Eureka, Solar Energy and the Post Hydrocarbon fuel Economy

[zuluxray]

Just wondering if anyone read Becky Gillette's byline in the Citizen this week ?

She starts with an argument, based on reducing environmental impact of greenhouse gases, for allowing solar panels to be retrofitted on existing homes ( presumably in the Historic District) and for relaxation of current restrictions re: visibility and historic architectural integrity but moves on to a wider agenda involving 'green' development inside the city limits.

One one hand, it seems like a proactive and practical approach to energy solutions at the individual homeowner or builder level, but I wonder if there isn't a bigger opportunity that the entire ES community might engage - particularly if the federal government follows through on the talk about major infrastructure investment over the next several years ?

Just a half -cooked notion at this point, but wonder if our little town might not make a very good test case or development model for advanced, low to no emission distributed generation using stationary fuel cell technology?

A few years ago I was managing editor for a trade journal called the New Energy Economy and got involved in this technology with the engineering research dept at UC Irvine - they had gotten Siemens , GE and Mitsubishi among others to spring for ( er, rather subsidize) the hardware and were running a large part of the campus on the technology ( which by the way has improved a lot in price /performance over the past 10 years).

In addition to cutting thier electric bill and carbon footprint dramatically, there were some other offsets that might find a parallel universe in Eureka:

> Since they were the leading edge of actual fuel cell working plant, Newport CA became a focal center for international conferences and conventions on the technology

> It allowed hands on training of university engineering students and, more interesting, local vocational school electrician students in the maintenance and repair of the new technology .

> Since there was so much international publicity, Toyota and Honda jumped in with electric concept vehicles which were used by faculty and staff to commute to campus, with clean green recharging stations connected to the fuel cell plant - since ES has traditionally been real attractive to mobility festival of all types ( VW, Corvettes, ect. ) maybe a draw like a working stationary fuel cell plant would be a draw for the nextgen electric vehicle enthusiasts?

> Since distributed generation does not depend on remote baseload generators, its idea as a primary or backup power source for critical civil organizations like hospitals, fire & police ect.

--- is this a wave that maybe the "city fathers" ( not to forget mothers, children aunts & uncles ) might want to think about getting in front of to catch the sweet spot ? Don't know if any of this makes any sense in practical political & economic terms -- just kinda thing out loud --

[Michael Walsh]

Half-baked or not, the notion has merit.

[James DeVito]

Now is the time to go solar. As gasoline and energy prices climbed photocell companies sprang up all over the planet. Now their is a glut of phtocells and no one is buying them because of the financial crisis and the crash in the price of oil. Some solar cells are in effect shingles and can be placed on a roof as you would shingle a house.

[zuluxray]

Oh I agree.

But what I was thinking about was a strategy for ES to position for some of the fed stimulus spending on infrastructure ( ive seen the figure of $ 600 billion bandied about ). My semi-educated guess is that some of that will find its way through DoE, National Rural Electrification or other fed agencies -- or directly to the states for development of advanced technology low emission distributed generation plant in US cities and towns .

Once that happens there will be a lot of municipalities lining up at the cash window, or bellying up to the bar if you prefer, with no end of great projects to spend it on.

Also, unless the Obama admin completely flips the realpolitik paradigm in this country, the big power gen industrial players like GE, ect. ( and in the case of stationary fuel cell technology a handful of smaller entrepenural co's) will no doubt want to get their meathooks in the pie.

Course this is based on a lot of big if's--

Like if theres anything left in the bag after Wall St. and the "national" banks have wrung out ol Sam for everything they can get.

Solar, wind, or ( and I think a very good case can be made for it ) stationary fuel cell technology notwithstanding, ES ought to be thinking about how it could benefit from the new economic order and what resources are co-optable at county, state, fed and private industry level to do so , and the sooner the better - certainly there are a lot of other towns that will be doing same.

Rant over.

[celeste]

As I recall the HDC // City has founght skylights & solar panels in the past.

[Michael Walsh]

Zulu, point taken. The tidal waves of damage generated by recent tectonic shifts in the national and global economies have yet to wash over Eureka Springs in any substantial way. But it's only a matter of time. Finding ways to meld the resources we have (ie hotels, other lodgings, meeting centers and tourist facilities) with new income-producing enterprises will require creativity and initiative--on the local level. Nextgen technology might well be a good fit for the reasons you cite. But a meaningful shift toward new markets of any kind is not, IMO, likely to come from the top down (ie city/county government or the business establishment). If it comes at all (and I hope it will) it will come from individual entrepreneurs and small-scale start-up companies who just . . . well, do it. Like Eureka Gras, Diversity Weekends, some music festivals and car-fancier weekends, private creative entrepreneurs will have to get the ball rolling, demonstrate the potential and then hope the establishment gets on board.

[zuluxray]

Indy, your point is taken.

Small town management in general is probably too engaged in resolving individual and factional issues, on top of maintaining the existing infrastructure and keeping the peace, for macro-projects to get any traction. Might make more sense for Fay, with it's UA resources close by.

Still, the consensus seems to be developing that .gov is going to be playing a much bigger role in the future economy than .com, and as old Lao Tzu has it, a little effort at the right time can have a much bigger effect that a lot of effort at the wrong time.

Hey, I just wrote my epitaph.

[seriously?]

announced today, a company Dow owns, Hemlock Semiconductor, is coming to Clarksville, TN to build a $1.2 billion manf plant..they will make polycrystalline silicon, the raw material needed to make wafers for solar panels....I think they are investing a billion or so in their plant in Michigan also