The Energy Saving Trees www.arborday.org/FloridaTrees Site is up!

 

    and the  

 

Presents

 

 

 

Tree Give-Away Program Starts Today

Properly planted trees save energy, improve electric reliability

 

Grow energy savings and reliability through strategic tree planting. Learn how and get a free tree with the Florida Forest Service’s Energy-Saving Trees program. We’re giving away 10,000 trees to Florida residents in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation. The program, now in its fourth year, officially kicks off on January 15^th, Florida’s Arbor Day.

The goal of the program is to educate homeowners on proper tree planting practices. By planting the right species in the right location, a tree won’t grow into power lines which can disrupt electric service. Strategic planting also has the benefit of reducing energy costs by as much as 30 percent, and providing shade during the summer.

Beginning today, homeowners can find the best planting locations on their property by using an online tool at www.arborday.org/floridatrees to reserve a tree. Enter your address to pull up an aerial view of your home and property. Select one of tree varieties available. Then, move the tree around the property to determine how the placement of that tree would impact your energy efficiency. The program calculates anticipated savings as the tree matures. It also reminds homeowners of the importance of planting the tree the proper distance from overhead power lines to avoid interference.

 

These trees are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The program will continue state-wide until all 10,000 trees are reserved.

 

Remember, this tool is not a replacement for the Digger’s Hotline. Homeowners still must contact the hotline to locate underground utilities located before planting. They can do so by visiting Sunshine811 or by dialing 811.

 

State of Florida homeowners will be able to reserve one tree per address until supplies run out. After an order is placed, a tree measuring between two-feet and four-feet tall will be shipped right to their door at no charge.

 

The “Energy-Saving Trees” online tool was created by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Davey Institute, a division of Davey Tree Expert Co. It uses peer-reviewed scientific research from the USDA Forest Service’s i-Tree software to calculate estimated benefits from energy savings to environmental impacts.

 

About the Arbor Day Foundation:

The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation and education organization of one million members, with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs can be found at arborday.org, or by visiting us on Facebook, Twitter or our blog.

 

Florida Forest Service

 

 

 

 

Florida Supreme Court gives green light to solar initiative

 

 

Two solar proposals are competing for voters' approval in Florida.

 

By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida

 

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Supreme Court on October 22, 2015 approved a proposed ballot initiative that seeks to expand the use of solar energy, moving the state one step closer to a fierce political battle next year.

 

Making clear they were not offering an opinion on the merits of the proposal, justices ruled 6-1 that the initiative, backed by a group called Floridians for Solar Choice, met legal standards to go before voters. The group now will have to submit 683,149 valid petition signatures by Feb. 1 to qualify for the November 2016 ballot — about 500,000 more than it had submitted as of Thursday morning.

 

"We are thrilled with the high court's ruling so that voters may have the opportunity to vote on removing a barrier that currently blocks Florida's families and businesses from greater energy choices through the power of the free market," Tory Perfetti, chairman of Floridians for Solar Choice, said in a prepared statement immediately after the Supreme Court decision. "People power is what will get us on the ballot, and we continue to gather thousands of signatures each week from Floridians eager for solar choice."

 

The proposed constitutional amendment, in part, would allow businesses to generate and sell up to two megawatts of solar power to customers on the same or neighboring properties. In doing so, it would largely shield the solar producers from state and local regulations.

 

The initiative has drawn opposition from a coalition including major electric utilities and has spawned a competing solar ballot proposal. That proposal, spearheaded by the group Consumers for Smart Solar, is awaiting a review by the Supreme Court.

 

Dick Batchelor, co-chairman of Consumers for Smart Solar, said it was "unfortunate" that justices approved the Floridians for Solar Choice proposal.

 

"We caution Florida voters about this disingenuous solar ballot measure that favors big out-of-state solar companies instead of Florida consumers,'' Batchelor said in a prepared statement. "We simply cannot allow this seriously flawed amendment to pass. This special interest amendment puts Florida consumers, and especially our seniors, at great risk of fraud and abuse."

 

The Supreme Court reviews proposed constitutional amendments to make sure they will not be confusing or deceptive to voters. That involves making sure proposed amendments deal with single subjects and that the ballot titles and summaries — the parts seen by most voters — are clearly worded.

 

The majority opinion, supported by Chief Justice Jorge Labarga and justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis, Peggy Quince, Charles Canady and James E.C. Perry, said the Floridians for Solar Choice proposal met the requirements.

 

"Without considering the merits of the measure, we find that the title and summary clearly and unambiguously inform the voter that the amendment will prevent government and electric utilities from imposing regulatory barriers to supplying local solar electricity up to two megawatts to customers at the same or contiguous property,'' the opinion said.

 

But Justice Ricky Polston dissented, arguing that the ballot summary is "confusing" and doesn't accurately describe the scope of the proposal.

 

In part, Polston wrote that the ballot summary "leads the voter to believe that this initiative is about someone who owns a small house or small business with a solar panel on the roof and wants to sell electricity on a small scale. However, according to the Florida Electric Cooperatives Association, a single local solar generating facility capable of generating two megawatts of electricity would span over 12 acres and could serve approximately 714 customers. The ballot summary does not provide notice to the voter that this proposed amendment provides for this scale of completely unregulated electricity generation."

 

With the court's majority approving the ballot proposal, however, the groups on both sides were clearly readying Thursday for a political fight.

 

Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a key supporter of Floridians for Solar Choice, quickly took aim at "big monopoly utilities" that oppose the initiative.

 

"We fully expect more misleading attacks from the big electric utilities and their proxy front groups in their desperate attempt to limit customer choice,'' Smith said in a prepared statement.

 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-nsf-supreme-court-solar-20151022-story.html

 

 

 

 

 

These 14 Sleek Solar Homes Do More Than Produce Power

Fewer college teams built homes to compete in this year’s Solar Decathlon, but their gee-whiz features might offer a surprising glimpse of the future.

 

Reporters view the compact, stackable home designed and built by students at New York City College of Technology on October 7, 2015, at the U.S. Department of Energy's biennial Solar Decathlon in Irvine, California.

Photograph by Thomas Kelsey, U.S. Dept. of Energy

 

By Wendy Koch, National Geographic

PUBLISHED October 09, 2015

 

They’re not simply places to live. They charge cars, grow food, collect water, and generate electricity during blackouts. These Dwell-like beauties might just make those with bigger homes a bit envious.

 

The University at Buffalo home, for example, has an indoor greenhouse for growing food year-round. Orange County’s team features a vertical garden, surf shower and—for the boomerang generation—detached studio. To withstand storms like the tornado that flattened the nearby town of Joplin, Missouri’s Crowder College and Drury University use reinforced walls surrounded by an impact-resistant fence.

 

The homes offer smart windows, accordion doors, and movable walls. Plus, they can charge a car. “We’re going to hook it up and charge it with the power of the sun,” Steve Speights, an engineering student at California State University in Sacramento, says in a video about his team’s home, complete with carport.

 

Welcome to the Solar Decathlon 2015, a biennial U.S.-sponsored contest that began Thursday in Irvine, California. Collegiate teams from around the world compete to build the most attractive, affordable, and energy-efficient home. Via solar panels, the homes produce at least as much energy as they use. Via rainwater capture, they reuse water.

 

These small homes—1,000 square feet or less—go well beyond solar technology to showcase not only smart design but also innovative ways to address drought or extreme weather. Some are engineering marvels.

 

“It’s like the biggest jigsaw puzzle you’ve even seen,” Solar Decathlon director Richard King says of Clemson University’s home, made of thousands of pieces of flat-packed plywood that lock together like LEGO.

 

Despite its wow factor, this competition has a cloudy future. It's losing competitors at a time when the U.S. solar industry is booming and other countries—China, Colombia, and United Arab Emirates—are planning similar decathlons. Six of the initial 20 teams withdrew, including Stanford, Yale, and Vanderbilt. The result: This year’s event is the smallest since the Department of Energy launched the U.S. decathlon in 2002.

ship them in pieces, and reassemble them within days at the competition.

 

For more information on the competition and videos of the homes go to:  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/energy/2015/10/151009-14-Sleek-Solar-Homes-Do-More-Than-Produce-Power/

 

Triple-filtered, recycled greywater waters at hydroponic garden at the home of Missouri University of Science and Technology on October 6, 2105, at the Solar Decathlon in Irvine, California. 

Photograph by Thomas Kelsey/U.S. Department of Energy

 

A circular window inside the home built by students at the Missouri University of Science and Technology provides a unique view of the entry by the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, on October 5, 2015, at the U.S. Department of Energy's biennial Solar Decathlon in Irvine, California.

Photographby Thomas Kelsey, U.S. Dept. of Energy Solar Decathlon

 

 

 

 

 

Smart Ways to Save Around the House

Apr 6, 2015

A few quick fixes can add up to significant energy savings.

 

 

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/tips/a31921/smart-eco-friendly-swaps-cree/

 

 

 

San Fran's new EV chargers are solar-powered, and free!

(Hopefully this will catch on across the country!)

 

Charge Across Town is cutting carbon emissions with mobile charging. Just respect the two-hour limit.

Jim Motavalli

Apr 29, 2015

 

Charging a Chevy Volt on free electricity from one of Charge Across Town's free — and portable — solar chargers. (Photo: Charge Across Town)

The best place in the world to own an electric car is probably California, with a tie between San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. Well, the city by the bay just got a big boost from something new: free solar-powered EV charging.

 

A nonprofit called Charge Across Town (CAT), looking to reduce carbon emissions in the Bay Area, has launched its “Driving on Sunshine” campaign. The plan is to increase awareness of both electric cars and solar with free electrons from three portable Envision EV ARC stations that will be strategically placed through 2015 at nine heavily trafficked locations around the city. Right now you can find them in the Mission District, at the Embarcadero, and the Stonestown Galleria Mall.

 

Carlie Guilfoile beams at the opening of the Charge Across Town free solar stations. (Photo: Charge Across Town)

 

Freeloaders will have a two-hour charging limit, says Maureen Blanc, director of Charge Across Town. She told me that CAT is “going on trust” that people will disconnect after their allotted time. Two hours on a 240-volt Level II charger should provide enough juice for 10 to 15 “e-miles,” she said. It’s hoped that four to six cars per day can charge at the stations.

 

Envision’s ARC stations cost $45,000 each, but CAT is leasing them through a grant from the 11th Hour Project. After the experiment is over in 2016, they’ll find a permanent home at the locations that got the most traffic.

 

Charge's Maureen Blanc: "You'd be surprised" how many people still don't get it in EV-heavy San Francisco. (Photo: Charge Across Town)

 

One could ask, why San Francisco? The city is not exactly starved for EV charging, or for solar installations. Awareness of both technologies would seem to be high among residents. Visit the Plugshare app here, enter the city’s name, and you’ll see dozens, if not hundreds of public stations, many of them offering free electricity, in San Francisco. Is there a need?

 

“You’d be surprised,” Blanc told me. “A lot of people are still pretty unaware. There’s still a lot of questions here about moving from fossil fuels to electric cars.”

 

Also worth noting is that PG&E, which serves central and northern California, is poised to install roughly 25,000 EV chargers in the coverage area over the next five years. The hosts won’t pay a dime for them.

 

And, of course, you can argue that San Francisco is, well, where the cars are. There are more than 60,000 plug-in cars in PG&E’s service territory, 20 percent of all those in the country, so it’s unlikely that these three new solar-powered units will sit idle.

 

The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.

Read more: http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/san-frans-new-ev-chargers-are-solar-powered-and-free#ixzz3ZvlwI1Nq

 

 

 

 

Bike sharing is taking off in South Florida as programs thrive, expand

Bike sharing is taking off in South Florida as programs thrive, expand

 

By Angel Streeter, Sun Sentinel

 

Forget the bus. Forget taxis, trolleys or shuttles. The next best thing in public transportation for some people is a bicycle.

 

Pedaling to the beach, a restaurant or the grocery store is getting easier as bike-sharing programs are increasing in popularity and expanding throughout South Florida.

 

• In May, West Palm Beach will launch the first bike-share operation in Palm Beach County as SkyBikeWPB opens 15 bike stations in the downtown area. There will be 150 bikes available to rent by the half-hour or the hour.

 

• Broward County's bike-share program, Broward B-cycle, is in expansion mode, recently adding a bike station at the Galleria Mall.

 

• In December, Miami saw the launch of Citi Bike Miami, following in the steps of Miami Beach's successful bike-share program that began in 2011. Already, the Miami operation averages 12,000 to 13,000 riders a month, and officials are finding that they need to add more stations to the 35 they already have.

 

"Increasingly, people want to have as many transportation options as they can," said Raphael Clemente, executive director of the West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority, which brought bike sharing to the city. "It's one more way to get from A to B."

 

West Palm Beach's bike-share program comes courtesy of SkyBridge Capital, a New York City-based hedge fund that is the main sponsor.

 

SkyBike stations will be installed at popular places throughout the downtown, including at the Tri-Rail station, the Palm Beach County Courthouse, the Palm Beach County Convention Center and several spots in CityPlace.

 

Primarily designed for short trips, bike-share programs allow users to pick up a bike at one spot and return it to another. They can pedal around town to run errands, go to nightspots, to restaurants or to work.

 

Downtown West Palm Beach workers could hop on a SkyBike rather than walk to their favorite lunch spot. Or someone heading to the city for business could travel by Tri-Rail and then grab a SkyBike to get to their final destination.

 

It's all part of the city's ongoing effort to make the downtown pedestrian- and bike-friendly and a place where a car isn't necessarily needed.

 

"If you live and work here, it is so convenient not to have to use your car," Clemente said.

 

That's particularly appealing to young people who are flocking to downtowns and are gravitating toward alternative transportation, Clemente said.

 

Take Jesus Fuentes, who lives in downtown Fort Lauderdale and has been a B-cycle member since the program started in 2011. He and his wife use the bikes on the weekend for entertainment.

 

"We ride it around New River or to Holiday Park," he said. "During the weekend, we go to the movies using the bikes."

 

A public transportation advocate, Fuentes takes Tri-Rail to work and rarely drives a car.

 

"I don't drive or I will go crazy," he said. "Millennials tend not to want to drive."

 

So while he enjoys B-cycle, he wishes it had more stations so it could be more of a transportation option for residents. For instance, his neighborhood, Flagler Village, has pushed for a B-cycle station. He also thinks Fort Lauderdale City Hall would be a perfect spot.

 

B-cycle is considering those sites as well as many others, said Jeff Torkelson, Broward B-cycle's manager.

 

There are two new locations at Fort Lauderdale Beach. Soon, stations will be installed at Las Olas Boulevard and 10th Terrace and eventually, there will be bike stations in the western areas of the county.

 

"We definitely have a plan to continue to grow the system," Torkelson said. "The more stations we can put in the better the connections are and the easier it is to use as transportation."

 

Right now B-cycle has 23 stations with 150 bikes that generate 3,000 to 5,000 riders a month. Every week, Torkelson receives requests from residents and businesses asking for the B-cycle stations to be installed near them.

 

"A lot of people are embracing it," Torkelson said.

 

Miami Beach can vouch for that. Its pioneering program has had some 4.5 million riders since it began, according to Citi Bike Miami. The program has been embraced by residents and tourists alike.

 

West Palm Beach would like to aspire to that kind of success, Clemente said. Already, SkyBike is looking at expanding beyond the downtown area.

 

"There are already requests for the program to expand before we've launched," he said. "Folks outside the downtown area are asking, 'When do we get this?'"

 

Bike-share programs may eventually end up in southern Palm Beach County as well. Delray Beach has considered starting a bike-share program. A couple of years ago, B-cycle installed one of its stations at the beach for a few days to test out whether people would use it. There were only a few users.

 

The city wants to have a complete bike-lane network before novice bike riders start renting out bikes, said John Morgan, who is responsible for the city's environmental initiatives.

 

"It's definitely in the mix of things we want to do," he said. "We will get a bike-share program. It's a matter of time. It's not going to be a long time."

 

Pedal power

 

SkyBikeWPB

 

Pricing: Until June 30, there is an early-bird promotion offering a one-year, $99 membership.

 

Memberships: $15 a month for unlimited 30-minute rides; $20 a month for unlimited 60-minute rides. Each additional 30 minutes is $4.

 

Hourly rentals: $4 for half-hour rental; $6 for one-hour rental.

 

Payment methods: Credit and debit cards, membership card, smartphone.

 

Broward B-cycle

 

Pricing: Memberships cost $25 for a seven-day pass for unlimited 30-minute rides; $45 annual pass for unlimited 30-minute rides. Additional half-hour is $1.

 

Single ride: $5 for 30 minutes

 

Payment method: Prepay online, credit and debit cards.

 

Replacement cost for bikes: $1,200

 

Website: broward.bcycle.com

 

Citi Bike Miami/Miami Beach

 

Pricing: Memberships cost $15 a month for unlimited 30-minute rides; $25 a month for unlimited 60-minute rides. Each additional 30 minutes is $4.

 

Hourly rentals: $4 for half-hour rental; $6 for one-hour rental.

 

Payment methods: Credit and debit cards, membership key fobs.

 

Replacement cost for bikes: $800

 

Website: citibikemiami.com

 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-bike-share-expanding-20150501-story.html#page=1

 

 

 

 

 

Tesla Home Battery is here!

This may be the future!  Prices would need to come down some and I’m sure efficiency would need to be improved.  That will happen as demand goes up!  At the end of this article, there’s a link that will take you to original blog and you can listen to a different version of the story. -- Gene

 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk Unveils Home Battery; Is $3,000 Cheap Enough?

May 01, 2015 2:05 PM ET

Bill Chappell

 

A photo released by Tesla shows its new Powerwall lithium-ion battery pack mounted on the wall (left) of a garage behind one of the company's electric cars. Tesla Energy

 

In an ambitious bid to move beyond the electric car market, Tesla has announced that it will start selling large batteries to let homeowners store electricity. The Powerwall home battery starts at $3,000.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the new batteries Thursday night, in a move that had been both highly anticipated and the subject of much speculation. With a sleek surface and a depth of only about 7 inches, the Powerwall can be mounted on a garage wall or another surface, indoors or outside. It's roughly 4 feet high and 3 feet wide.

Explaining the company's strategy of using solar power, Musk said: "We have this handy fusion reactor in the sky, called the sun. You don't have to do anything; it just works."

The unit is geared toward homeowners who want to do any combination of three things: store backup power, minimize peak-time use of utilities' electricity and get off the commercial power grid entirely.

The Powerwall is seen as having particular allure for people who have (or want) solar panels. The large battery could supply or supplement the energy a household requires when the sun's not out.

On its Powerwall website, Tesla says:

"The average home uses more electricity in the morning and evening than during the day when solar energy is plentiful. Without a home battery, excess solar energy is often sold to the power company and purchased back in the evening. This mismatch adds demand on power plants and increases carbon emissions."

Tesla is taking orders for the batteries now, Musk says, adding that the first deliveries will be made in three to four months.

In recent days, details of the new battery venture were the subject of speculation that ranged from Tesla's reinvention of itself as an energy company to the unit's cost to homeowners.

The Powerwall's price ranges from $3,000 for a 7 kilowatt-hour model and $3,500 for the 10 kwh version. Those prices don't include an AC-to-DC power inverter or installation, but they're still far lower than the $20,000 estimate that one analyst gave to NPR's Steve Henn in the days leading up to Tesla's announcement.

For a report on Friday's Morning Edition, Steve spoke to JB Straubel, Tesla's co-founder and chief technology officer, about the batteries that the company hopes will help revolutionize the electric grid. From Steve's story:

" 'It's amazing the electric grid can work as well as it does with no storage,' Straubel says.

"Think about it. There is no way to store electricity on the grid. If there's a surge in demand and you run an energy company, you have to fire up an extra power plant.

" 'It's an entire market for energy transaction that has no inventory and no buffer,' Straubel says. 'So every single thing is delivered instantaneously, just in time.'

"And that means there is an enormous amount of waste. So Tesla wants to sell its batteries to consumers, businesses, homeowners — even utilities."

Steve also spoke to battery skeptic Robert Bryce, an author and homeowner who said that for him, the batteries would have to be very cheap.

Forbes writer Christopher Helman says that with configurations that supply either 7 kwh or 10 kwh, "the implication is that a 10 kwh system could supply 1,000 watts of current to your home for 10 hours."

But after analyzing the costs and benefits of the system, Helman adds, "If you do not have a big enough solar system to get your home entirely off the grid, then there is simply no point whatsoever in paying 30 cents per kwh to get electricity via the Powerwall."

It remains to be seen whether, for many people, Tesla's starting price of more than $3,000 will be low enough to make the economics of solar energy add up.

The BBC's Richard Taylor sees "a strong commercial rationale for Elon Musk to leverage Tesla's expertise in building highly-efficient car batteries" to put them in houses. But he adds, "The business strategy is a bit like the battery itself: high impact, but a slow release which will really only reap significant benefits over time."

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/05/01/403529202/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-unveils-home-battery-is-3-000-cheap-enough?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150501

 

 

 

 

Building company Moss adds rare solar parking canopy

Moss & Associates installed a solar-panel parking canopy at its headquarters in Fort Lauderdale

headquarters, one of the few in South Florida.

(Moss & Associates)

 

Building company Moss adds rare solar parking canopy

Solar parking canopy Moss & Associates

 

By Doreen Hemlock, Sun Sentinel

 

With the sun beating down on cars in parking lots across South Florida, it might seem like a no-brainer: solar-panel canopies that could shield cars from heat and also make electricity for businesses.

 

Construction company Moss & Associates just became one of the few to complete one locally.

 

Moss spent about $300,000 to build a canopy of 200 solar-panels to cover about 22 cars at the parking lot of its Fort Lauderdale headquarters. It expects to recoup that investment in about five years, thanks in part to rebates from Florida Power & Light Co. and to federal tax credits, president Scott Moss said.

 

Moss spent that money for several reasons: It tore down a canvas awning during a parking lot renovation, so it needed a new canopy. It could get good prices from companies that work with the builder on solar projects nationwide. And "at the end of the day, it's kind of advertising for the business we're in."

 

But few others have installed solar parking canopies in South Florida because of the cost, Moss said. In places with more expensive electricity like California or Hawaii, it takes less time to recoup the investment and makes more financial sense.

 

"Because power is so cheap from FPL, we're spoiled," Moss said. "It's easier to make the business case for solar canopies in Hawaii, where electricity is about 30 cents a kilowatt-hour," or three times the rate that FPL charges in Florida, he said.

 

The price for solar parking-canopies has been falling, said Clint Sockman, vice president of Advanced Green Technologies of Fort Lauderdale, the company that did the installation for Moss.

 

Solar panels now cost about 75 percent less than they did a decade ago. Plus, canopy designs and installation methods also have improved, slashing costs, Sockman sid.

 

Some companies have made the outlay, partly to show their commitment to the environment. Those include PNC Bank, which operates a branch at Davie Boulevard and Andrews Ave. in Fort Lauderdale that can generate more electricity than it uses.

 

FPL also has announced plans to install two 50-kilowatt solar canopies in the parking lot of the Young at Art Museum and Broward County Library in Davie.

 

But momentum for new projects in South Florida may well slow, Moss said. That's because FPL this year is ending its program offering rebates up to $50,000 for businesses that install solar projects. Plus, the federal tax credit on solar projects is slated to expire at the end of 2016. That will mean that the time to recoup the investment would lengthen, possibly by several years.

 

The Sunshine State now generates less than 1 percent of its energy from the sun. Both Moss and Advanced Green Technologies do the bulk of their solar work outside Florida.

 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/consumer/fl-solar-canopy-moss-20150420-story.html