Clean energy heroes
STORIES ABOUT THE HEROES OF ENVIRONMENTALISM PHASE 3.0 & THEIR PROVEN SOLUTIONS
Congratulations to the heroic people whose projects are found on this page. They are courageous and innovative, and building momentum for the clean tech era.
Energy-positive homes in Massachusetts
Carter Scott designs superinsulated net-zero and positive energy detached houses in Massachusetts with Mitsubishi mini-splits, Navien instant water heaters and solar panels. He says solar PV now costs just 80 cents per watt. A few homes came with enough panels to power the house and an electric car for 30,000 miles. He’s working on more than 100 net-zero or better homes that cost just $1.40 per square foot to build.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo Transformations Inc., modified bfn. #cleantech, #climatechange, #net-zero. Net-zero, energy positive, clean tech, climate change, green, Carter Scott.
Walmart solar, geothermal & more
Walmart is a leader. It reduces emissions and saves money, although it doesn’t say how much. It hosts about 105 megawatts of solar panels on the roofs of more than 300 stores and distribution centers; and it is now working quickly to double this amount. It is completing a huge LED lighting conversion and also installing geothermal under parking lots, electric vehicle charging stations, and state-of-the-art clean energy refrigeration systems.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo BF Nagy. #cleantech, #climatechange, #Walmart. Walmart, clean tech, climate change, green, solar, geothermal, LED
Quebec schools save $18M switching from fossil fuels to clean heating
Olivier Matte of Ecosystem and Michel Morin of Samares School Board in Quebec switched 52 schools from oil & gas heating to geothermal, solar, and a new kind of thermal storage; eliminating most of the board’s carbon footprint, and saving $18 million in the process!
bfnagy.com | Environmentalism 3.0 Solutions | Photo BF Nagy #cleantech, #climatechange, #school. Tags: Quebec school, clean tech, climate change, green, geothermal, solar.
New York City has 389 fully electric vehicles
Keith Kerman, Chief Fleet Officer in New York City says the city’s fleet is moving quickly toward 400 all-electric fleet vehicles and 500 charging stations, including 33 solar carports “We’re saving more than 80% on fuel compared to gas vehicles and 50% on maintenance.” New York has also reduced fatalities and liability costs with modern auto-braking systems; and opeation costs thanks to the vehicles’ modern telematics systems.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo NYC DCAS. #greenNYC, #electriccar, #climatechange, Sustainability, New York City, NYC, electric car, solar, clean tech, climate change, electric, fleet, solar carport, electric fleet.
Quebec Hydro Invents Ceramic Energy Storage System
To support the efforts of large customers, Quebec Hydro developed a highly efficient ceramic thermal energy storage system that uses inexpensive nighttime power to heat water that is used for radiant heating in the daytime. Numerous innovative energy storage solutions are emerging. This was one of the first to be viable and working.
bfnagy.com | Environmentalism 3.0 Solutions | Photo BF Nagy #cleantech, #climatechange, #innovation. Tags: Quebec school, clean tech, climate change, green, thermal storage
Hyatt Sacramento Hotel installs 26 electric vehicle chargers
The Hyatt Regency Sacramento has installed 26 electric vehicle charging stations for use by guests of the 505-room hotel, located in downtown Sacramento, the California State Capitol and the convention center. The chargers are controlled by an intelligent billing and data system that allows the hotel to choose to provide charging for free, for a nominal fee or at market rates, depending on whether the user is a guest, an employee and so on. In addition to managing the power for charging, the system optimizes power use across other appliances at the hotel.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo ClipperCreek. #greencalifornia, #electriccar, #climatechange. Sustainability, Sacramento Hyatt, Sacramento, electric car charging, clean tech, climate change, electric, parking lots.
Top banks take clean tech mainstream
Curt Radkin at Wells Fargo says.“Sustainability is good business.” The bank has provided $70 billion+ in financing for green projects, is involved in 8% of all wind and solar power in the U.S., has created a $30 million program with NREL to develop green building tech, and has completed 600 LED, water, solar and other renovation projects at bank branches. They reduced emissions and saved about 40% on energy, 65% on water, and 50% on waste. Other top banks now have similar stories.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo Wells Fargo. #greenbanks, #greenfianance, #climatechange. Sustainability, Wells Fargo, wind & solar, branch renovations, climate change, energy savings.
New green project certification accelerates investment
Matt Golden says the Investors Confidence Project (ICP) helps make it easy for investors to do due diligence with clean tech projects, using the IREE designation to certify them as investor-ready. The well-structured new program is popular with investment firms and banks, and is contributing to unprecedented clean tech investment momentum. It includes preliminary energy audits, peer review by third-party engineering firms, and a requirement that all project budgets include system commissioning. The electricity sector became the biggest recipient of energy investment in 2016, while oil and gas fell by more than 25%. The value of green building investments in the USA is approximately $80-$100 billion each year, and green certified new non-residential buildings are up to more than 40% of all US projects now, compared with 2% in 2005.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo ICP. #greenprojects, #greenfianance, #climatechange. Sustainability, Investors Confidence Project, clean tech investment, climate change, energy savings.
PACE can solve up front challenges in green financing
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs allow governments to finance the up front costs of a green investment, then recover the loan using property tax payments over time. Halifax is doing this for hundreds of homeowner solar and geo installations. Pier 1 in San Francisco was renovated using this instrument. It solves the up front capital problem, using future utility savings to create government revenue, rather than taxpayer burden. Brenna Walraven, of Corporate Sustainability Strategies in Anaheim says “PACE has now been enabled in 30 regions, compared with just two jurisdictions five years ago.”
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo Halifax.ca. #solar, #greenfianance, #climatechange. Sustainability, green retrofit financing, clean tech financing, Halifax, PACE, solar, geothermal, climate change, energy savings.
Energy Service Agreements (ESAs) for green retrofit financing
ESAs allow big green renovations to happen without up front capital. The Kuakini Medical Centre, a 212 bed hospital in Honolulu, did a $5.8 million clean tech reno this way. The equipment is technically owned by an investment company that hired an engineering firm to create the design. Energy savings are guaranteed, and the engineers maintain the equipment for 20 years until the buyout. The hospital repays via monthly payments, but has zero up front cost, saves more on power than the payments, and has zero performance or maintenance risk. The project saves about $1.1 million on electricity annually.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo Wynter Galway-Severtson. #greenretrofits, #greenfianance, #climatechange. Sustainability, green retrofit financing, clean tech financing, Kuakini Medical Centre, climate change, energy savings.
Dramatic advances in electricity storage
The first Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada, at full ramp up, was projected to, on its own, double the world’s total production of lithium ion batteries. In 2017 production began in Nevada and also at a second Gigafactory in New York state. Tesla and Panasonic are considering similar facilities in Europe and Asia. Battery costs have dropped by three-quarters since 2010. Within another five years, lithium ion battery technology might be replaced. It’s too soon to say which of numerous technologies under development will take its place for electric vehicles. Electricity storage innovations for renewables-based power utilities and buildings are also advancing rapidly.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo Elektrec. #battery, #green, #climatechange. Sustainability, battery, batteries, lithium-ion, Tesla, gigafactory, electric cars, electricity storage.
Wind power makes clean tech non-partisan
With more than one-quarter of wind turbines, Texas is the leading US state for wind power; and is not really much of a Democrat voting stronghold (followed by Ohio). There are about 50,000 wind turbines in 40 states in the USA today, each costing $2-3 million, representing a total investment of about $128 billion and 88,000 jobs. Of total new electricity capacity added in 2015 in the USA, 41% was wind. ERCOT, the primary grid operator in Texas, has used wind to meet as much as 44.7 percent of its electricity demand. On the main Colorado grid, wind has provided 66.4 percent of electricity demand. With storage and smarter grids, renewables are now no more ‘intermittant’ than any form of electricity generation.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo BF Nagy. #windpower, #renewables, #climatechange. Sustainability, wind power, batteries, smart grid, electricity storage, electricity, turbines, wind power investment, Texas, Ohio.
California leads solar revolution
Led by California, solar PV is exploding in the USA, growing by 20% – 40% per year. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, there are more than 2,754 solar companies in California, employing 75,598 people. Their skills development, innovations and industry are supported by numerous regulations, reflecting the state’s intention to maintain world leadership. About one dozen other states also have well developed industries and regulations. Around the globe clean energy provides more than 8.1 million good local jobs.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo BF Nagy. #solarpower, #solar, #climatechange. Sustainability, solar power, PV, photovoltaic, batteries, smart grid, electricity storage, electricity, rooftop solar, solar jobs, California.
Electric car incentives from governments
In 12 states and three Canadian provinces very generous incentives now make the purchase price of an electric car more or less the same as buying a new gas powered car. This means you can help the environment and save a couple thousand dollars each year on fuel, without paying an up front premium. In Ontario get up to $14,000 off the car purchase, up to $1000 for a fast Level 2 charger at home, and up to $7500 for employee chargers at your place of business. Elsewhere the incentives are lower but still generous. The car purchase incentive in Quebec is up to $8000, and in BC up to $6000. In the USA a federal tax credit up to $7500 on the car purchase, plus a few thousand or hundreds more from state governments in a dozens states. For more information click above on Incentives.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo General Motors/Clipper Creek/BF Nagy. #cleantech, #electriccar, #climatechange. Sustainability, Chevy Bolt, climate change, energy savings, clean tech, electric car, Clipper Creek, chargecar.ca, battery on board.
Millions saved on fleet vehicles for sals team
Hanko Keissner at Packsize Packaging has a fleet of 50 elctric company vehicles, mostly used by salespeople. He has 53 charging stations in front of his packaging plant in Salt Lake City, and a 200,000-watt solar PV system on the roof. He says the benefits are numerous, starting with fuel savings. If a fleet vehicle travels 200,000+ miles, fuel cost savings are between $50,000 and $60,000 for a total of $2 million – $3 million. Maintenance savings are about 50%, or several thousand dollars more per vehicle. Non-sales employees have begun buying electric cars and charging them while at work in the plant and office. They save about $1000 per year by charging for free at work, but Hanko estimates that because of the solar panels it only costs the company about $100. These initiatives align with the brand. Packsize develops environment-friendly packaging. They also increase employee pride, and make retention and recruitment easier.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo Packsize. #cleantech, #electriccar, #climatechange. Sustainability; climate change, energy savings, clean tech, electric car, chargecar.ca, battery on board, Packsize, climate change, green; solar, electric cars, charging stations, Hanko.
Quebec restaurants charge up customers
One of the trailblazers for electric vehicles was the St. Hubert restaurant chain in Quebec. Many years ago electric vehicle deliveries were first tested in the City of Boucherville, using a famous yellow electric car, then the company installed electric chargers in 11 of its parking lots for use by customers and employees. The program was a co-sponsorhip with Hydro Quebec, which supplies clean, renewable energy to the terminals. The company saves money on fuel and creates goodwill with customers.
bfnagy.com/clean-energy-heroes | Photo St Hubert. #cleantechv, #electriccar, #climatechange. Sustainability; St Hubert, restaurant, quebec, climate change, energy savings, clean tech, electric car, customer electric car charging, chargecar.ca, battery on board.