Solar technology is an important component in the overall energy mix in the United States.

The holiday season is a time of giving, and this year food banks on both the east and the west coast have been given the gift of renewable energy through the donation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.
In Washington D.C., BP America has announced a $1 million donation of the company’s solar PV panels and other equipment to the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB). Once installed, the system will be capable of generating more than 120 kW of electricity to the food bank, Renewableenergyaccess.com reported.
The CAFB will save an estimated $71,000 per year on its energy bill, or about 20 percent of what it pays annually. As a result of the savings, the group will be able to provide those in need with more services and will be able to serve 200,000 extra meals each year.
“Solar technology is an important component in the overall energy mix in the United States, and the Capital Area Food Bank is an outstanding example of where today’s solar technology can be deployed,“ said Bob Malone, chairman and president of BP America.
Serving the Washington D.C. community since 1980, the CAFB’s warehouse distributes 20 million pounds of food annually to 700 member agencies and operates several community-building initiatives in the Washington D.C. area.
“The countless dollars that the food bank will save on energy expenditures will be used to feed the more than 380,000 people we serve through our network of agencies. Through their donation, BP is not only creating a cleaner environment, but their support will actually translate into food for thousands of folks here in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. area,“ said Lynn Brantley, President and CEO of the CAFB.
In San Francisco, PG&E has donated $215,000 to the San Francisco Food Bank to install solar PV panels. (PG&E Corporation is an energy-based holding company headquartered in San Francisco). The system is expected to produce more than 115,000 KWh of energy annually and is expected to save the San Francisco Food Bank $15,000 per year on energy expenses and more than $450,000 over the lifetime of the system.
“By creating successful partnerships like this, our goal is to stimulate interest and confidence in the use of solar photovoltaic systems for a wide variety of applications,“ said Hyun Park, senior vice president and general counsel for PG&E.
Money for the project also came from San Francisco’s Environment Department which donated $75,000 toward the solar panel installation. Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc. was selected to provide the 320 PV panels for the San Francisco Food Bank’s 55,000 sq.-ft. warehouse.
“We are delighted to be selected as the PV manufacturer for the Food Bank project,“ said Gina Heng, Director of Sales and Marketing for Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA’s Photovoltaic Division.
“With energy costs skyrocketing, non-profit organizations are really feeling the pinch.“
The San Francisco Food Bank distributes 28 million pounds of food per year to the San Francisco community through its warehouse. The group works with close to 500 agencies including food pantries, soup kitchens, child care centers, homeless shelters, senior centers and other human service agencies with meal programs.
“We’re extremely grateful to PG&E and the City for their generous contribution to the greening of the Food Bank,“ said Paul Ash, Executive Director of the San Francisco Food Bank. “This new solar system will help us conserve valuable resources, and with the savings in energy costs we will be able to supply tens of thousands of additional pounds of food to hungry San Franciscans.“

There is hope for biofuels in Pennsylvania--says one local producer who is anxiously following the progress of state legislation.
Before leaving for the holidays, the state Senate passed a bill that would provide a 75-cent tax credit to companies for every gallon of biofuel they produce for the next three years, Cumberlink.com reported.
It’s not exactly what industry officials wanted--biofuel companies were asking for a $1 tax credit for every gallon produced--but it’s enough to “keep the doors“ open if it passes the state House and is signed by the governor, says Ben Wooten, president of Keystone Biofuels and founding member of Pennsylvania Biodiesel Producers Group.
Biofuels, what some consider a pillar of future energy production, might not have a future in Pennsylvania without help from the state government, says Wooten and others.
Biofuel producers from other states, flush with state government support, are driving Pennsylvania biofuel producers out of business, Wooten explains.
“They can simply offer lower prices because of extra tax credits,“ he notes.
Pennsylvania companies consume eight to 10 million gallons of biofuel a day, but Pennsylvania biofuel producers supply only 600,000 gallons of it, he adds.
“Other states are flooding our state because they see an investment,“ Wooten says.
Biofuels are derived from plants, such as soybeans. They are often added to normal petroleum fuel to form a blend that releases fewer emissions while not harming the vehicle.
Supporters tout their ability to not just reduce air pollution but also support farmers who would have another place to sell their product.
“It will build a whole new industry,“ Wooten says, adding it would help support as many as five economies in addition to making the country more independent of foreign oil.
The industry also received an assist from the federal government, which extended biofuel tax credits and raised emission standards on all American vehicles.
“The tax credits aren’t a form of corporate welfare meant to prop up an industry that simply doesn’t have a market,“ Wooten insists. The market is there, he says, but in-state biofuel producers just need to be on a level playing field with those from states like Iowa and Indiana.
But the clock is ticking on the bill to be signed into law, Wooten warns.
“If Pennsylvania backs out of the biofuels industry now, there won’t be an opportunity to come back,“ he says.
In the three years since the federal government created tax credits for biofuels, production has ballooned from five million gallons to about 350 million, according to Wooten.
The industry is in a critical phase now, he says.
“I think in the next three years, whoever is left standing will be the biofuel producing states,“ Wooten says.
Losing the biofuel industry in the state, he says, would be disastrous.
“We’ll lose an industry that makes so much sense for Pennsylvania,“ he says.

Koeberg Nuclear Power Station near Cape Town, South Africa

Faced with power cuts stretching into the next decade, South Africa is slowly switching its focus to alternative energy sources in a country blessed with bountiful sunshine and a lengthy coastline.
According to AFP, while state power utility Eskom (Electricity Supply Commission) warns solar and wind power can only ever meet a fraction of the nation’s needs, environmentalists want a more aggressive pursuit of alternative energy rather than a growing use of nuclear power.
“From an environmental perspective the use of fossil fuels and uranium is all bad news,“ says Richard Worthington, a spokesman for the environmental pressure group Earthlife Africa.
“The idea that we are still using electricity to heat water when we have heat beating down on our houses ... it’s just insane.“
Eskom recently acknowledged that electricity shortages will continue to blight Africa’s largest economy for the next seven years and is now busy working out how to make up the shortfall.
In an interview with AFP, Eskom’s enterprises executive Brian Dames said the company would embrace any renewable energy source but he stressed it would have to be backed up by nuclear or coal, which he sees as the main sources for the future.
“Renewables are expensive, we all know that. We are a moderate wind country so we will exploit the wind because it’s the one proven technology we have and certainly we would look at solar as well,“ he said.
While the company was planning to set up a wind farm on the Atlantic West Coast, Dames said it would generate only 100 megawatts, and be available at the most, 26 percent of the time.
“Now you tell me, what do we do, in a developing country like us where we need to attract energy intensive business, if I say to you I will provide you electricity whenever the wind blows. We in South Africa need energy that is continuously available throughout the year.“
Dames says the use of solar energy in the place of electric water heaters was high up the company’s agenda, with a solar generating pilot project planned in the remote Northern Cape.
“The big driver for us is the fact that we need to hedge our CO2. You cannot assume that we are going to be in a future where CO2 penalties will not come into play, so we now have to start responding to that.“
Maya Aberman, Earthlife Africa’s campaign coordinator, said a new study it commissioned on South Africa’s renewable energy potential showed that the possibilities were huge.
The study found “it would be possible to supply between 13 to 20 percent of electrical demand by 2020 and about 70 percent by 2050“, said Aberman.
South Africa currently bases 88 percent of its energy generation on coal, a figure which Eskom hopes to reduce to 70 percent in the next 20 years.
With nuclear energy seen by some as a green alternative to pollution-emitting coal, South Africa has been committed to expanding this area of energy despite massive opposition from environmentalists.
Next year Eskom will submit proposals to build what would be the country’s second nuclear plant to its board with environmental assessments, public participation and nuclear licensing programs currently underway.
South Africa’s only existing nuclear power station is at Koeberg, near Cape Town, producing about six percent of the country’s electricity.
Aberman said the pursuit of nuclear energy was a waste of time and the money would be better spent on renewable energy.
“We are approaching the uranium peak. We are going to spend billions to build all the power stations that won’t be fully operational within ten years. But in fifty years there will be no uranium left anyhow.“
However, Dames counters that coal and oil are similarly finite, and a fraction of uranium was required to produce a kilowatt of energy as compared to coal.
“Certainly the uranium reserves in South Africa are more than adequate to sustain a significant amount of nuclear capacity in the country,“ he said.