Tom Morrow at SEMI makes the case for feed-in tariffs

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Tom Morrow, VP, Global Expositions, Sales, and Marketing at the SEMI PV Group, talks about how feed-in tariffs are the optimal policy for encouraging the production of renewable energy from photovoltaics, recorded between San Jose and Los Angeles, California, on December 15, 2009.

Ted Ko at FIT Coalition discusses AB1106

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Ted Ko, Associate Executive Director of the FIT Coaltion, talks about renewable energy-related legislation in California, focusing on AB1106, a bill to establish a German-style feed-in tariff for the Golden State, recorded from San Francisco, California, on November 13, 2009

Tax Cannabis 2010 Initiative advocates make their case

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Dale Clare, Executive Chancellor of Oaksterdam University, and Jeff Jones, Executive Director of the Patient ID Center, explain and argue for the ballot qualification and passage of the Tax Cannabis 2010 initiative, recorded in Los Angeles, California, on November 4, 2009, in this Etopia News interview conducted by reporter Marc Strassman

Internet Voting and Smart Initiatives Now

Since I tried, and failed, to win public support for Internet voting and Smart Initiatives between 1996 and 2000, several things have happened that might make re-visiting these efforts worthwhile.

The principle objection to Internet voting at the time was that it would open the electoral process up to massive fraud. But shortly after I terminated my efforts in this regard, George W. Bush became President of the U.S. through a blatantly fraudulent election, and then led the US into a morass of political, economic, and moral ruin. Just today, Hamid Karzai “won” an election in Afghanistan during which his side saw to it that one-third of the votes he “received” were fraudulent. Apparently, one doesn’t need Internet voting to allow fraud into the voting booth.

Another object was that letting those who could, and wanted to, vote over the Internet would disenfranchise those who didn’t want to or couldn’t. So many more people are online now, and those who aren’t can still vote by mail. Has anyone noticed how much of life has already migrated to smart phones? How universal and ubiquitous mobile computing has become? Why should people who already do almost every task of modern life online or on their smart phones not be able to exercise the franchise the same way?

Oregon has abolished on-site voting, collecting all its ballots by mail. A growing proportion of Californians and others vote by mail as well. Vote-by-mail is as subject to coercion or bribery as Internet voting but no one objects to it on those grounds.

Most telling of all is the unassailable fact that almost every activity is moving into cyberspace at an accelerating pace. Newspapers fail as Google News rises. Book stores fall into ruin as Kindles and Nooks take over that space. Music companies and now movie studios daily lament the vanishing of their business models and cash flow to legal and illegal online media sites. National postal services flounder in debt as business and personal paper mail becomes obsolete.

The world’s intellectual property, business affairs, and interpersonal communication increasingly reside as bits of data on cloud servers that streamline, universalize, and de-materialize the transfer of information between and among individuals and institutions. Why aren’t we allowed to govern ourselves the same way that we entertain and inform ourselves, and conduct almost every other aspect of our individual and collective lives and business? Why not Internet voting and Smart Initiatives now?

To read all or part of the 1,081-page online version of "Etopian Elections: Internet Voting, Smart Initiatives, and the Future of (Electronic) Democracy," go to:

http://www.etopiamedia.net/si/pages/si-ee-pdfs-5551212.html

Bob Paine previews his EUEC workshop on emission controls

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Bob Paine, Technical Director at Westford, MA-based AECOM, discusses existing and emerging EPA emission control standards and what's needed to comply with them, previewing a workshop he'll be giving with Bob Iwanchuk at the EUEC Conference in Phoenix, AZ, in February, 2010

John Farrell at ILSR on states' internal renewables potential

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John Farrell, researcher at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, talks about its new report on the ability of US states to meet their own Renewable Portfolio Standards and internally provide all their own electricity from renewables, recorded from Minneapolis, MN, on October 8, 2009

Mark Duda at HSEA talks about pro-FIT decision by HPUC

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Mark Duda, President of the Hawaii Solar Energy Association, talks about the decision by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission to move forward in instituting a feed-in tariff program for the island state, recorded from Honolulu, Hawaii, on September 30, 2009

Craig Morris talks about FITINOs--feed-in tariffs-in-name-only

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Craig Morris, author of Energy Switch, and proprietor of translation service Petite Planete, talks about feed-in tariffs (FITs) and distinguishes them from feed-in tariffs-in-name only, or FITINOs, recorded from Freiburg, Germany, on September 29, 2009

Paul Gipe on Ontario's launch of big feed-in tariffs

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Paul Gipe, of wind-works.org, long-time feed-in tariff advocate, talks about today's launch of North America's biggest feed-in tariff program in Ontario, Canada, recorded September 24, 2009

James Carlini on the need for "intelligent infrastructure"

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James Carlini, consultant and columnist, talks about real estate, 4G networks, and the need to develop "keyboard-ready" government stimulus efforts designed to revitalize the U.S. economy, recorded from East Dundee, Illinois, on September 24, 2009

A Net Neutrality Sampler

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Marc Strassman at Etopia News conducts audio interviews with Andrew Jay Schwartzman, Anthony Riddle,, Ben Scott, Harold Feld, and Jonathan Rintels about the concept and importance of net neutrality.

Larry Diamond at Stanford on Afghanistan

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Marc Strassman, at Etopia News, interviews Larry Diamond, Director of Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, on the current dilemma in Afghanistan, recorded from Stanford, California, on September 22, 2009

Michel Chevallier explains Internet voting in Geneva

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Michel Chevallier, Head of Cabinet for the Elections Secretary of Geneva, talks in detail about the system of remote Internet voting now being used by the citizens of this Swiss canton, recorded from Geneva, Switzerland, on September 15/16, 2009

Shahad Rohani talks about music as a language without boundaries

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Shardad Rohani is an Iranian composer, violinist/pianist and conductor, best known for arranging and conducting the Yanni Live at the Acropolis concert, an open-air concert with the London Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra in the Parthenon, Athens, Greece.

Phil Marichal at Cisco demonstrates TelePresence

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Marc Strassman, Etopia News Founder, in Irvine, California, interviews Cisco System's Phil Marichal, in San Jose, California, using Cisco's TelePresence videoconferencing system

Kristopher Stevens at OSEA previews feed-in tariff conference in Ontario

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Kristopher Stevens, Executive Director, Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, previews his September 21, 2009, "Challenges to Financing and Implementing Generation Projects" presentation on feed-in tariff financing at the "Feed-in Tariffs:

Strassman vs. Obama: "corporate power" vs. "common ground"--August 8, 1995

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Ace interviewer Marc Strassman (www.etopianews.com) exposes pre-Presidential Barack Obama's tragic misreading of American history, in this excerpt from the August 11, 1995 "Lost Obama Interview," revealing the personal traits that prevent him from boldly confronting the corporations now blocking heath care and energy reform

Strassman vs. Obama: "corporate power" vs. "common ground"--August 8, 1995

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Ace interviewer Marc Strassman (www.etopianews.com) exposes pre-Presidential Barack Obama's tragic misreading of American history, in this excerpt from the August 8, 1995 "Lost Obama Interview," revealing the personal traits that prevent him from boldly confronting the corporations now blocking heath care and energy reform

Strassman vs. Obama: "corporate power" vs. "common ground"--August 8, 1995

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Ace interviewer Marc Strassman (www.etopianews.com) exposes pre-Presidential Barack Obama's tragic misreading of American history, in this excerpt from the August 8, 1995 "Lost Obama Interview," revealing the personal traits that prevent him from boldly confronting the corporations now blocking heath care and energy reform

Barack Obama on his own conception, August 11, 1995

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Barack Obama directly addresses the question of his own conception in this short excerpt from the half-hour "Lost Obama Interview," produced by Etopia News' Marc Strassman and recorded in Los Angeles, California, on August 11, 1995, prior to President Obama's entry into electoral politics

Stewart Taggart at Acquasol discusses his pending deportation from Australia

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Stewart Taggart, Administrator of Desertec-Australia and Director of Acquasol, an Australian solar power and desalination company, talks about his innovative work on combating climate change and the efforts of the Australian Immigration Department to expel him from the country, recorded from Sydney, Australia, on July 28/29, 2009

Annette Gordon-Reed on "The Hemingses of Monticello"

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Annette Gordon-Reed talks about her book "The Hemingses of Monticello," recorded in Los Angeles, California.

Mike Antheil talks about the latest FARE annual meeting

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Mike Antheil, Executive Director of the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy (FARE), talks about the recent FARE annual meeting and the group's plans for further efforts to implement a feed-in tariff in Florida, recorded from Boynton Beach, Florida, on July 21, 2009

Jon Bertolino at SMUD on newly-instituted feed-in tariff

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John Bertolini, spokesperson for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), talks about that utility's newly-instituted feed-in tariff program, the first muni FIT in California, recorded from Sacramento, California, on July 20, 2009

Stewart Taggart at Desertec-Australia on clean power from deserts worldwide

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Stewart Taggart, coordinator of Desertec-Australia, talks about Desertec projects for harvesting clean green solar power from deserts in Africa/EU, Australia, and the United States, recorded from Sydney, Australia, on July 20, 2009

Matthias Reinig at Schott on Desertec Industrial Initiative

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Matthias Reinig in Corporate PR at Schott International talks about the $560 billion Desertec Industrial Initiative to build a network of concentrating solar power stations in North Africa and use the power locally and export the surplus to Europe, recorded from Mainz, Germany, on July 20, 2009

Dr. Alex Benzer on "The Tao of Dating" at Book Soup

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Dr. Alex Benzer, author of "The Tao of Dating," discusses this book at Book Soup, recorded in West Hollywood, California, on July 15, 2009

Gerry Wolff at TREC-UK updates the Desertec story

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Gerry Wolff, TREC-UK coordinator, talks about the July 13, 2009, meeting in Munich, Germany, that created the Desertec Industrial Initiative to implement a network of concentrating solar collectors in North Africa for the generation of green electricity for local and European use, recorded from Wales, UK, July 16, 2009

Dan Bernath at MPP talks about marijuana reform

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Dan Bernath, Assistant Communications Director, Marijuana Policy Project, talks about the reform of marijuana laws, recorded from Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2009

Cindy Pollard, PG&E spokesperson, clarifies views on net-metering and FITs

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Cindy Pollard, spokesperson for Pacific Gas & Electric Company PG&E), provides details of the company's views on net-metering, feed-in tariff "performance standards," and the need for PG&E to get the energy credits associated with green electricity from FITs, recorded from Sacramento, California, on July 6, 2009

1. How much have net metering costs raised consumer prices under the 2.5% cap?

And 2. What does PG&E project would be the cost increase under a 10% cap?

That is the information that the CPUC was required to determine before the cap was raised. The cost benefit analysis has not been conducted, and we would still like to see just how much it will cost our customers. We believe it’s very important to look at the data before decisions on cap increases are made. The CPUC report on the costs and benefits of solar is due early next year.

We have not had that much solar in our territory until recently and PG&E is currently at only 1.3% of its system peak demand so the question is what will the costs be when we reach 2.5% and should we reach 10%.

We do know that NEM customers are credited at the full retail rate, which includes the power, transmission and distribution, and public purpose programs, which they do not currently pay. In addition they receive a rebate to help pay for the system and relief from the interconnection costs. The difference between what they pay and what they are credited is shifted to our non-solar customers.

3. What specifically does PG&E want for "performance standards"?

We want to make sure that if we’re going to head down the path of a solar program that we get what we think we’re going to get. We need have some reasonable assurances that the program is going to work. We would like to have firm deadlines for the projects to come online; performance assurance to protect against system operation and reliability costs associated with procurement planning should a program fail to materialize and commission authorization to establish other terms and conditions that are reasonable to ensure that the FIT program results in reliable renewable energy delivery.

4. Doesn't the logic of avoiding increases to customer prices under net metering also apply under feed-in tariffs?

Yes it does if you're overpaying for power as we are with the full retail credit we currently pay NEM customers. It is important to make sure the price is fair and that we get the renewable energy attributes, meaning that this power counts towards our renewable portfolio standards requirements.

PG&E's main objection to AB 1106 concerns "performance standards"

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Cindy Pollard, spokesperson for PG&E, voices opposition to AB560, the Net Metering Cap Expansion Bill, and objects to AB 1106, the feed-in tariff bill, principally on grounds that it doesn't provide adequate "performance standards" for distributed generation connections to the grid, recorded from Sacramento, California, on July 3, 2009

Ted Ko at FIT Coalition talks about REESA and AB 1106

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Ted Ko, Associate Executive Director of the FIT Coalition, talks about that group's efforts to amend AB 1106 to include a thorough-going feed-in tariff incorporating Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG), recorded from San Francisco, California, on July 2, 2009

Claudia Eyzaguirre at Vote Solar on AB 560, net-metering cap raiser

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Claudia Eyzaguirre, Solar Advocate at the Vote Solar Initiative (www.votesolar.org), discusses net metering and the effort, through AB 560, to raise the cap on this solar-friendly policy mechanism, recorded on July 2, 2009

AB 560--Net Metering Cap--hearing rescheduled for Thursday

Rosalind Jackson at Vote Solar in San Francisco tells Etopia News that the hearing scheduled for 9:00 am PDT tomorrow in Room 2040 of the California State Capitol to consider AB 560, a bill by Berkeley Assemblymember Nancy Skinner to raise the net-metering cap from 2.5% to 10%, has been postponed until Thursday, July 2nd. The change in schedule was just confirmed by the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee, which says the meeting will be held at the same time and place on the 2nd of July.

PG&E, one of California's three big investor-owned utilities (IOUs), is rapidly approaching the 2.5% level of net-metering, a system under which utility customers are able to reduce their energy bills by feeding green electricity generated on their premises back into the electrical grid from which they otherwise receive it. PG&E opposes AB 560.

Net-metering differs from "feed-in tariffs" (FITs) in that FITs require utilities to pay for all the electricity they receive from user-producers, while net-metering involves driving the electric meter backwards, up to the point where the customer has a zero bill, after which time any additional electricity provided by the customer to the utility is being given for free to the power company.

Statewide net-metering exists on account of provisions of the California Solar Initiative, SB1. As generally understood, that law stipulates that when a utility derives 2.5% of its sold power from net-metering, the net-metering provision will expire and the utility will no longer be required to offer the program to its customers. Accordingly, unless the net-metering limit is raised from its current level, the success of this program will mean its imminent demise, which some observers believe would deal a crushing blow to California's solar industry.

Accordingly, Assemblymember Skinner has authored AB560, which would raise the net-metering program cap to 10%, in order to maintain the existence of the program and the health of the state's solar industry.

Mike Antheil, Executive Director, talks about FARE's July 11, 2009 annual meeting

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Mike Antheil, Executive Director of the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy (FARE), talks about the upcoming July 11, 2009, annual meeting of the organization, recorded from Florida on June 29, 2009

Siemens supports DESERTEC

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Etopia News anchor Marc Strassman reads a statement from Siemens AG outlining their support for the DESERTEC project to generate massive quantities of solar electricity in North Africa for export to Europe via high-voltage direct-current power lines, recorded in Los Angeles, California, on June 26, 2009

Cutting-edge projects and pioneering engineering achievements have always been typical Siemens merits – from intercontinental telegraph links to the Shannon project for the electrification of Ireland. “Desert power for Europe“ is again one such visionary project.

There is an enormous dormant energy potential in the desert regions on our Earth’s solar belt: There the sun is available for power generation for over 4800 hours a year, which is equivalent to more than three times the total annual insolation in Germany. Within 6 hours the Earth’s desert regions receive more energy from the sun than mankind consumes within a year. An area measuring 300 by 300 square kilometers fitted with parabolic mirrors would be sufficient to meet the world’s entire power demand.

Why shouldn’t we develop CO2-free power generation across continents in the 21st century, just like we developed intercontinental telecommunications in the 19th century. This unites sustainability, technological competence and visionary entrepreneurship. And precisely these aspects have been our focal areas for over 160 years.

The Desertec concept describes sustainable power supply for Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa based on renewable energy sources. The power is to be generated by solar thermal power plants primarily located in northern Africa and by wind farms off the coast of northern Africa and northern Europe.

Together with a number of renowned industrial companies Siemens has a commitment in the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Desertec II). The objective of this initiative is to develop over the mid-term a technical and economic concept for solar power from Africa. Work will also focus on the clarification of legal and political issues.

The technology for implementation of the Desertec concept is available. Solar thermal power plants have a track record spanning 20 years and will experience a boom that is currently still difficult to assess. Low-loss, long-distance transmission of large quantities of power is also technically feasible, and is already being successfully implemented in China and India.

Siemens is a world leader in offshore wind farms and steam turbines for solar-thermal power plants. Through its equity stake in the Italian company Archimede Solar Energy, Siemens can also offer solar receivers and thus a further key component for the construction of solar power plants. By combining these two technologies we will enhance the efficiency of these plants and further reduce solar power production costs.

Siemens is also a leading company in the field of high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission, which is essential for low-loss power transport over long distances to Europe’s load centers
.
A fundamental prerequisite for the successful implementation of such large-scale projects like Desertec is, however, common political will at international level.

Siemens is backing the concept with its solutions. Desertec could in the future make a contribution toward a clean power generation mix.

Satu Hassi, Green Member of European Parliament, on EU SuperGrid

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Satu Hassi, Green Member of the European Parliament, talks about the creation of a trans-Mediterranean and EU-wide electrical SuperGrid, feed-in tariffs, and the path to a renewable world, recorded from Brussels, Belgium, on June 24, 2009

Jared Huffman on AB 1106, the California Feed-in Tariff Bill

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Jared Huffman, California Assemblymember from the 6th District (Marin and Sonoma Counties), talks about AB 1106, which would create a California feed-in tariff, recorded from Sacramento, California, on June 16, 2009

Hans-Josef Fell at German Bundestag on EU SuperGrid, part 4

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Hans-Josef Fell, member of the German Bundestag (Parliament) and Green Party energy spokesperson, talks about expanding the German feed-in tariff law to include green electricity from North Africa, part 4 of 4

Hans-Josef Fell at German Bundestag on EU SuperGrid, part 3

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Hans-Josef Fell, member of the German Bundestag (Parliament) and Green Party energy spokesperson, talks about expanding the German feed-in tariff law to include green electricity from North Africa, part 3 of 4

Hans-Josef Fell at German Bundestag on EU SuperGrid, part 1

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Hans-Josef Fell, member of the German Bundestag (Parliament) and Green Party energy spokesperson, talks about expanding the German feed-in tariff law to include green electricity from North Africa, part 1 of 4

Hans-Josef Fell at German Bundestag on EU SuperGrid, part 2

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Hans-Josef Fell, member of the German Bundestag (Parliament) and Green Party energy spokesperson, talks about expanding the German feed-in tariff law to include green electricity from North Africa, part 2 of 4

Benjamin Sovacool and Charmaine Watts on going 100% renewable by 2020

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Benjamin Sovacool, Assistant Professor at the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and Charmaine Watts, Founding Trustee of REFIT-NZ, talk about their article "Going Completely Renewable:  Is It Possible (Let Alone Desirable)?," recorded from Brazil and near Auckland, New Zealand, on June 1/2, 2009

Tony Klein, Vermont State Representative, on new Vermont feed-in tariff law

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Tony Klein, Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources and Energy in the Vermont House of Representatives, talks about the passage, implementation, and implications of Vermont's first-in-the-nation legislated statewide feed-in tariff law, recorded from Montpelier, Vermont, on May 28, 2009

Mark Rodgers at Cape Wind on final state siting approval

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Mark Rodgers, Communications Director at Cape Wind, talks about the massive off-shore wind project's receipt of final siting approval from the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, recorded from Massachusetts on May 27, 2009

Tom Collina at 2020 Vision on the need for many more plug-in electric vehicles

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Tom Collina, Executive Director of 2020 Vision, talks about putting more plug-in electric vehicles on the road by adopting federal policies and new business models that will make them affordable, convenient, and green, recorded from Washington, D.C., on May 26, 2009

Deb Doncaster talks about Ontario's new Green Energy and Economy Act

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Deb Doncaster, Executive Director, Community Power Fund Ontario, and Chair of the Green Energy Act Alliance, discusses the origins, nature, and implications of Ontario's new Green Energy and Economy Act, which establishes the first large-scale feed-in tariff program in North America, recorded from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 20, 2009

Deb Doncaster at CPFO talks about Ontario's Green Energy and Economy Act

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Deb Doncaster, Executive Director of the Community Power Fund Ontario, and Chair of the Green Energy Act Alliance, discusses the passage of Ontario, Canada's, Green Energy and Economy Act, recorded from Toronto, Ontario, on May 14, 2009

Deb Doncaster at Community Power Fund Ontario on feed-in tariffs

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Deb Doncaster at the Community Power Fund Ontario discusses the need for feed-in tariffs at the World Future Council's Feed-in Tariff Workshop in Washington, D.C., recorded on March 2, 2008

Tony Klein, Vermont State Representative, updates the story on H446

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Tony Klein, Vermont State Representative from District Washington 7, discusses the post-passage fate of feed-in tariff bill H446, including the likelihood that it will be signed by Vermont Governor Jim Douglas and the chances of a veto override if it isn't, recorded from Montpelier, Vermont, on May 8, 2009

Yuri Chumak, Director at CapitalFusion Partners, talks about RECs

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Yuri Chumak, Director at CapitalFusion Partners, discusses the role of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in the transition to a less polluted and more energy-secure economy, recorded on May 8, 2009

John Joshi and Yuri Chumak at CapitalFusion Partners on Carbon Finance panels

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John Joshi, Managing Principal, and Yuri Chumak, Director, at CapitalFusion Partners, report on the May 6, 2009, Environmental Finance Forum, "Carbon and Environmental Finance--An Executive Perspective," in New York City, recorded on May 8, 2009