News about Solar, Wind and alternative green power technologies

Energy generation in California is moving from Fossil Fuel burning facilities toward the renewable energy technology of wind turbines and solar photovoltaics. The plan moving forward to make this green energy shift happen appears to be centered on erecting huge solar developments out in the desert and snaking wind farms on hills and ridges. The construction of these power installations can often take years to bring into production due to regulatory issues, environmental studies and power transmission expenditures.

The good news is there are more direct methods to drive renewable energy projects through to fruition. Although solar panels atop single family homes are not sufficient to generate the kind of renewable energy that is required [they do help however], there are some perfect areas located within cities and developed areas that hold true possibilities for renewable energy production. This would be roofs of big building complexes, the property along freeways and canals, pipeline routes and areas of infrastructure that comprise the California aqueduct. These spots have an available labor force nearby; they are in the vicinity of electricity customers rather than in isolated regions requiring more power transmission infrastructure.
 
Increasing the localized power resources from renewables will mean jobs and it will augment the economies in the region. A 2004 University of California, Berkeley investigation found that renewables produce a twofold rise in employment as the comparable fossil fuel burning power generation and the electricity is reasonably priced to boot. The employment opportunities would be in the same areas as where the labor force resides, much like the electricity that is produced.

However, dispersing the renewable energy generation also creates some important hurdles to negotiate. Recently a group of law school academics, organization leaders and business executives recognized and classified those roadblocks. Funding was a significant issue, caused from the high front end expenditures companies’ face when setting up renewable operations and they have difficulties.

Often public offices do not operate with the authority of consent required to enable renewable power to operate as a mainline issue and this has created an organizational quagmire.

To be able to Bypass these obstacles, The State of California should:

• Grow the state’s net metering operation that aids energy generation company’s retail incentives for the power that they create which will offset their electricity rates.

• Grow and advance the feed in tariff option, which has proven itself in Germany, also in Spain as it gives a free rein toward fast solar and wind production. The process expects utilities companies to offer cash advances to renewable power generating companies for selling their generated excess power back to the grid. California requires a rate that is high enough to kindle some excitement toward the idea.

• See that power generation from renewable sources becomes a vital component of the operation and accomplishments expected from the state and local levels of authority. By not having a legal mandate, these organization’s executive branches might delay investment of their resource assets into renewable technologies.

• Add urgency to the work expended to bring clean power solutions to fruition at local levels. The possibilities for California to outperform everyone else with its renewable energy policies are immense. The state has an abundance of wind and sunlight; there are many other natural resources that can be tapped into as well. California could become a global pacesetter in renewable energy creation and employ tens of thousands of its citizens while doing so.

Nevertheless, California’s enduring work ethic evident in constructing their extensive and out-of-the-way renewable power operations, should not divert attention from the more immediate renewable energy proposals that exist directly under the nose of the state populace.