Miami Dade College Earth Ethics Institute is offering their Designing & Installing Photovoltaic Systems classes once again.
Participants can earn 7 CEUs for each of the 7-hour courses.
More info or to register:
Intro to Designing PV, Sept 25, 2009
Intro to Installation of PV, Sept 26, 2009
It also looks like the College is preparing to offer a new set of more advanced courses in the near future too. I'll post info about any course offerings when the information becomes available.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Electricity for newbies course offering at MDC
The Earth Ethics Institute of Miami Dade College is offering a course for novice electricians on September 19th (sorry for the late notice).
This is a 7-hour course that 'introduces basic electrical concepts for those who wish to obtain a basic understanding of electricity before taking more advanced courses in designing and installing photovoltaic systems." Sounds like a good idea for homeowners who want to be better consumers too.
For more info or to register for the course, visit www.earthethicsinstitute.org
This is a 7-hour course that 'introduces basic electrical concepts for those who wish to obtain a basic understanding of electricity before taking more advanced courses in designing and installing photovoltaic systems." Sounds like a good idea for homeowners who want to be better consumers too.
For more info or to register for the course, visit www.earthethicsinstitute.org
Friday, August 28, 2009
Cash for Clunkers "borrows" from Energy Dept Innovative Loan Program
From Solar Nation:
"The Obama Administration has diverted one-third of the $6 billion allocated to the DOE Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program to the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program, which has proved so popular that it was in danger of running out of money. The rationale of the Administration and Congress is that DOE will not be able to spend that part of its funds before the end of the year, so will not miss it in the short term. And White House staffers have assured concerned clean energy supporters that the Loan Guarantee Program fund will be replenished by that time."
As popular as the cash for clunkers program has been, pilfering the funds from the solar R&D fund seem a wee bit short-sighted don't you think? Why not raid funds set aside for the oil and gas industry or nuclear programs instead?
The way to fund this program so that it doesn't keep collapsing under the weight of its own success is to create a "fee-bate." Gas guzzlers - SUVs and trucks included - would pay a premium for the privilege of crapping up the planet and making us choke on excessive smog. That premium would subsidize purchases of highly efficient cars (and even SUVs and trucks if they are as fuel sipping as the top tier cars).
Not my idea by any stretch. The concept has been advocated by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute for decades.
"The Obama Administration has diverted one-third of the $6 billion allocated to the DOE Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program to the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program, which has proved so popular that it was in danger of running out of money. The rationale of the Administration and Congress is that DOE will not be able to spend that part of its funds before the end of the year, so will not miss it in the short term. And White House staffers have assured concerned clean energy supporters that the Loan Guarantee Program fund will be replenished by that time."
As popular as the cash for clunkers program has been, pilfering the funds from the solar R&D fund seem a wee bit short-sighted don't you think? Why not raid funds set aside for the oil and gas industry or nuclear programs instead?
The way to fund this program so that it doesn't keep collapsing under the weight of its own success is to create a "fee-bate." Gas guzzlers - SUVs and trucks included - would pay a premium for the privilege of crapping up the planet and making us choke on excessive smog. That premium would subsidize purchases of highly efficient cars (and even SUVs and trucks if they are as fuel sipping as the top tier cars).
Not my idea by any stretch. The concept has been advocated by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute for decades.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Miami-Dade to fast-track solar installation permits
As a result of the Building Code meetings with industry representatives, Miami-Dade County got the Board of Rules and Appeals to agree to a number of changes that will benefit solar.
For one, solar equipment will be considered "green" for the purposes of qualifying for the free "fast-track" of building permits in the unincorporated county. I hear the County is in talks with interested cities to get them to adopt similar fast tracking for green buildings and solar.
Another biggie is that the County will now consider solar panels as being "non-permanent" equipment so they can be installed as designed instead of being treated like air conditioning equipment and other "permanent" rooftop equipment.
Now if we could get a couple more products through code approval. The County may have a plan for that too. We'll have to wait and see if the Department of Energy approves the recent energy efficiency block grant program list, but there's a strong chance that the County may get the green-light on a project to reduce "market barriers" and help companies with the cost of getting product approval.
For one, solar equipment will be considered "green" for the purposes of qualifying for the free "fast-track" of building permits in the unincorporated county. I hear the County is in talks with interested cities to get them to adopt similar fast tracking for green buildings and solar.
Another biggie is that the County will now consider solar panels as being "non-permanent" equipment so they can be installed as designed instead of being treated like air conditioning equipment and other "permanent" rooftop equipment.
Now if we could get a couple more products through code approval. The County may have a plan for that too. We'll have to wait and see if the Department of Energy approves the recent energy efficiency block grant program list, but there's a strong chance that the County may get the green-light on a project to reduce "market barriers" and help companies with the cost of getting product approval.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Florida Renews Solar Rebate and adds loan program for Thermal (updated)
I was recently at the Green Cities conference in Orlando where some numbers were presented by a representative with the NRDC that stated that the Solar Rebate program was replenished with $5 million from the Florida portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka the stimulus bill) and will be using another $9 million for some sort of revolving loan fund for solar thermal to provide micro-loans up to $4500 for up to 5 years at a rate of 2-4% interest.
- update: There seems to be another pot of money to be used to replenish the rebate, doubling the total amount available, which would provide the funds to make good on the backlog and provide new funding for this fiscal year. This post has been edited to reflect that change.
There's another $20 million for solar schools / shelters which was a pretty successful program for getting demonstration sized solar onto schools for a couple years under Governor Bush. This would be a significant bump in funding and if FSEC is involved, I know they were trying to up the size of the installations to 10 kw so they could provide some off-grid emergency shelter functionality too.
You can find the details on the Florida Energy and Environment Commission website page on ARRA and an explanation on all the ways the State wants to spend $126 million on energy programs on this adobe document from the same web page.
The good news is all those nail-biting solar customers who went out on a limb and installed approved solar systems last year and applied for a rebate should get a check, but we're now relying on stimulus money to keep the program alive for just another year.
We need a public benefit fund in this State. Connecticut spends more on solar PV than Florida for goodness sake! And we need to provide a separate funding block for efficiency and thermal or PV will continue to eat up all the funds. As much as I love PV, thermal will have a much faster penetration into the market because of faster payback, less complicated installation and maintenance, and way less roof needed to go solar. Maybe the loan program concept will work since it will take the sting out of the initial up-front cost, but there's nothing like reducing your total out-of-pocket to pump up interest.
Solar thermal is the one part of the Florida alternative energy industry that struggled and survived through the down decades, and they need a fair shake when it comes to the incentives too. There's my shout-out for our scrappy solar thermal companies out there.
On that front, news to report about the Miami-Dade code recommendations. Post to follow soon when I get details. Good news for thermal and PV installations in Southeast Florida.
- update: There seems to be another pot of money to be used to replenish the rebate, doubling the total amount available, which would provide the funds to make good on the backlog and provide new funding for this fiscal year. This post has been edited to reflect that change.
There's another $20 million for solar schools / shelters which was a pretty successful program for getting demonstration sized solar onto schools for a couple years under Governor Bush. This would be a significant bump in funding and if FSEC is involved, I know they were trying to up the size of the installations to 10 kw so they could provide some off-grid emergency shelter functionality too.
You can find the details on the Florida Energy and Environment Commission website page on ARRA and an explanation on all the ways the State wants to spend $126 million on energy programs on this adobe document from the same web page.
The good news is all those nail-biting solar customers who went out on a limb and installed approved solar systems last year and applied for a rebate should get a check, but we're now relying on stimulus money to keep the program alive for just another year.
We need a public benefit fund in this State. Connecticut spends more on solar PV than Florida for goodness sake! And we need to provide a separate funding block for efficiency and thermal or PV will continue to eat up all the funds. As much as I love PV, thermal will have a much faster penetration into the market because of faster payback, less complicated installation and maintenance, and way less roof needed to go solar. Maybe the loan program concept will work since it will take the sting out of the initial up-front cost, but there's nothing like reducing your total out-of-pocket to pump up interest.
Solar thermal is the one part of the Florida alternative energy industry that struggled and survived through the down decades, and they need a fair shake when it comes to the incentives too. There's my shout-out for our scrappy solar thermal companies out there.
On that front, news to report about the Miami-Dade code recommendations. Post to follow soon when I get details. Good news for thermal and PV installations in Southeast Florida.
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