While California is inching towards its goal of 20-percent statewide renewable energy by 2010, slow approval of renewable contracts have led to more setbacks and a 2013 extension for utility companies.

But despite the extended timeframe, the three major utilities, PG&E, SCE and SDG&E, are upping their requests for renewable contract approvals by nearly twice their average amount. This year, the number of contracts jumped to 50.

Currently, the projects that are in the works include 900 MW of Stirling solar thermal, 554 MW of Solel in the Mojave Desert, and 550 MW of OptiSolar thin-film near San Luis Obispo. So, why the delay on approvals for other projects?

The California Energy Commission, the entity responsible for approving permits for thermal power plants 50 MW and beyond, has a long and arduous process for allowing renewable generation facilities to move forward with a project. One of the most extensive is determining the type of permit necessary depending on the project size, location and type of technology being used.

Small projects must wait for a permit from the city or county, while projects slated for federal land must get approval from the Bureau of Land Management or the United States Forest Service.

While incorporating more renewable energy has been a slow process, California is certainly showing some progress. And that’s a start.

Photo Credit: CNET

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British enviro-architectural firm Sybarite has unveiled their vision of a green-solar powered-zero emissions house known as The Dice House. Shaped like game-board dice, the futuristic house has a plastic-based photovoltaic umbrella that caps the top and provides hot energy to heat a water tank that produces 80 gallons a day.

Sybarite claims this house can self-generate 33 kilowatts of electricity per day. One side of the house absorbs heat during the day keeping the home at steady temperatures all day.

This is without a doubt a sci-fi movie looking house that will attract some and repel others. Whether homes like this will actually come to fruition on a large scale remains to be seen. Probably resembles the type of home George Jetson’s grandfather would live in!

More at Tuvie.

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After a series of studies and a plethora of research, the bright minds at Cornell University have discovered a simpler and more efficient way to create solar cells. Surprisingly enough, they found the solution in an everyday pair of blue jeans.
Yes, that’s right. Jeans.

The molecules found in jeans and various other ink dyes can actually be used to create a structure called COF, or covalent organic framework. These in turn can help make solar cells far cheaper and more flexible than those made from other molecules.

Phthalocyanines, aka common industrial dyes, have a similar structure to chlorophyll and can absorb nearly the entire solar spectrum. The process puts these molecules together in a two-dimensional sheet, which are then stacked on top of one another in order to open up a pathway for a charge.

While the research has thus far only led to the structure for a solar cell and not the cell itself, researchers believe that they will eventually use the model to create actual solar cells. Clearly, they’re on to something here.

Source: TreeHugger
Photo Credit: aphasiafilms & Photos8

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Got a summer home in Bismark yet? clipped from www.scientificamerican.comSWELTERING CITY: New models suggest that climate change will cause average temperatures in cities to rise; cooler nights will become less frequent.
ISTOCKPHOTOCities were already known to retain more heat than the rural …

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Bill McKibben on the Symptoms of Global Warming
The author and activist says we may see out-of-control rises in sea level, enormous shortfalls in crop yields and wars over available fresh water

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