Germany needs $14 billion grid upgrade to move to 35% renewables.
On May 17, Hitachi announced plans to work on an advanced smart grid infrastructure in Maui.
Climate Skeptics Deutsche Bank published research disproving the main points of climate sceptics.
General Electric published a great poster about renewable energy in Hawaii.
It is time for Japan to change to Clean Energy. Please support this online petition:
We ask the leaders of Japan to devote their country's intelligence, creativity and wealth to a world beyond the perils of nuclear and carbon-based fuels. Japan has a unique position to lead the world into a better
future, and Clean Energy is the only possible answer to the Fukushima catastrophe.
Sustainable Living Institute of Maui (SLIM) will offer 3 PV classes starting this summer, and solar hot water and small wind energy classes in the fall. SLIM will be working with HNEI on the upcoming Smart Grid project in Maui Meadows.
Sustainable Living Institute of Maui (SLIM) University of Hawaii-Maui College www.sustainablemaui.org
2011 starts - Campaign Solarize Maui begins.
Our goal: 1,000 solar roofs in 2011. 4 MW added to Maui's grid.
Make a big step towards Maui's independence form oil by 2020.
The campaign does offer free consulting, equipment selection and
aims to make solar available to anyone with a suitable roof, with
a wide range of financial arrangements to fits everyone's need.
Contact: Chris Mentzel (808) 205-0392 or chris@mentzel.com
"We never change
things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a
new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
-BuckminsterFuller
Clean Energy Maui develops technologies, plans and concepts to move the island of Maui to 100% renewable energy by 2020.
Chris Mentzel, Founder
Community Solar (toolkit) helps to make solar investment possible for Hawaii's residents and build local wealth. Building local wealth is one of the key goals of Abercrombie's government.
Is it true that additional solar energy installations make the grid unstable?
It seems to be common wisdom on Maui these days that PV systems make our island grid unstable and that this instability increases with every additional system. Because of this reasoning, the current laws limit renewable energy to 3% of the island-wide peak demand and limit it to 15% of an individual feeder. These limits have been installed through a political process but have little engineering justification. A simple thought experiment disproves the assumption at the basis of these limits. Imagine a single PV system. A cloud passes over it. The output power drops 60-80% and recovers after the cloud has moved on. This is a short-term disturbance of the grid. Imagine now 10 PV systems, one after the other. As the cloud passes over them, the reduced output of one PV system is matched by the recovery of the system before it. Now the short-term disturbance occurs when the cloud covers the first system and then again when it leaves the last one. Grid stability has not decreased 10 times, it could even be said to have increased by having more PV on the grid. It's time to lay the myth to rest that limits PV systems and encourage a fast changeover to renewable energy.
The above graph was in paper 14 in a conference on grid variability. It shows clearly how much smaller the effect of 16 PV systems is on the grid (red) compared to the effect of 1 system (grey).
Watch Jon Steward below dismantle the renewable energy promises of eight presidents. He is hilarious!
