric costs. The city will only invest a small part of that investment. The city’s primary role is facilitating and project management. Santa Monica’s 20 year plan would eliminate electricity produced by coal and natural gas power plants, and all the resulting greenhouse gas emissions.

Stuart Cooley, Energy Efficiency Engineer for the city, explained that a detailed GIS database was developed of all the roofs of the city. Aerial photography was used to identify over 100MW of available rooftops on the 17,500 roofs in the city. With future solar PV technology, the roofs could represent even more solar energy potential.

Solar Santa Monica makes it easy for citizens to participate. To prevent excess expensive solar power from being installed, the city offers energy audits and identifies solutions from efficient fluorescent lighting to energy saving appliances to cut usage. The city is prequalifing “preferred partners” to install efficiency upgrades. Prepackaged PV and solar thermal systems are offered to residents and include preferred pricing, streamlined purchasing, permitting, installation and financing.

For commercial properties, Solar Santa Monica will provide comprehensive energy assessments for both the property owners and the leasing businesses. Proposals will be delivered with energy bill analysis, system specifications and pay-back analysis. Tax advantages will be detailed. Preferred financing sources will be offered.

When most people hear the word "solar," they automatically think "expensive." Gary Reysa, the publisher of BuildItSolar.com, has demonstrated again and again that this doesn't have to be the case; with the right (easily-available) materials and a little time and elbow grease, almost anyone can add useful, valuable solar features to their home or other building.

Gary's $350 Solar Heater plan has gotten quite a bit of play both on- and off-line — I was one of a number of bloggers to write about it, and Home Power magazine and Mother Earth News have also featured the project. That's not surprising — for a really small investment in time and money, Gary now has a clean, green heater for his workshop. Keep in mind that he lives in Montana, too; if this works for him there, it will likely work for you, too.

Materials

Please note: I've included the dimensions from Gary's plan, but you'll probably need to adjust them. As he notes in the article from Home Power, you'll want to have as big a wall space as possible.

• 10 Suntuf corrugated polycarbonate panels, 2 x 8 ft.
• Black window screen, 4 x 70 ft.
• Lower sill & studs, 2 x 6s, 68 ft.
• Paint, caulk, lag screws, etc.
• Upper sill, 2 x 8s, 22 ft.
• Glazing 1 x 1 in. supports, 130 ft.
• Suntuf “wiggle” closure strips, 40 ft.
• 200 Screws with EPDM washers

Build Your Solar Heater

Gary's the pro here, so rather than trying to excerpt or edit his instructions, I'll let him take over… from the Mother Earth News and Home Power articles:

It took me about three, eight-hour days to build and install the collector. Follow these suggestions and you may be able to do it in less time!

1. First, measure your building’s south wall to determine what changes you will have to make to the collector design. Pay particular attention to the vertical height available and to stud spacing. Next, lay out the vent locations. They should be offset enough from the wall studs to allow the verticals to be lag-bolted from inside the building. Mark the vent locations on the inside and outside of the building to ensure no conflicts exist. After you are certain the layout is correct, take a deep breath, and cut all of the vents.
2. For the frame, cut the top sill long enough to lap over the end verticals by at least 1 inch (2.5 cm). Bevel the back of the top sill so that it slopes about 10 degrees when fitted against the siding. Next, cut all the verticals, noting that the two end verticals are longer because they extend below the lower sill. The tops of the verticals must be cut to match the slope of the top sill. Gang the verticals together and cut the notches for the two, 1- by 1-inch horizontal glazing supports.
3. Prime and paint everything. Although you do not need to repaint the siding under the collector, painting it a dark color will improve the collector’s efficiency slightly. Keep in mind that a muted version of this color will show through the collector screen, so be sure it meets your aesthetic sensibilities. After the paint has cured, mount all of the verticals to the siding. Take care to keep everything level, plumb, and straight—this will save you a lot of four-letter words later. I fastened the verticals to the wall sheathing and siding from the inside using lag bolts. If your siding is not strong enough for this, consider mounting the verticals from the outside, using lag screws through the verticals and into the wall studs.
4. Next, attach the top and bottom sills. Use flashing above the top sill if desired. Then, seal the collector frame with silicone caulk. Mount the battens that will support the screen absorber. Staple the window screen onto the battens. You can fold the edges of the screen to make it fit in the slightly less than 48-inch (122 cm) bay widths.
5. Make five 4- by 8-foot (1.2 x 2.4 m) glazing panels by joining pairs of the 26-inch-wide by 8-foot-long corrugated panels. Overlap the panels by one corrugation, and apply a light bead of silicone between the overlapped sheets. Fasten the overlapped corrugations to a 1- by 1-inch wood strip using screws with EPDM washers.
6. Install the horizontal 1- by 1-inch glazing support strips to the collector frame. The surface of the strips should sit flush with the surface of the collector’s frame when installed in the notches of the 2 by 6s. Do any cleanup, caulking, or other work you need to do inside the collector frame now! You won’t be able to get to the inside after the glazing is applied.
7. Next, mount the glazing panels. Install the “wiggle” closure strips, which fill in the contours of the corrugations, on the top and bottom sills. Run caulk beads on the first set of verticals and mount the first glazing panel section. (You’ll quickly find out how square your frame is.) Fasten the panel sections to the frame using screws with EPDM washers. Install the rest of the sections in the same way. Overlap each new section over the last section by one corrugation, using a bead of caulk in the overlap. Make the flapper valves for the ten inside top vents. I used two thicknesses of plastic garbage bag for each flapper. Before attaching the flapper, attach 1/2-inch hardware cloth over each vent. Then, staple the flappers along the top edge of the vent, just above the vent opening.

That's it! Want to find out more about the science behind this, or the performance of the unit. Check out the article.

Today’s guest post comes from our friends at Solar Kismet. You can find Part 1 of this series here.

The three most common reactions from many CitizenRE supporters when questioned about unrealistic goals is to:

1. Dismiss any questioning as being a solar industry conspiracy against the new competition. However, three other solar companies already offer a similar rental model, and you would be hard pressed to find any serious debate on their integrity.
2. Chastise the existing industry as having accomplished little and not having a real vision for the revolutionary ideas, even though the industry has grown at a rate of 40% annually over the last decade. Thousands of people work in the solar industry, many of whom have no vested financial interest in any one company, and a sizable portion are skeptical of CitizenRE’s claims.
3. Explain what CitizenRE isn’t rather than answering the substantive questions about what it is and can reasonably accomplish.

Ultimately, the skepticism of CitizenRE is founded in overstated plans that have relatively little supporting documentation, other than “trust us.” CitizenRE’s goals are ambitious to say the least:

• World’s Largest Solar Manufacturing Plant - Last June, Nanosolar (a company started in 2001 and backed by the Google founders) announced the construction of a 430 megawatt solar manufacturing facility, the world’s largest. Nanosolar’s new thin film technology was met with cautious optimism: as one industry insider put it, announcing and producing are two different things. CitizenRE states it intends to develop an even larger 500 megawatt solar manufacturing plant that will use a new combination of lower-quality silicon material. Originally slated to begin production in early 2007, the CitizenRE website now states a production goal of early 2008. In a recent interview, Sharp Solar, one of the world’s largest solar companies, indicated they have manufacturing lead times of 18-24 months under the best circumstances, which would further push CitizenRE’s new plant into 2009. The proposed plant is not on the radar of any solar news or industry analysts and CitizenRE has still not announced a location.
• New Solar Technology - CitizenRE’s new solar manufacturing plant will use a lower-purity silicon in the production of the solar panels, in hopes of lowering costs. All things being equal, this will result in a lower-efficiency solar panel. The new technology has no commercial track record. Furthermore, silicon supplies are tight, impacting multinational corporations like Sharp and Kyocera. CitizenRE will also need to deal with this tighter market.
• New Inverter Manufacturing Plant - Solar panels produce DC power, like batteries. Inverters convert the DC power into grid-compatible AC power. CitizenRE also intends to build their own inverter manufacturing plant.
• Third-Party Solar System Ownership - Three companies already offer “third-party ownership,” where a solar company owns and operates the solar system installed on a customer’s building. CitizenRE is similarly proposing to operate the third-party ownership model on residential homes, a scale over 200 times smaller. The also plan to do business in 30 or more states than existing companies currently operate. Industry analysts indicate that they cannot run any realistic scenarios where such a venture could be profitable.
• 100,000 Installations per Year - There are currently about 35,000 solar systems in the United States, with approximately 30,000 (PDF) of these coming in the last six years. CitizenRE originally had a stated goal of 100,000 installations per year, which has since been scaled back to a reported 25,000 per year.
• 2025 Vision - By 2025, CitizenRE has a vision to operate 25% of net electricity generation (presumably in the U.S.), 20% of peak capacity (also presumably in the U.S.), 330,000 megawatts of solar manufacturing capacity, and over 1 million megawatts of installed capacity. It is truly unclear how these are in the realm of reality. They will need to build 660 of their 500 megawatts plants in the next 18 years - that’s thirty-eight plants per year. And the first one has been delayed at least one year.

If any ONE of these things was announced by an unknown company, the idea would be met with serious skepticism. Frankly, if many of these things were announced by an established company, there would be skepticism. But the combination of industry-changing goals, all with serious learning curves, really brings into question CitizenRE’s basis of understanding. Could five established companies accomplish these goals, let alone one unknown?

CitizenRE’s business structure and start-up methodology also raise questions. As a multi-level marketing company, CitizenRE has recruited over 5,000 “ecopreneurs” who are not company employees, but rather associated with the company and will potentially receive a payment based on signing up other customers. Typically MLMs involve emotional sales pitches, sold from person to person, and can be associated with devolving into pyramid schemes, where a few top leaders make money by exploiting the lower ranks.

In CitizenRE’s case, money isn’t exchanging hands, which is frequently cited as a reason CitizenRE can’t be a scam. Instead, an equally powerful motivator is being used, one that drives the environmental movement: hope. CitizenRE is essentially promising THE energy, environmental and economic solution all rolled into one. It’s a powerful emotional driver that has resulted in the viral spread of CitizenRE’s ecopreneurs and potential customers, many of whom are no doubt one in the same, and whom may not understand the nuances of what they are selling or purchasing. Perhaps the promise of a future solar system is reason enough to participate, in leiu of immediate payment. Since ecopreneurs will ultimately be compensated (PDF) based on the number of systems they refer, misinformation and excessive hype has been the common marketing strategy. The company has since disapproved of such tactics, and ordered associates to stop using such tactics.

In addition to the sales force and resulting customers, CitizenRE will also need to train and recruit hundreds, if not thousands, of site inspectors and installers across the country. Not all homes will be suitable and every installation is unique, with the permitting and interconnecting process varying by each locality and electric company. Imagine trying to process 25,000 permits for a backyard deck, a common permitting request, in a few thousand cities. Now imagine doing so with a technology of which the inspectors are only vaguely aware. As permits delay things, installation quality will likely suffer in the name of making up speed and efficacy. And once the installation is complete, the system needs to be inspected for safety with the electric grid. Delays are inevitable at nearly every level of the sales and installation chain.

Ultimately, one wonders why they did it this way - marketing heavy and delivering lightly. Why not start building the manufacturing plant, which in order to raise money from investors or loans from banks, would have to show fiscal solvency in and of itself? Prove that idea. Why not start installing tens, and then hundreds of systems in the California first, the best market for solar systems, and build some industry experience and credibility? Prove that idea. Why not focus on doing one thing well before doing all things hypothetically? I am amazed at how far the hypothetical has taken this company.

Instead, CitizenRE has promised it all to everyone. There is basically nothing they haven’t decided they can do bigger and better than the existing solar industry, as if forging new paths is only a matter of an idea. But ideas are cheap and CitizenRE needs to hit grand slam after grand slam in order to come close to their vision. The shifting time frames and requests for patience have already started, and it is only a matter of time before various parts of the plan fall apart. The best businesses do one of two things - “promise and deliver” or “underpromise and overdeliver.” It’s kind of ironic that the industry is now abuzz about CitizenRE, a brand new company that hasn’t delivered anything…only promised.

Next Time: What effect might CitizenRE’s improbable success have on the industry? What about failure? (part 3 of 3)

Editor’s note: Today, we’re happy to bring you the first of what we hope will be many guest posts on the Green Options blog. Today’s guest post comes from our friends at Solar Kismet.

Most of us in the Green Blogosphere have followed new company Citizenrē, and its REnU program, with great interest. Mike has been analyzing the company at Solar Kismet, and we asked him to share his thoughts with our readers.

As Green Options launches new features and tools in the coming weeks, you’ll see that we’ll be involved in helping consumers consider their options for solar power. As such, we firmly believe that full transparency is necessary for the solar industry’s continued growth. This author’s thoughts and ideas are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Green Options, its management or staff.

Green products come in all shapes and sizes, with many varying claims about their content, performance and cost. Sometimes it’s hard to understand the nuances of something you don’t want to become an expert in - you just want it to be excited about your green choice and have it work. Renewable energy is no exception.

Renewable energy captures everyone’s imagination, much more so than its practical cousin, energy efficiency (those funny-looking lightbulbs really do work). But it’s hard to evaluate what the best renewable energy options are environmentally and economically. You can buy green electricity (but is that really helping anything?), you can install a solar system on your house (but it’s so expensive!), you can get more energy efficiency (so boring!), or you can have a solar system installed on your house for no money down and fix your electricity rates for the next 25 years (really?).

Did you catch that? “No money down” and “solar energy” aren’t two words that normally come together. But they have in the last two months and it’s caught the eye of thousands of people interested in selling and buying these systems. But what’s the catch? Exactly. Here’s a short lesson in “too good to be true”…

I should preface this by saying that I’m a skeptical person. I’m not going to be the one leading the masses with inspiration, so when I first heard of Citizenrē, a new solar energy company and their “no-money down” solar business model, small flags went up. I didn’t think too much of it at first. But when I started to get questions from multiple, non-related sources (consumers, industry, consultants, etc), I realized that Citizenrē had started to gain real marketing traction and decided to look into it a little more…

Citizenrē purportedly offered consumers the best of all solar energy worlds - a solar electric system on your home for no money down, no risk, and insurance against future electricity cost increases. Their goal was to install 100,000 solar systems per year on homes across America and they were recruiting salespeople from all over the internet, as well as pushing press releases, websites, and blogs touting their goals and promises everywhere. (Editor’s note: According to Renewable Energy Access, Citizenrē now plans to install 25,000 systems annually).

Here’s how Citizenrē’s model would theoretically work:

Interested consumers sign a contract with Citizenrē to have a solar system installed in exchange for a monthly solar system rental fee; reportedly, if you signed a 25 year contract, no deposit was required. Homeowners and businesses in more than 35 states would be eligible (those with net metering and a retail electric rate of 7 cents per kilowatt-hour or more). The monthly rental fee would be equal to the amount of electricity the solar system would produce annually multiplied by your cost of electricity (or even less). So instead of paying your electric company $100, you might pay them $50 and Citizenrē $50, if it offset 50% of your electricity use that month. Note that you haven’t saved any money at this point. Theoretically, you could pay Citizenrē a little less, say $45, if your Citizenrē rate was lower than your electricity rate. But the main benefit is that you lock in your electricity prices for the length of the contract and assuming electricity rates go up over time, you started to pocket the difference as personal profit.

A quick example:

• A 3 kilowatt solar electric system installed in Colorado might produce 4000 kilowatt-hours per year;
• If a home uses 8000 kilowatt-hours per year, it will offset 50% of your use;
• If your electricity rate was 9 cents per kilowatt-hour (cents/kWh) and you signed a contract with Citizenrē for the same amount, you pay each $360 per year (save nothing);
• If your electricity rate went up to 10 cents/kWh the next year, you would pay the utility company $400 and Citizenrē $360 (save $40);
• You can move your solar system once at no charge, or reassign the contract to the new homeowner.

What’s in it for Citizenrē? They take your monthly rental fee, the federal solar tax credits, accelerated business depreciation benefits, potentially lower costs from vertical business integration, and potentially the renewable energy credits (if legal).

I should stress that this business model in and of itself is not new. At least three companies (SunEdison, MMA Renewable Ventures, and Solar Power Partners) offer the same concept to companies or utilities installing large solar systems in limited markets where the incentives and policies align. And I suspect the concept will trickle out to more states and smaller solar systems over time. But not now and not Citizenrē.

Unfortunately, Citizenrē has put their marketing cart before their solar panel horse. They have built up a salesforce of thousands and pre-sold thousands of solar systems, but they have nothing to install for at least a year. Not one solar panel.

Next Time: If the business model isn’t new, why does Citizenrē raise so many flags? (part 2 of 3)