SOLAR TODAY Blog

San Diego, May 8 – SOLAR 2008 finished today with a rousing call to build a grassroots renewable energy movement.

Bracken Hendricks, co-author of Apollo’s Fire and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, summarized the sense of the conference: that economically viable technologies exist right now to replace most fossil fuels, dramatically reduce greenhouse gas pollution and by doing so create valuable jobs in a variety of new industries.

“What we face now is a problem of political will,” Hendricks told the closing luncheon. “We need a movement to solve a global challenge.”

Hendricks quoted Martin Luther King, who wrote in reference to the nuclear arms race a generation ago, “We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

The annual conference of the American Solar Energy Society drew about 5000 attendees. A preliminary count indicated a 50% rise in the number of people attending the full six days of workshops, seminars, technical presentations, panels and trainings.

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY

San Diego, May 7 – If we’re going to halt global warming, we need to stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions within seven years, and then cut emissions by 20% within another decade.

Fortunately, according to speakers at today’s SOLAR 2008 plenary session on community solutions, the tools and technologies to achieve those goals – while repairing the U.S. economy – are available now.

Ed Mazria, AIA, founder of Architecture 2030, pointed out that during the 11 years from 1973 to 1983 the U.S. reduced its greenhouse gas emissions thanks largely to improved building efficiency and federally-mandated mileage standards. “We did that with the knowledge and technology we had in the ‘70s and early ‘80s,” he said. “Imagine what we could do now.”

Mazria said that there is a silver bullet to save the climate: Simply eliminate coal as an energy source. Petroleum and natural gas are now in such short supply that they cannot, economically, contribute much more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. But there’s enough coal left to drive greenhouse gas pollution for several centuries, and no economically viable way to clean it.

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Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY

The SOLAR 2008 Conference kicked off in San Diego on Saturday, with first-day registration up about 50% over Solar 2007. This is nice to know, considering that photovoltaic installations rose about 40% in 2007 over 2006 — the attendance rise suggests that consumer interest will continue to push the growth of solar power at the same pace despite the slowdown of the economy at large.

Jason Keyes of the ASES Board of Directors made a great point: If renewable energy, continues to grow at 40% per year, it can displace all other forms of electric power generation in just 16 years, even with a 2% annual growth in demand.

Keep up the good work!