Looking to build a more sustainable, secure and prosperous energy future for California, Governor Jerry Brown has called for the development of 12,000 MW of distributed renewables like rooftop solar. To put that impressive goal in perspective, it’s more than twelve times the amount of solar that’s been deployed to date under the state’s popular CSI program. Achieving the Governor’s vision requires participation and collaboration from utilities, industry, consumers, regulators and local government alike – no small feat. Addressing those challenges is the focus of a two-day conference taking place at UCLA. Our own Adam Browning will be adding his insights in tomorrow’s financing design discussion – but today’s agenda kicked off with introductory remarks from the Governor and a panel of industry representatives. » Read the rest of this entry «

Posted by Gwen Rose

The Vote Solar team was on-hand yesterday to help Google celebrate the installation of their 1.6 MW PV system (the largest corporate system in the country to date) and launch their new initiative, RechargeIT, to accelerate the adoption of plug-in hybrids.

These cars look just like your basic Prius (sans the disco paint job) but are capable of getting more than 100 MPG by plugging into your basic 110V outlet:

Here’s Sergey plugging in, to the delight of the crowd:

And check out the solar-charging stations. Solar panels from the carport provide shade and electricity for the cars, and retractable power cords hang from reels mounted below them making the refueling process far more convenient than the trip to your friendly neighborhood Exxon station. It was a great visual and the message was clear: solar can power our homes and our cars (unfortunately, my camera phone doesn’t do it justice).

Through a partnership with Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Google will be developing 100 of these plug-in vehicles and making them available to their employees. Google announced grants to support R&D and policy-making for plug-ins and then gave us a teaser of what the future of energy will look like (let’s call it Energy Grid 2.0): a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) demonstration, where the cars can plug in and draw clean solar energy but when peak demand is high and the grid is in danger of overheating, these cars can essentially throw the energy flow in reverse and send power back INTO the grid.

Learn more about Google’s plug-in intiative here: www.google.org/recharge/

Learn more about their PV system here: www.google.com/corporate/solarpanels

–Gwen