Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy caught our attention this week:

• California is beginning the new year with a requirement for new 2009 cars sold in the state to display a sticker that shows information on the vehicle's environmental impact. The sticker will provide a global warming score and a smog score on a 1-to-10 scale, with 10 the best score and 5 the average. The California Air Resources Board has set up a consumer Website with more information on the cleanest and most efficient cars.
• Toyota Motor Corp. is said to be secretly developing a solar-powered car. Toyota is working on an electric vehicle that will get some of its power from solar cells equipped on the vehicle, and that can be recharged with electricity generated from solar panels on the roofs of homes, Japan's Nikkei newspaper says. Toyota also plans a car powered totally by solar cells on the vehicle.
• Two electric utilities in Europe are offering their customers plans to purchase carbon-free electricity generated at nuclear power plants. Germany's R.W.E. utility is marketing a purchase plan that promises customers 70 percent of their power will come from nuclear generation with the remainder from hydroelectricity and renewable energies. Finland's Fortum power company offers two plans for business customers in Finland and Sweden -- Fortum Carbon Free, a mix of nuclear and hydropower, and Fortum Renewable, a blend of renewable resources.

The amount of solar energy PG&E will deliver to its customer in 2009 just increased today with our purchase of 10 megawatts of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar energy from Sempra Generation. Sempra Generation's El Dorado Energy Solar facility is located in Nevada on 80 acres of desert property designated as a renewable energy zone and adjacent to the company's existing gas-fired power plant. Completed today, this solar facility is expected to begin renewable power deliveries to PG&E by January 1, 2009.

In addition to being PG&E's first contracted solar project to come online, Sempra Generation can now boast of having the largest thin-film solar power installation in North America. The facility features more than 167,000 of First Solar's PV modules. A Pacific Crest equity analyst claims that First Solar has achieved the elusive goal of grid-parity with conventional power when measuring cost on a kilowatt-hour basis.

Although there are some reports that the solar industry will be shaky in 2009, Fast Company's comprehensive look at the industry's leap into the mainstream shows there are many bright spots as well.  

For those interested in solar on the home, TIME reported today that engineering company CH2M Hill is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy to provide Internet solar maps of 25 American cities, using Google Earth technology. The maps will allow homeowners to plug in their address to pull up detailed information on their estimated solar energy potential, utility bill savings and all available incentives, among other things. San Francisco is the first city to be completed and you can check out its solar map here.

Several stories on the science and politics of climate change caught our attention this week:

• Climate change and pollution may be possible causes for the giant swarms of jellyfish showing up recently in Hawaii, Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. East Coast, Australia and other regions around the globe, says a report from the National Science Foundation. The gelatinous creatures can damage fisheries, fish farms, ships and even nuclear power plants. Jellyfish visited PG&E's Diablo Canyon nuclear plant on the central California coast in October, clogging the cooling water intake systems. The plant was forced to curtail power production briefly to clear the jellyfish from the intakes. The NSF report also suggests the introduction of non-native species, overfishing and structures such as oil and gas drilling rigs may have something to do with the jellyfish outbreaks.
• Efforts by President-elect Obama's administration to cut greenhouse gas emissions and seek federal climate change regulations are likely to spur new opportunities in the legal profession and at the nation's law schools. Columbia University's law school says it has hired environmental lawyer Michael Gerrard to establish and direct a new center for climate law. "Very complicated legal regulations are going to be established and the center will provide a framework in which these regulations can be examined and future leaders in climate change law can be trained," Gerrard said. Gerrard is the former head of Arnold & Porter's New York office and author of a textbook on climate change law.
• Emissions of carbon dioxide from U.S. energy sources by 2030 are forecast to be 9.4 percent less than projected last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, citing increases in renewable energy and higher prices for fossil fuels. "Efficiency policies and higher energy prices ... slow the rise in the U.S. energy use," the EIA says. "When combined with the increased use of renewables and a reduction in the projected additions of new coal-fired conventional power plants, this slows the growth in energy-related (greenhouse gas) emissions." Carbon emissions are forecast at 6.410 billion tonnes in 2030, compared with last year's forecast of 6.851 billion tonnes by 2030 last year, the EIA says. Consumption of renewable fuels are foreast to grow by 3.3 percent a year through 2030.
• Finally, there is some concern among politicians and tree farmers in North Carolina that global warming may affect growing conditions for the state's Christmas tree industry. The Tarheel state is the nation's second largest producer of the holiday trees and takes in $100 million a year mainly for Fraser Firs which grow at higher elevations in cool temperatures. The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that a rise in global temperatures could push the Fraser Fir climate zone to states in the north.

A roundup of items relating to clean energy that caught our attention this week:

• The windpower industry appears to be holding its own in spite of fears that the economic recession, tight credit and weak oil and gas prices would stall clean energy investments. Wind turbine majors such as Denmark's Vestas, Spain's Gamesa and General Electric are booking new orders for next year. Vestas recently landed 500 megawatts of new turbines to boost its order book to more than 4,000 MW. Analysts say Vestas' success is a sign that bigger power companies with stronger balance sheets may shove aside smaller windpower developers.
•  Hawaii plans to set up the nation's first statewide electric car battery recharging stations as part of a wider clean-energy program to reduce the islands' dependence on oil imports for almost all of their energy needs. The goal is to cut fossil fuel consumption by 70 percent by 2030. Hawaii is joining with Better Place, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that will build the charging infrastructure to open in 2011. Better Place also plans a charging infrastructure in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nissan Motor Co.-Renault SA has agreed to make electric cars to be recharged at the stations in Hawaii. Hawaii's Blue Planet Foundation also is working on clean-energy programs including solar, wind, tides and waves to slash oil use.
• The first solar-powered car to travel around the world completed its 32,000-mile journey in Poznan, Poland, where a United Nations meeting was underway to explore a new treaty to combat global warming. Pulling a trailer of solar cells, the two-seater car departed Lucerne, Switzerland, 17 months ago and traveled through 38 countries. Louis Palmer, a Swiss schoolteacher and adventurer who made the trip, said: "It's ecological, it's economical, it is absolutely reliable. We can stop global warming." Palmer added: "This car runs like a Swiss clock." The vehicle was developed by scientists at Swiss universities.

A roundup of items relating to clean energy that caught our attention this week:

• Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a proposal--still in the early planning stages--to meet 10 percent of the city's electricity demand from solar energy. Apparently he envisions a combination of residential and commercial rooftop panels and large-scale solar projects in the desert.
• The world's biggest solar tower is scheduled in January to begin generating 20 megawatts of electricity in southern Spain. With more than 1,200 mirrors, each half the size of a tennis court, it will create superheated steam to turn power generators serving about 11,000 homes. Spain reportedly plans to generate more than two gigawatts of power from concentrated solar plants by 2015.
• The UK government plans to institute new energy tariffs that will reward "micro-renewables," primarily residential solar and wind generation, in order to meet the country's target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent come 2050. The Energy Saving Trust, an independent body charged with promoting energy efficiency, predicts a quarter of the country's households could engage in clean energy production.
• Portugal plans to build 1,300 charging stations for electric vehicles over the next three years, in partnership with Renault and Nissan. The country also plans to provide tax incentives, financing subsidies, and reduced parking rates for buyers of electric vehicles, In return, the car companies will make Portugal the first European market for their new generation of electric cars.
  

A roundup of green headlines that caught our eye this week:

• A relatively clean-burning diesel Volkswagen Jetta TDI sedan won "Green Car of the Year" honors at the Los Angeles auto show, the first diesel-powered car to win the auto industry's highest environmental honor, Reuters reports.
• Retail king Wal-Mart will purchase electricity from a Duke Energy windpower project in Texas to light up 15 percent of its 360 stores in the Longhorn State, Wal-Mart's first direct purchase of windpower, says Green Tech Media.
• The Stata Center building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology captures runoff waste water from storms in a giant cistern and reuses it in toilets in the building, the New York Times Green Inc. blog reports from the Greenbuild conference in Boston.
• Air Canada flight attendant Marcelo da Luz last month set a Guinness World Record for distance travelled in a sun-powered car of 9,320 miles throughout Canada and Alaska. Now he's pointing his flying-saucer-looking vehicle south to Argentina to extend the record, Canada's Globe and Mail reports.

Gov. Schwarzenegger yesterday signed an historic executive order directing California's utility's to provide one-third of their power from qualifying renewable sources by 2020, an unprecedented mandate to meet an unprecedented global problem.

"Today is all about changing our goals and raising the bar," he said at a signing ceremony in Sacramento. ". . . This will be the most aggressive target in the nation."

PG&E's senior vice president for public affairs, Nancy McFadden, joined the ceremony to applaud the governor's leadership:

I stand here on behalf of PG&E committed to this process with all of these stakeholders, distinguished group of stakeholders, to move this ball forward . . . so we can meet your ambitious goal, Governor.

The state's investor-owned utilities have been working hard to meet an existing mandate to supply 20 percent of their power from renewable sources (other than large hydropower) by the 2010-2012 timeframe. Progress has been slowed by delays in passing federal tax credits, long lead times in approving and building new transmission lines, disputes over permitting projects sited on sensitive lands, and, in some cases, developer inexperience or financing problems.

The governor acknowledged these problems and pledged to help overcome them. He signed a separate agreement to create a one-stop process for the California Energy Commission and Department of Fish and Game to review permits by renewable energy developers. And he received promises from federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service, to fast-track reviews of projects on federal land.

Still, the challenges will be enormous. Achieving the new goal will require a 225 percent increase in the amount of renewable power available today. As the California Public Utilities Commission stated in a report issued last month, "Serving 33% of California's energy needs with renewable sources will require an infrastructure build-out on a scale and timeline perhaps unparalleled anywhere in the world."

In a previous report, the Commission said that meeting the 33 percent goal could require as much as $60 billion in new investment in generation and transmission.

A roundup of green headlines that caught our eye this week:

• Green pumpkins? Add Halloween to the greening of everything. The Baltimore Sun notes that a "Green Halloween" movement is spreading across the land promoting organic candy, fruit, other wholesome treats, and even costumes made of natural fiber. This Halloween vet, however, will stick with a traditional bowl of chewy gooey candy bars for the wee goblins tonight.
• More greening: The New York City Marathon this Sunday will add biodiesel generators to power official race clocks, loudspeakers, a medical tent and other fixtures at the race's finish line in Central Park. The generators, developed by the GreeNow company, run on 99 percent biodiesel made from U.S.-grown soy, according to The New York Times' City Room blog.
• Senators Obama and McCain are getting a lot of advice from scientists, The New York Times' Dot Earth blog reports. The American Association for the Advancement of Science and some 180 other organizations want the next president to appoint a White House science adviser with cabinet-level rank to provide scientific and technical advice on energy security, climate change and other issues. The groups grumbled that the Bush administration was slow to appoint a science adviser and didn't give the post cabinet rank.

Bakersfield, California, sometimes called "the city that oil built," yesterday celebrated its commitment to what may well become the 21st century's leading rival to fossil-fuel energy: solar power.

At a Bakersfield ceremony attended by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and PG&E Chairman, CEO and President Peter Darbee, Palo Alto-based Ausra, Inc. unveiled the first solar thermal energy plant built in California in nearly 20 years.

The 5-megawatt (MW) Kimberlina demonstration plant, with its thousand-foot long mirrors, uses the same core technology that Ausra plans to install a couple of years from now in a 177-MW plant east of San Luis Obispo that will serve tens of thousands of PG&E customers.

Ausra's Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) solar technology focuses heat from the sun's rays to create steam to power steam turbine generators, much like traditional power plants, but without use of fossil fuels or harmful emissions.

PG&E's Darbee called the opening of the Kimberlina plant "an important step on the path to commercialization of this new technology."

He also underscored the importance of making continued investments in clean energy projects, despite the nation's difficult economic straits, in order to fight the enormous challenge of climate change.

"I want to restate our commitment as PG&E . . . that we will not take our eye off the ball, that we will continue to pursue energy efficiency, we will continue to pursue demand management, we will continue to pursue renewables," Darbee said.

Commenting on the financial risks that could delay new investments in clean energy projects, Darbee added, "PG&E stands ready, as we were before, to take on the challenge of financing renewables, to work with people collaboratively to move renewable generation forward."

PG&E's leadership in customer solar, recognized today by an award at the Solar Power International conference and described in Katie Romans' accompanying post, reflects in part the remarkable leadership the state of California has shown in this sector. 

The California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) reported a few days ago that more solar panels were installed in the first nine months of 2008 under the auspices of the California Solar Initiative than in any previous full year.

PG&E and the state's other two investor-owned utilities together hosted new installations of grid-connected solar photovoltaic capacity totalling 111 megawatts in the first three quarters of this year, up 37 percent over the total for all of 2007.

The California Solar Inititiative is slated to provide more than $2 billion in utility-sponsored rebates for customer solar installations over 10 years.

Thanks in part to programs like this, California housed 69 percent of all grid-connected photovoltaic capacity in the United States last year, according to a recent report by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. California's total worked out to 9.1 watts per person, compared to 7.8 watts per person in Nevada.

The CPUC's report notes that customer demand for solar installations appears to be accelerating, based on the record-breaking number of new applications received in the third quarter (more than 3,000). However, a story in GreenTechMedia reports that some customers are opting to wait until next year to install systems, in order to cash in on higher tax incentives. Even so, the strong growth trend is likely to continue.