Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Clean War and Friendly Economic Fire


Clean Energy, Clean Jobs was the slogan of the Obama campaign, but having inherited a recession and two wars, dissolution of the auto industry, and a raging national healthcare debate it’s understandable clean energy hasn’t been a major issue at the national level.

The race to develop clean energy producing technologies to capture future profits in industries like photovoltaic cells, has been underway since their introduction.
The research and development of solar panels is now a major recipient of government investment in wealthy nations all over the world.

Recently Akeena Solar (AKNS) has broken a barrier with the production of a solar panel that can almost be simply plugged in and used out of the box, the Andalay AC Solar PV panel.

The company that manufactures components of the Andalay AC Solar PV Panel is Suntech America of San Francicso California which is actually a subsidiary of Suntech Power Holdings Co. of Wuxi, China.


Suntech Power Holdings Co. is planning to build plants in the US to bypass “protectionist legislation”. Currently, the top 3 suppliers of photovoltaic cells are First Solar of Tempe Arizona, Suntech Power Holdings Co. of China, and Q cells of Germany, and whatever nation gains a majority of the market as it develops ties their future to the worldwide growth of the solar panel industry.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. of Wuxi, China was actually the first privately-owned company from China to list on the NYSE.
They were also the first Chinese company to ring the remote
opening bell for the NYSE
from China and also plan to operate several 10 megawatt or larger projects in the US, in addition to distributing residential units, through a company named Gemini Solar Development.

Here is an excerpt from a recent article about Suntech headquarters in China, pictured above.

Their newly finished headquarters building features the world largest
solar façade, in Wuxi, China. Some 2,552 pieces of Light Thru solar modules
(poly silicon cells laminated in double-layer of tempered glass) cover an area
of 6,900sqm along two adjacent building fronts. With an additional 300kW rooftop
system to be installed on the building, the total solar energy installed will be
over 1MW, generating more than one million kWh of electricity per year. In
combination with other energy-saving technologies such as energy efficient
building materials and a water recycling system, 80% of power demand of the
building will be covered, reducing CO2 emission by 600 tons and eliminating the
use of 367 tons of standard coal per year.
The 18,000 square meter building features not only solar energy and energy
efficiency measures, the unique architectural design using the LightThru panels
also provides extensive natural lighting, creating a harmonious connection
between the people inside and the outside environment. Fish ponds, rocks, trees
and a balcony are incorporated into the interior of the building. The façade was
installed by Suntech`s engineering team.
For more information, please visit www.suntech-power.com.


This is the kind of project we can get behind as a nation even during a recession.


The Andalay AC Solar PV Panel was one of MSN’s most brilliant products of 2009. The distributor of the Andalay AC Solar PV Panel, Akeena Solar has been hit hard by the recession. We have bailed out banks to prop up the financial sector of the economy and given cash for clunkers like GM. All while proposing a cap and trade system to keep emitting the same CO2 levels as long as possible as “carbon offsets” can be bought for years with no actual reductions ever made. We are shooting our selves in the foot twice, by not being the leader in seriously altering our emission levels to facilitate the domestic development of clean energy technologies.

Will China take the lead as the world economic powerhouse because of the flaws of our democracy? As the authoritarian Chinese government quickly decides policy we scream at each other about healthcare.



China Racing Ahead of U.S. in the Drive to Go Solar

No comments:

Post a Comment