Daily Archives: January 29, 2017

Solar Bipartisanship

Environment, Politics

Today’s New York Times has an article about how educators and government agents located in rural states are trying to encourage climate-friendly activities without alienating climate deniers. They are learning to discuss climate change without using the words “climate change.” For example, they might instruct farmers on practical ways to cope with drought without ever mentioning the most important cause of recent increases in drought.

One way to encourage renewable energy is to emphasize cost savings. Pocketbook voting may explain why 45% of Republicans favor giving priority to renewable energy over fossil fuels, even though only 12% of them say climate change is a major threat to the well-being of the country.

PowerScout, a San Francisco-based solar company did a study comparing the solar installation rates of donors to the Democratic and Republican parties. Using a database of the names and addresses of campaign contributors from the top 20 solar states, they first narrowed the sample down to 1.5 million contributors living in single family homes. Then they checked these addresses using satellite images and artificial intelligence software. By feeding images of homes with and without solar panels into the computer, the model, called a convolutional neural network, learned to distinguish between them with 90% accuracy.

Here are the results by state.

Overall, 3.06% of Democratic donors had solar installations, compared to 2.24% of Republican donors. However, in California, where solar power is well-established, it was a virtual tie, and in the state with the highest penetration of solar, Hawaii, Republicans had a slight edge.

PowerScout intends to use the same computer technology for marketing purposes, to identify people who are most likely to purchase rooftop solar for their homes.

You may also be interested in reading:

The Public Wants Renewables

Cheaper Solar Changes Everything

Offshore Breezes

Environment,
Credit: Aaron Crowe/flickr

The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) last week approved the construction of the largest offshore wind farm in the U. S. It will be located 30 miles southeast of Montauk at the eastern tip of Long Island. Construction is supposed to begin in 2020 and the plant is scheduled to go online by the end of 2022.

The farm will initially contain 15 turbines, and is located on a 256 square mile plot with room for as many as 200 turbines. Each turbine will be approximately 600 feet tall and the farm will be connected to East Hampton by a 50 mile undersea cable. It should generate enough energy to power 50,000 homes.

The wind farm will not be visible from Montauk, but will be barely visible from Martha’s Vineyard. Previous wind farms have been opposed by property owners who said they would spoil the ocean view. The only opposition to the current project came from commercial fishermen and consumers concerned about rising electricity costs.

At present, the nation’s only functioning offshore wind farm is the Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island, which went online six weeks ago. The Long Island installation will be triple its size.

The wind farm is consistent with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s stated goal of drawing 50% of the state’s power from renewable sources by 2030. Investment tax credits are expected to offset 24% of the wind farm’s cost. The cost of the farm was originally put at $1 billion, but has been revised to $740 million due to reductions in the cost of wind power. LIPA estimates its eventual cost to consumers at 16 cents per kilowatt hour. This compares unfavorably to the current cost of electricity from fossil fuels (7.5 cents per kilowatt hour), but these costs are likely to change.

Due to higher construction costs, offshore wind farms cost about twice as much as onshore farms of the same size. However, offshore wind farms are more productive, since the wind blows more reliably the further offshore you go, and they face less opposition from competing users of the space.

Europe is the world leader in offshore wind power, with the U. K., Denmark, Belgium and Germany having the largest capacity (in that order). The cost of offshore wind power in Europe has fallen by 32% since 2012, and is considerably less than in the U. S. This is attributable primarily to the fact that more of the costs of development are borne by European governments. In Europe, the state covers more of the cost of preparatory work and builds the grid connection.

You may also be interested in reading:

The Public Wants Renewables

China Gets Smart While We Get Stupid

Cheap Solar Changes Everything