The Evergreen Institute's Center for Renewable Energy and Green Building just announced the 2010 workshop schedule. The Evergreen Institute (TEI) offers training for educators, energy professionals, homeowners and individuals interested in pursuing a career in residential renewable energy or green building. 

The schedule includes numerous hands-on workshops at the TEI's educational center in Gerald, Mo. TEI also has off-campus locations in Kansas City, Mo., St. Louis, Mo., Boulder, Colo., and in Clarendon, N.Y. TEI teaches workshops in solar electricity, solar hot water, wind energy, passive solar heating and cooling, green building, natural building, and home energy efficiency.

To help those wishing to learn about these vital topics in the difficult economic times we're facing, TEI has reduced prices on many workshops and offers substantial discounts for early registration. TEI is also offering numerous free-workshops. The schedule can be accessed online at The Evergreen Institute.

Earlier this month I visited Greensburg, Kan., and toured a few of its many green buildings. It was a great trip, and you can see more photos from my visit in this Greensburg photo gallery.

Background. Greensburg is the rural Midwestern town that was struck by an EF5 tornado on May 4, 2007. The storm was 1.7 miles wide — it killed 11 people and destroyed most of the town.

After the storm, the people of Greensburg made a commitment to rebuilding the town as a model green community. That effort is already well underway, and you can even watch its progress on TV. A Greensburg TV series on the Planet Green network is following the progress of rebuilding. The third season begins filming soon.

My visit.  Mother Earth News is based in Topeka, Kan., so Greensburg is relatively close to where we’re located — about a 4 hour drive — but this was my first visit to the town. I took a walking tour guided by volunteers from Greensburg Greentown, a community-based nonprofit devoted to helping Greensburg build green.

So what does Greensburg look like these days? Well, there’s still a lot of evidence of the storm, even more than two years out. As our tour guides explained, Greensburg used to be locally known for its trees, but now most of the trees are gone. You can see from one end of town to the other — the view is wide open. Most of the storm debris is gone, too, but there are still remnants of many buildings — a wall here, some steps there. But already many homes and buildings have been rebuilt, and many more are under construction.

There are nine different buildings on the walking tour of Greensburg (some you can go into, and others are just visible from the street). While there are many green features to see, I was struck by one recurring theme: concrete. Many of the buildings are being built with insulated concrete form walls (ICFs). In fact, ICF construction makes a lot of sense for Greensburg. Not only does it provide excellent insulation, the buildings are also structurally strong, and therefore very resistant to storm damage. From a green standpoint, one of the disadvantages of concrete is that it takes a lot of energy to produce. But in Greensburg, there are always more opportunities to go green — in this case by recycling concrete debris from the storm. The Silo Eco-Home in Greensburg is made of precast concrete, and 35 percent of that concrete is recycled from local storm debris.

Another noticeable fact about Greensburg: There are renewable energy systems everywhere, especially on the new city buildings. The arts center has wind turbines, city hall has building-integrated solar panels, and many buildings have renewable energy systems that are not readily visible from the street, including rooftop solar panels and underground geothermal heating and cooling systems.

If you want to visit.  For anyone who’s interested in renewable energy or green building, Greensburg is a great place to visit. You can simply walk up and down Main Street and see numerous examples of eco-friendly building in action, and even more green buildings are planned for the future. One exciting project is the Chain of EcoHomes being planned by Greensburg Greentown. This project is designed to help visitors understand the green options available to homeowners.

If you’re in the area, don’t miss the chance to stop by and check out what’s happening, and be sure to check in with Greensburg Greentown for more information about tours. You can also download their self-guided tour booklet for much more information about the green features of individual buildings.

In my last blog post on landing a job in renewable energy, I discussed the importance of obtaining training, especially hands-on training, to those interested in pursuing a career in solar electricity, wind energy, passive solar design, home energy efficiency and green building.

Remember, too, that you can learn a lot from a good book. In recent years, there’s been an outpouring of good books on the subject. I’ve spent the last decade writing on the subject to help fill the void.  If you’re interested in solar electricity, check out my newest book, Power from the Sun. If you are interested in small wind, check out Power from the Wind. If you are interested in green building or natural building, I’ve written a bunch on those subjects, too. But enough shameless self-promotion.

My second advice was to get a move on. In other words, get going, as there are many people just like you who are pursuing the same dream.  Get your training now.

But what else can you do?

Another important step toward finding employment is to get out and meet the professionals in the industry. Call for a brief appointment to talk with the owners of local renewable energy companies—installers, manufacturers, consultants, or whatever aspect you are interested in.

Remember, however, these are busy folks. Sometimes very busy. Try to make an appointment for a brief visit at their office. Don’t propose sitting down over a cup of coffee that you’ll buy—as many people do to me. (They want me to drive a half hour to meet them, chat for an hour over coffee, then drive home for a lousy cup of coffee!) Your $2 dollar cup of coffee won’t make up for the $100 to $200 we lose just getting to know with you.

So, call, ask for five minutes at their office at a time that’s convenient for them so you can introduce yourself. Bring an updated resume that lists the courses you’ve taken, especially installation courses. Bring a cup of coffee and a doughnut or a potted plant, perhaps.

Come well dressed and well groomed. Lead with a smile and a friendly hand shake. Don’t be pushy. Let the person know you are interested in a job and what your qualifications are. Point out your practical experience.

Remember, too, it’s not enough to say you’ve been interested in this field for 20 years. So have a million others. And, more important, why didn’t you get into the field 20 years ago like the guy or gal you’re talking too?

Long-standing interest always amuses me. Many of us have been in this field for a very long time, fighting crucial battles, earning next to nothing … we have the battle scars to prove it. And now all of a sudden, here you are, claiming this long-standing interest. It not only amuses me, it’s a bit irksome. I don’t know how others feel, but my guess is that it irks them a bit, too.

So, simply let your prospective employer know your profound interest in the field, what classes you’ve taken, what certificates you have obtained, and what hands-on training you’ve had.

And here’s a radical idea: If he or she says they’re not hiring right now, but maybe a few months, tell him or her you’d be interested in working as an unpaid intern for a month or two—if you can afford the time.

“I’ll work for nothing” demonstrates a profound interest. You’ll surely get noticed.  If the prospective employer agrees, you’ll learn a lot, too. If you work hard and appear to be a great employee, you may land a job at the end of your internship.

Besides meeting face-to-face with prospective employers, start attending national conferences on renewable energy like the American Solar Energy Society’s annual meeting. If you are interested in small wind, attend the small wind conference in Steven’s Point, Wisconsin in June each year.

More important, be sure to attend meetings of local renewable energy or green building groups, and be sure to attend their conferences. Shake hands, get to know the folks … you never know what might happen. You can easily locate renewable energy groups online. Check out your state chapter of the American Solar Energy Society as a starter. They’re listed on the ASES web site.  In my next blog, I’ll discuss the importance of certificates. Until then, happy job hunting.

In the process of making connections with students and faculty involved in this year’s Solar Decathlon, I’ve become acquainted with several notably intelligent people, many of whom are younger than I. They answer my questions with enthusiastic forecasts, not just for their own success in the upcoming competition, but for a future that will benefit from what they have learned, whether or not they win a trophy.

But that enthusiasm has a slight blur around the edges. Sleep deprivation. Assembly starts at midnight, tonight. And it’s probably safe to assume that shops in D.C. providing caffeine in any form will be doing well for the next three weeks. While students, advisors and volunteers are gearing up for the clock to strike 12, we’ll take a look at what they’ve gone through the past few days, just to make it all possible.

For many of the solar-powered houses entered in this year’s competition, the journey from home to the National Mall is not a short one. It’s a complex process requiring students and advisors to disassemble the fruit of two years’ labor, load it onto trucks, and send it down the road, just hoping it will arrive in D.C. in one piece.

Chris Werner, team leader for Cornell University’s Solar Decathlon team describes the process of preparing the Silo House for departure on Sept. 28.

“Every door must be secured,” Werner says. “Every tank must be drained.  Ducts are demounted for travel.  PV's, evacuated tubes, and structural steel are demounted and packaged.  All windows and openings will be covered with travel-grade shrink wrap.  Most appliances will be removed.  Every item that could potentially shift, fall, or break will be wrapped and secured in place.”

Not only can the houses be damaged in transit, the trucks tend to experience problems on the highway.

Associate Professor at Santa Clara University, Timothy Hight recalls the misfortune of 2007.

“… we were delayed twice by broken axles on our trailer, and arrived on the mall about 2 and ½ days late.”

This year, Team California’s Refract House made it successfully to D.C. on time, despite minor complications on the journey.

“We had to wait a few extra days for our most fragile module as it was stuck in the Atlanta rains,” Project Manager Allison Kopf says.

And things don’t get any easier once the trucks successfully reach D.C. Dean of Boston Architectural College, Jeff Stein, discusses the potentially overwhelming experience of figuring out what to do with Team Boston’s Curio House until it’s time to unload it at midnight on Oct. 1.

“…this is the first time we have done something like this, and through our truckers, we have only just learned that the city of Washington, D.C. will only allow wide-load trucks into the city limits between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.,” Stein says. “So now we are making calls to see where we can put these trucks inside the city for nine hours or so.”

Having survived the heart-stopping experience of riding through D.C. traffic, I can only imagine being surrounded by wide-load trucks carrying house components, but University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Construction Manager, Joseph Rice, casually sums it up by saying of the Meltwater House that it’s “…slightly nerve racking to see a 7,200-pound roof section swaying in the breeze.”

Check out this time-lapse video of Cornell University constructing and then disassembling the Silo House.  You may want to keep the volume down if you don’t enjoy the sounds of construction in fast-forward.

I teach classes on renewable energy and green building at The Evergreen Institute, my educational center in east-central Missouri. I also teach through other organizations and institutions such as the University of Colorado’s continuing education program.

One trend I’ve noticed in recent years is a dramatic increase in the number of students interested in pursuing a career in renewable energy or home energy efficiency. A few years ago, only one or two students in my classes would raise their hands indicating they wanted to pursue a career in renewable energy. Now, it’s half my class — sometimes more!

One of the questions students invariably ask me is “How do I get a job in the industry?” I’ll discuss this topic in this blog and a few follow ups.

My immediate answer to this question is “Get as much education as possible — with as much hands on experience as possible, too.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to enroll in college. Many colleges and universities in fact, are only recently awakening to the fact that we need programs in renewable education — and are scrambling to set them up.

(Permit me a bit of soapbox time: It seems to me that colleges and universities, the bastions of forward thinking, are always the last to figure out important trends. As one who has taught at the college level for more than 30 years, it seems to me that administrators haven’t grasped the importance of environmental education or renewable energy until recently. Where have they been?  I know there are programs in environmental science and some in renewable energy, but they’re often fairly new and inadequately supported. Enough said.)

A far faster way to get up to speed is to sign up for courses on renewable energy at one of the main educational centers like ours of Solar Energy International (based in Carbondale, Colo. If you live in California, try the Solar Living Institute). In a few weeks time, spread out over six months to a year, you can get up to speed fairly quickly.

By all means, though, once you’ve completed the basic and intermediate-level courses, sign up for as many hands-on courses as possible. The theory and background material you’ll gain in “Intro to Solar Electricity,” even “Intermediate PV,” is great, and the knowledge you’ll accumulate will help immensely. But if you’re interested in working for a company that installs solar-electric or wind systems, you’ll need experience — as much as possible — to distinguish yourself from other candidates. Sign up for as many installation classes as possible. This will save your employer the cost and time required for on-the-job training.

That leads me to my second recommendation. If you are truly interested in landing a job in this field, get to it right away. You’re not alone.

As I noted earlier, there are a lot of people who have suddenly arrived at the conclusion that renewable energy is an idea whose time has come. So, get going on your course work now.

If there aren’t any classes right now, you can begin by reading. There are many good books on these topics, available through our bookstore (www.evergreeninstitute.org), your local bookstore and online.

In future blogs, I’ll discuss other tips on landing a job in the industry.

I like solar calculators, and this is an interesting one to explore.

The PV Watts1 calculator from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a simple solar calculator that can help you figure out how much electricity you can generate with a PV system at many locations around the world. (Disclaimer here.)

When you use the calculator, it gives you a measurement of solar radiation in kilowatt-hours per square meter, which is also known as peak sun hours. (Here’s a very detailed explanation of that concept from the U.S. Department of Energy.)  

I used the calculator to compare peak sun hours and kWh of electricity generated for several different locations. You should know that I used all the default settings on the calculator, so the measurements below assume a 4 kilowatt PV system and a fixed tilt, south-facing PV array.

OK, here we go!

• According to this calculator, here in Topeka, Kan., we get an average of 4.95 peak sun hours per day. Over the course of a year that would add up to 5,238 kWh a year, which is worth $403.33 at local electricity prices.

• How about a sunnier location? Well, it looks like Albuquerque, N.M., has 6.48 peak sun hours per day, which produces 6,726 kWh a year for a value of $585.16 in electricity. 

• Or, for less sun, we could look at the Northwest. Famously rainy Seattle, Wash., gets 3.76 peak sun hours a day for 3,879 kWh a year, and $248.26 worth of electricity.

• What about outside the United States? Stockholm, Sweden gets 2.98 peak sun hours a day, and generated 3102 kWh a year. Cairo, Egypt gets 5.66 peak sun hours, and generates 5727 kWh a year.

You can take a look at your location and see how it compares. There’s also a PV Watts 2 calculator, which is more complicated to use, but will allow you to select any location in the United States.

Pictured Above: A PV array in Manchester, Wash., near Seattle. Photo by DOE/NREL/JOHN GROBLER

Many of our readers are interested in renewable energy, and for some of you there’s a simple and easy way to get your electricity from renewable sources — many utilities offer a green power option.

If you’re looking for more information on green power in the United States, the U.S. Department of Energy has some helpful information about green power programs, including a map and chart showing where they’re offered.

We’d like to hear more about your experiences with green power. Is it available where you live? How does the price compare to what you would otherwise pay for electricity? Why have you — or haven’t you — chosen this option? You can share your thoughts by posting a comment below.

Photo by Istockphoto/Nicholas Homrich

If you’re considering installing solar-electric panels or a home wind turbine, one of the first questions to ask is whether you want to be on the grid or off the grid.

What’s the difference? A grid-tied system connects to the local electric utility, so you can sell power to the utility, or buy power when you need it. A grid-independent system does not connect to the local power lines. Instead, you produce all the power you need for your own home.

Both options have their pros and cons.  First, a grid-connected system is usually cheaper. For one thing, you don’t have to produce all your own power, so you can choose to purchase a smaller system. You will also need to purchase less equipment, because a grid-tied system doesn’t require batteries.

However, for some people off the grid is the only way to go because it allows you to be truly independent of the utility. During a power outage, your lights stay on. And who needs fossil fuels? You’re producing all the power you need from clean renewable energy. Also, if you live in a remote area that doesn’t already have electric service, an off-grid system can end up being cheaper than extending electric lines to your house.

So, tell us what you think. If you installed solar-electric panels or a wind turbine, would you want to connect to the grid? If you already have a home renewable energy system, what did you decide about a grid connection, and are you happy with that decision? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.

On Wednesday a Senate committee approved an energy bill that many environmentalists criticized. The bill would open large areas close to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling and guaranteed a federal loan for an Alaska gas pipeline project.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 15-to-8 on the bill. Democrats on the committee pushed to require utilities to have 15 percent of electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar by 2021, but the bill had exemptions that would reduce that goal.

This standard is considerably weaker than the House energy and climate bill sponsored by Democratic Representatives Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, which is expected to be voted on in the House before the Congressional Fourth of July break.

The House bill is more progressive with more caps on greenhouse gas emissions and higher standards for renewable energy sources. The Senate bill is clearly a compromise between Democratic and Republican committee members. Republicans committee members fought for increased petroleum reserves, expanding drilling to within 45 miles of coastlines and increasing the number of nuclear energy facilities.

The Washington Post reported that a dozen environmental groups wrote a joint letter to the committee of opposition to the bill. The groups criticized the renewable energy standards of being too low and expressed concerns for wildlife off the west coast of Florida because the bill would allow more offshore oil and gas drilling.

The results of the House bill, which will likely be voted on first, could dramatically change the Senate bill that does not go as far with renewable energy or limiting greenhouse gases.

Vermont took a big step forward in promoting renewable energy last week by passing a feed-in tariff (FIT) policy. This type of renewable energy incentive guarantees that utility companies will pay owners of renewable energy systems a good price for the energy they produce. Vermont’s FIT policy is one of the first to be passed in the United States.

The law is part of Vermont’s Sustainably Priced Energy Enterprise Development Program, and closely resembles Ontario’s Green Energy Act.

Made popular by Germany, who began using them in the 1990s, feed-in tariffs work by setting prices that utility companies must pay for the energy they receive from private producers such as households and businesses. By doing this, they alleviate the financial burdens of installing renewable energy systems. For more information on feed-in tariffs, go here.

In Vermont’s case, the tariff rates are set not only to pay back the system costs, but to allow producers to generate a small profit. The tariff rates also vary by energy type, with more expensive energy systems bringing in more money. Here are some of the details of the law, as reported in this Paul Gipe article:

• Program cap of 50 mW
• Project size cap of 2.2 mW
• Contract time: 20 years
• Wind energy tariffs:
  • <15 kW: 20 cents/kWh
  • >15 kW: 14 cents/kWh
• Solar tariff: 30 cents/kWh
• Regulatory examination of tariffs by Sept. 15, 2009 and new rates set in January 2010
• Future tariffs based on cost of generation plus profit less applicable tax credits and other incentives

According to the Energy Information Administration, the average price of residential energy in Vermont is about 14.3 cents/kWh. For information on what other states are implementing feed-in tariffs, see this report (PDF).

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) recently announced that the U.S. market for small wind turbines (those with capacities of 100 kilowatts or less) grew 78 percent in 2008. Overall, this translates into 17.3 megawatts of new wind-energy capacity.

The AWEA says that residential wind turbines (1-10 kW) continue to lead the market in sales.

“Consumers are looking for affordable ways to improve their energy security and reduce their personal carbon footprint,” says the AWEA’s Ron Stimmel. “Small wind technology can be an answer to that search.”

A recent AWEA study found that despite a global recession, small wind manufacturers predict a 30-fold growth within the U.S. small wind market within as little as five years. The availability of federal tax credits for 30 percent of the cost of small wind turbine installation will likely play a big role in this increase.

For more information, check out this Mother Earth News blog about home wind-energy systems or the U.S. Department of Energy’s small wind-turbine consumer guide (PDF).

I always enjoy watching videos from the TED website. Here’s an interesting one on tapping wind energy with kites. The idea is that kites have the potential to get much higher up in the air than even the largest wind turbines, so they’re a good tool for tapping into the large amount of wind power found at high altitudes.
 

This week, NPR has been running a series called Power Hungry: Reinventing the U.S. Electric Grid. There’s a whole lot of good information there about renewable energy and the need for improvements to the grid in order to get wind and solar power into our homes. You can find the whole series at the link above.

Or, for one quick highlight, here’s a link to one great graphic on Visualizing the Grid. This map shows just about everything you might want to know about electricity in the United States. What does the grid look like now? Where are new power lines being proposed? Where are the best solar and wind resources? Take a look and find out.

In my last blog, I noted that vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) leave much to be desired. My point was that these designs, which have been around for thousands of years, just haven’t panned out. Buyer beware: they’re not all they’re cracked up to be (See An Open Letter-To inventors of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines and Rooftop Wind 'Technology Breakthroughs'.) I wasn’t trying to discourage people from tinkering with them, but I was trying to warn folks who think they’re going to be making a wise investment from buying one.

Many of you posted comments to the contrary, either accusing me of stomping on the dreams and aspirations of young inventors or simply not knowing what I was talking about. Some readers accused me of making baseless claims without any science to back up my assertions.  Let me provide some more information on VAWTs.

While many modern VAWT inventors show videos of their turbines spinning, which convince news organizations and potential buyers of their value, it’s not spinning blades that matter. What matters is energy output. Because wind speeds are low at ground level, VAWTs won’t produce much energy — nowhere near as much useful energy as a well placed horizontal axis wind turbine. That’s why horizontal axis wind turbines are the technology of choice for most applications. 

The main reason that wind speed is so low at ground level is ground drag. Ground drag is caused by friction when air flows across a surface. Friction is the force that resists movement of one material against another.

When wind flows across land or water, friction dramatically reduces the speed with which wind flows over land.  Ground drag due to friction varies considerably, depending on the texture or roughness of the surface. The rougher or more irregular the surface, the greater friction.  As a result, air flowing across the surface of a lake encounters less friction than air flowing over a meadow. Air flowing over a meadow encounters less friction than air flowing over a forest.

Interestingly, friction slows wind speed to a height of about 1,650 feet above the Earth’s surface. However, the greatest effects are closest to ground — the first 60 feet (20 meters) above the ground over a relatively flat, smooth surface. 

The effect of friction is quite profound. A 20-mile-per-hour wind measured at 1,000 feet above the surface of the ground covered with grasses, flows at 5 miles per hour at 10 feet — where most VAWTs are located. It then increases progressively until it breaks loose from the influence of the ground drag or friction at around 80 feet.

Because the effects of friction decrease with height above the surface of the Earth, savvy installers typically mount their wind machines on towers 80 to 120 feet (24 to 37 meters). This removes them from the influence of energy-robbing ground drag. At these heights, the winds are substantially stronger than they are near the ground.

Savvy installers also avoid suburban and urban environments because the surface texture is quite rough in these areas. Trees and buildings dramatically lower annual average wind speeds. They also create a lot of turbulence and eddies — pockets of relatively dead air. Place any turbine in this environment and you can expect significantly reduced energy production.

I like the looks of a lot of VAWTs and wish inventors success, but don’t lose track of the fact that there’s very little energy in ground-level winds during a given year. In fact, a recently published study of wind turbines mounted on buildings in England showed that many turbines failed miserably when it came to energy output. Average wind speed at these levels were just too low to produce a significant amount of electricity. The inverters in many of these systems consumed more energy than the wind turbines produced in a year. See the results of the Warwick Wind Trials.

When you invest in a wind turbine, you want energy output. It’s not spinning blades, but electricity that most of us want — and lots of it — to make our investment worth the while.

Power available from the wind is a function of the wind speed cubed. If the average annual wind speed is low, which it is at ground level or even on the roofs of homes, you just won’t get much energy from a turbine — any kind of turbine. (See Rooftop Wind-Determining Your Resource.) Mounting a turbine at ground level places it in much weaker winds at most locations. It is a bit like mounting solar panels in the shade! NREL’s wind energy expert Jim Green says, “For a given swept area, VAWTs just don’t extract quite as much wind energy as a well-designed HAWT.” 

I’d be happy to be proven wrong. Show me the data that indicates that a ground-level or even a roof-top turbine of any sort produces a sizeable amount of electricity during a year!

It is important to note that years of experience with VAWTS has been rather discouraging, to say the least. “Hundreds of commercial VAWTs were installed in California in the late 1980s and early 1990s,” according to energy consultant Bob Aram. “They all failed and were removed from service. These were not experimental units, but production units.”

Ever wanted to build your own wind turbine, install your own solar panels or convert your car to electricity but never thought you could really do-it-yourself? Then think again.

Dan Chiras, one of Mother’s contributing editors and leading expert in the field of green building and renewable energy, is now hosting hands-on DIY workshops at his recently opened Evergreen Institute Center for Renewable Energy and Green Building in Gerald, Mo. Topics cover a wide range of energy efficiency solutions from passive solar heating and cooling to designing and building your own backyard wind turbine. “We won’t just tell you what’s out there, we’ll tell you where to find it and teach you how to do it” Chiras told The Missourian’s online newspaper, emissourian.

Courses range from one to six days in length, and prices start at $125 for a one-day workshop and increase to $750 for a lengthier, six-day course.

Chiras is extending  his teachings to out-of-towners by inviting them to pitch a tent during the longer workshops, giving folks nationwide the opportunity to attend.

You can read the original article, Teaching Others How to Be Green, on the emissourian website. 

Have you considered installing renewable energy systems at your home? For example would you be most likely to have a wind turbine, or solar electric panels? Have you thought about a solar water heater, a solar space heater or solar-powered outdoor lights?

Tell us what you’ve considered and why; whether you’re dreaming big or starting small; and how far in the future you hope to be able to make it happen.

If you’re looking for more information on your options, this article, All Kinds of Solar, is a quick list of the many different ways people use solar energy. Another good introduction to home-scale renewable article is the article Choosing Renewable Energy, which discusses one couple’s efforts to get off the grid with wind power, solar power and wood heat.

If you’re interested in the big picture of what’s happening in renewable energy, you’ll find a lot of interesting stuff at RenewableEnergyWorld.com. Check out their about us page for a quick list of links to more info on green jobs, breaking news and product descriptions.

Some of the information is very technical, but you can find basics too. Take a look at the Renewable Energy Technology Overview for background on solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable technologies. I also enjoy listening to the weekly podcast, Inside Renewable Energy.

Finally, there’s some interesting material from the Renewable Energy World Conference and Expo that took place in Las Vegas earlier this week. You can find video from the event here, or click here to go to the event’s blog.

PHOTO BY WARREN GRETZ/DOE/NREL

I have a couple of renewable energy calendars, and when you flip through them, you can’t help but notice a recurring theme. There are photos of wind turbines with photogenic cattle (or goats, or sheep) and glossy pictures of solar panels mounted on barns. All this is enough to start you thinking about renewable energy on the farm.

If you’ve ever wondered how farmers can benefit from renewable energy, check out this terrific page on farm energy from the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (otherwise known as ATTRA). The ATTRA site is full of practical information on sustainable agriculture, and they have a great collection of resources on renewable energy, including solar energy, wind energy, energy efficiency and biofuels.

What kind of information is covered? Well, you can read all about generating your own electricity with solar panels or wind turbines, the best solar greenhouse design, and methane recovery from animal manure (a subject which, understandably enough, I've never seen pictured on a calendar). Check it out!

Want to know more about where that $787 billion dollars in the stimulus package is going? Here are links to a couple of timely articles with all the details about how the stimulus package will encourage renewable energy and energy efficiency.

 • “Will the Stimulus Help Wind and Solar?” from the New York Times blog, Green Inc.

 •  “What the Stimulus Means for EcoGeeks,” from the EcoGeek blog.

 • “Stimulus Act Expands Clean Energy Tax Credits for Homes and Businesses” from the Department of Energy's EERE News site.

Also worth knowing about, there’s a new government website, Recovery.gov, designed to help people learn more about the recovery package and track how the money is being spent.

President Obama signed the $787 billion economic stimulus package today, and it includes a lot of green spending. An article in Grist says that a total of about $82 billion of that money will be used for green initiatives, including investing in renewable energy, energy efficiency, public transportation, improvements to the grid, and training for green jobs.

The hope is that by investing in green energy, both economic and environmental problems will be solved at the same time. Right now about 400,000 people work in the renewable energy industry in the United States, but that number is predicted to be in the millions in the near future. (Read 37 Million Green Jobs Are Possible.) An example of a source for green jobs is in the wind energy industry. According to the Worldwatch Institute, every megawatt of installed wind energy capacity creates 4.85 full-time jobs in the United States. Not bad, but let’s hope this stimulus package works.

Former Vice President Al Gore addressed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last Wednesday, telling them that America needs a climate bill this year, especially since there’s supposed to be an international negotiation in Copenhagen in December. Gore already has a bold plan — to reach a goal of 100 percent clean electricity within 10 years. And with President Barack Obama in office, this may be the year to go through with it.

On Gore’s Repower America website, you can find the detailed plan on how he believes America could reach this goal through use of plug-in cars, clean electricity and, of course, renewable energies. The first thing on the list — just like in Obama’s inauguration speech — asks for a little help from everyone. So, start by looking at the site, and then think about following the advice on the site by writing to your elected officials and telling them that you want the economic recovery package to focus on new jobs and clean energy. Like both Gore and Obama have said and continue to say, it’s going to take everyone to make the change that you want in our economy and environment. So, start now!

PHOTO BY ISTOCKPHOTO/OLAF LOOSE

Sure, most people know that you can produce electricity with photovoltaic (PV) panels. But have you ever wondered exactly how solar cells generate electricity?

There’s a great, very detailed explanation of the whole process on the How Stuff Works website.

Or, here’s another idea. You can skip the article and jump straight to this solar cell quiz (also from How Stuff Works). You can learn a lot just by guessing, because the quiz format explains the answer right after each question.

If you're brave enough to share your quiz score (and whether or not you read the article) post it in the comments section below. My quiz score was 7/10 after reading the article. Think you can beat that? Go ahead, give it your best shot!

There is a reason to stay hopeful about the economy even though people across the country continue to get laid off. Last week, the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) released a detailed study on the reality of green jobs. It reports that up to 37 million jobs from renewable energy can be found in the United States by 2030. Of course, these jobs will only open up if the necessary leadership, research, development and public policy falls into place. For now, read the report here. And maybe you’ll be able to sleep a little easier tonight.

PHOTO BY ISTOCKPHOTO/JOEY CHUNG

Here in Kansas we got some unexpected good news this week. There’s new momentum at the state level to pass new regulations to promote renewable energy. (Kansas has lagged behind most other U.S. states on this.) For any fellow Kansans out there, here’s an article from the The Lawrence Journal World with more details.

For others in the United States, here’s how you can find out more about what your state is doing to promote renewable energy. Follow the links below to see how your state compares in two key areas:

1. Does your state have a net metering law?

These laws affect the price homeowners get paid for any electricity they produce. Check out the Department of Energy’s EERE Website for more on how net metering policies work, including this handy map which shows which states have net metering laws. (Hint: All but eight states do.)

2. How about a renewable portfolio standard?  

These are goals the states set to mandate how much of their electricity must come from renewable sources. So far, 24 states have RPS policies. You can find out which ones by checking out this map, as well as this table, to see which states are setting the highest goals. (As usual, California is at the head of the class on renewable energy, but many other states have set ambitious goals.)

I’m looking forward to the day that Kansas is on these lists.

To find out about other renewable energy-related activities that are happening in your state, check out this EERE page of State Activities and Partnerships.

BY BOJAN FATOR/ISTOCKPHOTO

I’d love to be able to say that my electricity comes from solar panels or a backyard wind turbine, but nope, I must admit, it comes from the grid. (My household does purchase green tags to offset our electricity use, but that’s another story.)

But here’s an interesting question: If your electricity comes from the grid, how can you find out what fuels it comes from? Different energy options have different costs and benefits. For example, is it possible that your utility gets some of its power from a wind farm? How about a nuclear power plant? How much of it comes from coal?

You can find out by using this nifty feature on the EPA web site. If you live in the United States, all you have to do is type in your ZIP code and identify your utility, and it gives you a couple of handy graphs and links that tell you which fuels the electricity comes from in your region, how that relates to pollution and how it compares to national averages.

When I typed in my ZIP Code, it showed that here in northeast Kansas our electricity comes predominantly from coal — which unfortunately is associated with a lot of greenhouse gas pollution. And you can see from the graph that our fuel mix does in fact produce more carbon dioxide pollution than the national average.

So if you’d like to find out where your electricity comes from, just try the link and find out. And if you haven’t already, now is a great time to learn more about green power options from your utility, or other renewable energy options for your home.

Thanks to constant 2008 election coverage, many Americans missed important news stories this fall. ForeignPolicy.com came up with a list of 10 articles people may have missed, one of which found that one type of solar panels might actually be harmful to the environment.

A research study by Scripps Institute of Oceanography based out of the University of California, San Diego was the first to measure the amount of nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) in the Earth’s atmosphere. NF3 is used for cleaning microcircuits in flat-screen televisions, iPhones and thin-film solar panels.

NF3 is a gas 17,000 times worse for the environment than carbon dioxide (CO2) in causing global warming, and it stays in the atmosphere about five times longer. But NF3 was thought to be a better alternative to CO2 because, according to industry estimates, only 2 percent of NF3 ever makes it to the atmosphere. This encouraged companies to use NF3, as did the fact that it wasn’t considered dangerous enough to be covered by the Kyoto Protocol — the 1997 agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions signed by more than 150 countries.

The study, funded by NASA, was the first to test the amount of NF3 in the atmosphere, and it found that it is more prominent than previously thought. It had been estimated that less than 1,200 metric tons of NF3 was in the atmosphere in 2006. The new research by Scripps shows the actual amount was 4,200 metric tons. In 2008, about 5,400 metric tons of the gas was in the atmosphere, a quantity that has increased at a rate of 11 percent a year.

“This is a significantly higher percentage than has been estimated by industry, and thus strengthens the case for inventorying NF3 production and for regulating its emissions,” the published research said.

But not all solar panels are made with NF3; the problem only applies to thin-film solar panels. According to the Energy Information Administration, in 2006 thin-film solar panel represented 30 percent of photovoltaic cells made by the U.S. solar industry.

However, thin-film solar panels have recently gained popularity though because they are generally cheaper to produce.

It looks like we need to take another look at the manufacturing process for thin-film solar since it isn’t quite perfect, darn it.

In a teleconference on Dec. 11, Lester Brown (from the Earth Policy Institute) weighed in on the realities of a green economy. While experts in Washington are looking at the issue from a national perspective, the Earth Policy Institute is looking at it from a more global, long-term standpoint. Brown referred to it as “not just a stimulus package, but an opportunity to begin cutting carbon emissions and reducing oil imports.”

According to Brown, in order to avoid a 20-foot rise in sea level, emissions need to be cut 80 percent by 2020. “If we wait until 2050, it will be too late,” Brown says. “Time is the scarcest resource.” 

Through renewable energies such as wind power, solar cells, solar thermal and geothermal power there is a large opportunity for us to cut emissions and grow our economy in the near future. There are already 24,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity in production, and that number is expected to increase by another 8,000 by next month. Last year, 200 megawatts of solar cell generating capacity were installed, and the construction of another 800 megawatts is already contracted. Eighteen new solar thermal plants are in development stages, which will total over 4,000 megawatts of energy — a 12-fold increase from just a year ago. There are now 96 geothermal energy plants in the planning stages, with an 8-fold growth in the next few years. And all of these renewable energy opportunities are two to four times more labor intensive then coal.

Hybrid and battery-powered cars are also on the rise. While manufacturing is still quite minimal, President-elect Barack Obama wants 1 million of these vehicles on the road by 2015. Brown suggests a tax incentive of $10,000 for those citizens willing to switch over. The difference in gas prices would help cover the cost of the incentive, as a 20-mpg car burns about 5,000 gallons over a lifetime, compared to a 100-mpg car, which burns only 1,000.

Brown predicts that a large portion of the funding for these technologies will come from private investors. With 400 billion dollars from the private sector and 100 billion from the government, 600,000 jobs could quickly be available, lasting through 2020. The good news is everything can be done with existing technologies, and even those can be improved in the years ahead. Now, we just have to continue expanding the use of renewable energies. If we do this, the atmospheric carbon levels could stabilize by 2020. Then, we can start thinking about ways to reduce them.

The recent announcements of President-elect Barack Obama’s new energy policy team provides opportunities for citizens to voice their support for renewable energy before the team even enters the White House in January.

The Apollo Alliance wasted little time after Obama announced who would fill his energy cabinet positions.

Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance, urged people to show their support for the Apollo Economic Recovery Act by contacting Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, Carol Browner.

“We’ve got to make sure Browner knows thousands of people are counting on her to prevail over Big Oil’s powerful lobby,” Angelides said in an e-mail. “So in the coming days, we’ll flood her office with a chorus of supportive voices pushing for clean energy and good jobs.”

The Apollo Alliance proposed The Apollo Economic Recovery Act earlier this month. It is an economic recovery plan that encourages government to invest in green technology to create 650,000 green-collar jobs across the country. The stimulus plan costs $50 billion and aims to end the nation’s reliance on foreign oil by improving energy efficiency of building, increasing clean energy tax credits, expanding home weatherization programs, modernizing the transmission grid, increasing investments in rapid transit and repairing roads and bridges.

The Act has similarities to proposals made by Obama and the new members of his energy team.

For more information on the appointment of Carol Browner read The New York Times article about her and her new position created by Obama.

PHOTO BY ALEX SLOBODKIN/ISTOCKPHOTO

Now that Obama has been elected, the question everyone's asking is — what’s next? There’s a lot of curiosity about what he’ll do as president to address the related issues of clean energy and climate change.

The good news is that Obama has already pledged serious action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting the use of renewable energy. But there are a lot of questions still to be answered. Just as a starting point, here are three articles I ran across this week that are asking interesting questions about climate, energy and politics.

• First, I saw this article in Time which asks: Is Obama’s Energy Plan Enough? This is eye-opening. The question is — even though Obama is prepared to take big steps on energy and climate, is his agenda ambitious enough to address the scale of the problems?

• Here’s a related question from a recent article on Gristmill, What’s the Magic Number? Ouch, this one is scary. It concerns the ultimate safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Many leading scientists argue that its 350 parts per million (ppm). Unfortunately, we’re already at 380 ppm. According to the author, Joseph Romm, it’s going to take a World War II level of effort to stabilize the climate. (More on that here. No surprise: it would involve a lot of renewable energy.) The big question here is — is the general public willing to make that kind of an effort?

• And there’s a good description of that problem on the Dot Earth blog, which wonders Is the World in Obama’s ‘Shock and Trance’ Mode? Apparently, in the recent 60 Minutes interview Obama suggested that with falling energy prices, the world was moving from “shock” mode to “trance,” or complacency. He said that while energy remains high on his agenda, already there’s not as much political support for the kind of changes that are necessary. (Here’s more from the interview.) The author of this article wonders if it’s going to take a Katrina-level climate event to wake us up from our energy trance. Eek.

But back to the good news. Not only is Obama pledging to act on climate change, he’s also leaving the door open to better solutions to our biggest problems. Obama’s new Web site asks Americans to submit their best ideas on different policy issues. So if you have something to say about climate or energy, check out the energy and environment page and let your voice be heard.

Climate change getting you down? If you've ever wondered if humanity can really do anything about greenhouse gas emissions, watching David Letterman's recent rant about climate change may help you get it all out of your system. (You can find it here on The Huffington Post. The quick summary: We are dead meat.)

But this week I’ve been feeling more optimistic, and for good reason. On Tuesday and Wednesday I attended the Kansas State Energy Conference to learn more about what’s happening locally and nationally on different energy issues. As part of that, I was lucky enough to get to hear the keynote address from one of the leading experts on climate science, Dr. James Hansen.

Don’t get me wrong, no one is likely to walk away from a lecture on climate change with a rosy view of the Earth’s future. It certainly wasn’t all good news. But at the same time, Hansen wasn’t saying that we’re dead meat or that it’s already too late. Instead, his message was that we still have time to act.

However, it’s a narrow window. We need to take serious action immediately, and it sounds like we’re talking about some pretty major steps — such as figuring out how to get off of coal completely unless we can figure out how to capture and store the carbon. There’s a great article from Hansen here on the Worldwatch Institute Web site with much more information on his views on climate.

Another bright spot: It was exciting to be at the conference and see how much is already happening in the world of wind power. There are a lot of new wind turbines being installed here on the Great Plains and in other windy spots around the world. Let’s keep them coming.

Photo by RUSTY DODSON/ISTOCKPHOTO

We receive a lot of questions from readers about the affordability of renewable energy alternatives, such as solar and wind and other ways to conserve energy such as buying energy efficient appliances or adding insulation. 

They usually want to know if there are state or federal incentives and rebates to help them offset the costs.

There is a wonderful Web site run by the North Carolina Solar Center, The Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE), which is an overview of state, federal, local and utility incentives, rebates, exemptions and loan programs in each state. Within each state’s sections are links to other offices and Web sites for further information.

If you are just beginning to gather information on the possibility of investing in a renewable energy system or upgrading your home to be more energy efficient, then you will want to spend time reading your state’s information on the DSIRE Web site.

Wouldn’t it be great if more of our electricity came from wind and solar power? There are a lot of good reasons the United States should start generating more electricity from renewable sources. But what will it take to make that happen?

One thing we are likely to need is an upgraded, expanded electric grid with more transmission lines extending to the sunniest and windiest parts of the country. Today, there’s a great article in the New York Times that does a good job of explaining the connections between transmission upgrades and developing renewable energy.

You can find another good discussion of the need for grid improvements here in this recent article from Renewable Energy World. It was originally published by the American Wind Energy Association, and includes many details about how upgrades to the grid could help speed up the development of wind energy.

 It’s also worth mentioning that some individual states are already leading the way with transmission upgrades — notably Texas.

Do you think the United States needs to upgrade its electrical grid? Tell us your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Photo by Tom Wald/Istockphoto

In early September, the X Prize Foundation will be hosting a forum titled, “Seeking Radical Breakthroughs in Alternative Energy — What I Would Advise the Next President.” It will discuss renewable energy ideas from biologist George Church, futurist Ray Kurzweil, inventor Saul Griffith and many others.

The forum will be held September 10 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass. Stay tuned for the available video of the event. If you’re interested in learning more or attending the forum, click here.

The X Prize Foundation is known for its breakthrough competitions, with prizes of $10 million or more awarded to the most innovative and revolutionary entries. One of the current competitions is the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize. Mother Earth News is sponsoring an entry in this 100-mpg competition. To learn more, read Here Comes the 100-mpg Car or Jack McCornack’s blog.

Every day, 970 trillion kilowatt hours of energy strikes the Earth in the form of sunlight. It's long past time we started using more of it. That's the message of "Hail: The Return of the Sun," the dramatic short movie you can watch below. The movie was produced by Solon, a German-based solar energy company with an edge (the company's slogan is "Don't leave the planet to the stupid").

For more information about the movie, and to see the longer version (with an introduction), click the link below.

Hail: The Return of the Sun

Renewable energy has been in the news lately, as the U.S. presidential candidates have been discussing their energy plans, and many other people have been talking about renewable energy, including T. Boone Pickens and Al Gore.

Yesterday, Bill Clinton weighed in with his own recommendations for what the U.S. government should do to promote renewables and combat climate change when he spoke at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas.

There’s a great summary of Clinton’s top 10 recommendations for cleaner energy here on Earth2Tech. Just a few of the measures he suggested were making improvements to the electrical grid, establishing a carbon cap and trade system, and renewing tax credits for producing renewable energy for the next six to 10 years.

Yesterday, Al Gore gave a speech challenging the United States to set a surprising new goal: To produce 100-percent of our electricity from renewable and carbon-free sources within 10 years.

Here’s the text of the speech, and you can check out video highlights below. It’s already gotten a lot of attention, and there’s a nice roundup of reactions to the speech from the blog Gristmill.

Tell us what you think. Is this goal far too ambitious, or is it achievable? Is setting this kind of challenge just the thing we need to start thinking seriously about renewable energy, or should we be aiming for more realistic goals?

More on this Topic:

An Inconvenient Truth

What You Can Do To Help Solve the Climate Crisis

Can you afford solar-electric panels, or a backyard wind turbine? For a growing number of people, the answer is yes.

But how you answer that question depends a lot on your state's net metering laws, because this one policy makes it much easier to pay for home solar or wind-electric systems.

That’s because net metering policies allow you to sell any extra electricity you produce back to the utility at the retail rate. It’s a simplified billing process where when you’re drawing electricity from the grid, your electric meter spins forward; when you’re producing electricity that you’re not using, your meter spins backward.

If you don’t have net metering, the utility can charge you more for the electricity you buy than you get for the electricity you produce. For a grid-connected wind or solar system, that makes a huge difference in how quickly the system pays for itself in reduced electric bills.

Currently, most U.S. states have net metering laws, although they don't all make it equally easy to connect to the grid. For more specifics on state policies, check out this list from the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE). Only eight states don’t have net metering laws: Alaska, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina.

Fortunately, more states are passing net metering laws all the time. So if you want net metering and don’t have it, let your state legislators know!

Photo by Michael Braun/Istockphoto

The state of Hawaii just passed a new law requiring all new homes to have solar water heaters installed starting in 2010. The bill, signed by Republican Governor Linda Lingle, will not allow building permits to be issued for homes that do not have solar water heaters.

Hawaii is the first state to require such a law and Hawaiian Electric Co. estimates that about 85, 000 households, or roughly 20 percent, already have solar water heaters installed. The law is a big move for a state that relies heavily on imported fossil fuels for 90 percent of its supply.

A traditional water heater is the most electricity-consuming appliance in a home and it accounts for about 40 percent of all home energy use, according to an article from the Associated Press. Solar powered water heaters reduce energy use by about 30-35 percent and with those savings the initial expense of the water heater can be paid off in three to four years, says MSNBC. Solar water heaters cost about $7000 on top of already sky-high Hawaiian mortgage costs, but supporters are confident that the benefits to the environment and foreign energy independence will be worth it.

Similar to a wind-powered town in Missouri, Hawaii’s new law takes the initiative in having its citizens partake in renewable energy practices, rather than just giving them the option. In January, Lingle announced the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, which seeks to have at least 70 percent of Hawaii’s energy come from renewable sources by 2030.

For those living outside the Aloha state, here’s an article on how to build your own solar water heater:

 Build Your own Passive Solar Water Heater

 A city with no carbon emissions? It sounds impossible, especially in the oil-rich Middle East, but a $22 billion, zero-emissions city began construction earlier this month near Abu Dhabi in the Persian Gulf.

The government-funded venture, called the Masdar Initiative, located in the United Arab Emirates off the coast of the Persian Gulf, will be used as a large-scale test for future renewable energy plans. According to an article published by Technology Review, the Masdar Initiative will house 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses, and all energy will come from renewable resources.

While the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the world’s largest producers of oil, a culprit of greenhouse gas emissions, the country’s leaders acknowledge that oil is becoming a limited resource for the world’s growing energy demands. According to an article on The Hindustan Times, the Masdar Initiative is the first step in a plan to make the UAE a country that relies less on oil. Masdar’s CEO, Sultan al Jaber, says he hopes the project will put the UAE as a frontrunner for leading the world in renewable energy practices.   

Building a city from scratch gives builders an advantage. Since most energy-saving techniques are usually add-ons to existing facilities, the Masdar Initiative is able to incorporate energy-saving features into the actual city structures. Sensors will be installed in all buildings and houses to monitor energy use, and residents will be constantly notified of their energy consumption to avoid waste and high costs. Thin solar panels will be installed on all rooftops and most streets and areas between buildings are covered to utilize the sun’s rays for energy. Public transportation will be taken to another level thanks to battery-powered driverless vehicles that pick-up and drop off their passengers when they type in their destination. Surrounding land will contain wind and photovoltaic farms, research fields and plantations, all to ensure self-sustainability.

If the Masdar Initiative is successful, its founders are hopeful that other countries and cities around the world will follow suit. This could be the first of many steps in the process of moving our planet toward less dependency on fossil fuels and more focus on renewable energy.

Check out Technology Review’s article to see photos of the driverless transports and solar panels that will be included in the Masdar Initiative.

Does your favorite Presidential candidate support the use of nuclear power? What about biofuels? Do you know what he or she is saying about renewable energy?

Grist always has great political coverage, and right now they've got a fantastic collection of information on the 2008 elections. I've been trying to follow their interviews with the candidates on environmental issues, but it's also nice to be able to see all of that information at a glance so you can compare candidates.

That's why I was excited to see that Grist has condensed all of the candidates' positions on energy issues into one simple, easy to read chart. Hurrah! If, on the other hand, you'd like more in-depth information, you can find much more of their election coverage here.

Ever wondered what kind of places use wind power? Check out the links below for a few examples. These 25 very different places all get some or all of their energy from wind power.

1. Hersheypark, Hershey, Penn.
2. Sacred Heart Monastery, Richardton, N.D.
3. Marina Nature Center, Berkeley, Calif.
4. Mackie's Ice Cream Shop, Scotland
5. Ski Resort, Vail, Colo.
6. Betty's Hope Sugar Mill and Morgan Lewis Sugar Mill, Caribbean
7. Maple Honda Dealership, Canada
8. Pioneer Millworks, Farmington, N.Y.
9. Pizza Fusion, Florida
10. Great Western Hospital, Swindon, Great Britain
11. Mohawk Fine Papers, Inc., Cohoes, N.Y.
12. New Belgium Brewery, Ft. Collins, Colo.
    
13. City of Varese, Italy
14. Audubon New York
15. Highball Distillery, Portland, Ore.
16. Only Natural Pet Store, Boulder, Colo.
17. Calgary Light Rail, Canada
18. Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, South Dakota
19. Southface Energy Institute, Atlanta, Ga.
20. City of Houston
21. Solrose Studios, Santa Barbara, Calif.
22. Green House Data, Cheyenne, Wyo.
23. Strosniders Hardware Stores, Maryland
24. Earthology Records, Hinckley, Minn.
25. John Masters Organics, New York

 Do you know of other wind-powered places? Share them in the comments section below.

Wind energy is the nation's fastest-growing form of renewable energy. Despite sometimes heated debates (even here at Mother Earth News) about the aesthetics of wind farms and the reliability of wind power, according to Business Week, in the past five years, output from wind farms has grown tenfold. Today, wind farms meet 1 percent of U.S. energy needs. Advocates of wind energy say wind could someday supply 10 percent of all U.S. electricity, as it does already in countries like Spain.

One of the largest complaints about wind (and solar) energy is a lack of constant supply. If the wind stops blowing, people depending on the breeze are in trouble — or are they? A group of Midwest utilities outside of Dallas Center, Iowa, is currently working on technology that could solve the problem of storing wind energy by tucking it away underground. The system works by funneling compressed air into a deep well. Thousands of feet below the surface of the Earth, the compressor pumps air into layers of sandstone. The porous sandstone acts essentially like a big balloon, and when wind supply is low, the flow is reversed and the chamber empties, bringing a whoosh of air back up the pipe and into a natural-gas-fired turbine.

This isn't a distant pipe dream, either; the project began in 2003 and is expected to go online in 2011. There are already two compressed-air storage facilities operating in the world (one on Germany and one in Alabama), but they are not driven by wind turbines.

Many people using renewable energy at home will tell you that if you're interested in installing a solar or wind system to generate electricity, a good first step is to start cutting your electricity use. For example, you might want to start by installing compact fluorescent light bulbs, getting in the habit of turning off lights when you leave the room, plugging all your appliances into easy to shut off power strips, or any of dozens of other proven ways to cut your electricity use.

Why Energy Efficiency is Exciting To be honest, cutting your energy use doesn't have the romantic appeal of immediately installing solar panels or a wind turbine to generate all your electricity, but I think there are two good reasons to get excited about the idea.

1. You can start doing it today. Renewable energy systems are an investment, and financial or other personal circumstances may prevent you from purchasing one right now. But there are lots of simple, painless ways you can start cutting your electricity use around your home right now.

2. It can save you a bundle of cash down the road. The size of a renewable energy system to meet all your electric needs varies a lot, depending on how much electricity you use. If you cut your use of electricity first, you can buy a smaller, less expensive system that still meets your needs.

No, Seriously... It Saves Thousands of Dollars I've written before about how useful the Find Solar Web site is for getting rough estimates of the cost of a solar-electric system. You don't even have to have exact numbers from your electric bill to get an idea of how much a PV system for your home might cost.

On the other hand, if you do have the exact numbers from your electric bill, you can enter them into the site's solar calculator to get a better estimate. You can also tweak those numbers to get a rough idea of how much it would cost to install bigger or smaller PV systems. (Because if you use more electricity, it will likely take a bigger and more expensive electric system to meet your needs.)

Crunching the Numbers It's easy to find out how much electricity you use each month. You can request these figures from your utility, or, if you pay your bills online, you can probably get them just by logging into your account. Then plug those numbers into the Find Solar calculator in the spot for average monthly electricity use.

I found the estimate for a PV system based on my average electricity use, and it was $16,000. Yikes. But that's the average. If I plugged in the number from the month I used the least electricity, the estimate goes down to $8,000. If I use the number from the month I used the most electricity last year, the estimate goes up to $34,000. Yep, that's a breathtaking difference in price.

(Don't panic when you look at the largest number. Remember that for a grid-tied system you don't have to generate all your own electricity. You could buy the smallest system, it just might not meet all your needs for electricity. You'd have to buy the rest from your electric utility at the usual price.)

How to Start Saving Electricity The cost difference between a small PV system and a larger one is even more thought provoking when you consider that many steps to use less electricity at home are surprisingly easy and inexpensive.

Ready to go home and look for more ways to save electricity? Check out a few ideas for places to start here!

When I first heard about the Find Solar Web site, I was skeptical. (Oh sure, it provides everything you need to know to buy solar panels in one place. What are the odds of that?)  But I was pleasantly surprised: This Web site is remarkably thorough and easy to use. In fact, if you're in the market for a solar energy system, you might as well skip the rest of what I have to say, and go straight to the Find Solar site.

On the other hand, if you're as skeptical as I was, keep reading and let me try to convince you that Find Solar is a wonderful source of information. Here are some of the Web site's best points:

  1. It's not a corporate site. When I first glanced at the Find Solar site, I was afraid it might all be the work of one company that sells solar panels, but that's not the case at all. According to their 'About us' page, Find Solar is a partnership between the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), U.S. Department of Energy, and on the software side of things Energy Matters LLC.

2. It covers all forms of solar power. Not only is there information on photovoltaic systems, there's also info on solar space heating and water heating. (There are also listings for companies that sell wind turbines, but the site is definitely geared toward people interested in solar.)

3. It has all the local information you need. Just fill in your state and county and you can get all the relevant details about incentives available in your area, and info on local retailers and installers. The information is detailed but easy to follow.

For example, I was in the section that helps you find local solar professionals. I did a quick search and found that there's one solar retailer in my town, and there are four others within a 100 mile radius. For each company, the site lists not only contact information, but also customer reviews, associations the business is a member of, and the number and types of solar systems they've installed. It's all very handy.

4. Getting an estimate is remarkably painless. I hate filling out online forms, but this one's easy. To get an estimate on a PV system, all you have to know is what county you live in, what utility company you use and about how much you pay each month for electricity. Then you click a button and it gives you an estimate that takes into account any local incentives.

5. There's good, general background information. If you're in the market for a renewable energy system, chances are you have a few questions about how it works. I was happy to see that Find Solar answers many of those questions with an extensive list of FAQ, which you can search by keyword.

Yes, it's that good! Whether you're actively looking for a solar energy system, or just exploring your options, I definitely recommend this site as a starting place.