According to the 8th annual PV status report from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, worldwide production of PV solar panels leapt to 7.3 GW in 2008, an 80% increase over 2007. They note that a significant slowdown in PV investment in the second half of 2008 and early 2009 started to reverse itself in the second quarter. China became the leading producer of solar cells with an annual production of about 2.4 GW, followed by Europe with 1.9 GW, Japan with 1.2 GW, and Taiwan with 0.8 GW. If production continues to grow at the 2009 rate, they predict China could have 32% of the world-wide PV production capacity by 2012. See the press release from JRC (PDF 157 KB).
World's Largest Solar Boat to Circumnavigate the Globe
The world's largest solar boat was unveiled on February 25 at a shipyard in Kiel, Germany. Called "PlanetSolar," the 102-foot catamaran is powered exclusively by high-efficiency solar cells manufactured by SunPower. The craft will begin testing in late March, about a year in advance of a planned round-the-world journey in April 2011. Constructed in 13 months, the boat is powered by about 38,000 deck-mounted solar cells, each with a 22% solar conversion efficiency. The cells cover about 5,382 square feet of the boat's surface.
The boat, designed by a team of international engineers working under the direction of PlanetSolar SA of Switzerland, is expected to be the fastest solar boat to cross the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the first to navigate both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Planned stopovers on the east-to-west voyage include Hamburg, Germany; London, England; Paris, France; New York, New York, and San Francisco, California, in the US; Singapore; and Abu Dhabi in the UAE. The solar boat will be available for public display during each of its stops.
PlanetSolar follows in the wake of the smaller solar-powered "sun21" catamaran, which averaged 5-6 knots (similar to a sail-powered yacht), on its 7,000-mile trans-Atlantic voyage from the Canary Islands to New York harbor in 2007. See the SunPower press release and the Web sites for PlanetSolar and sun21.
White House: Agencies Should Weigh GHG Emissions in NEPA Reviews
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced on February 18 that it's proposing steps to modernize and reinvigorate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), including the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts when evaluating proposed projects and actions.
NEPA provides the framework for nearly all environmental reviews performed by federal agencies, projects on federal lands, and projects over which the federal government has jurisdiction.
The draft guidance proposes that any project resulting in GHG emissions equivalent to 25,000 metric tons of CO2 or more per year should undergo a quantitative analysis of its environmental impacts. Specifically, agencies should consider reasonable alternatives to reduce GHG emissions. The guidance also instructs agencies how to assess the effects of climate change on their proposed actions. The draft guidance doesn't apply to land and resource management actions. The CEQ published a notice of the draft guidance documents in the Federal Register on February 23 and will accept public comments through May 24. See the CEQ press release, the draft guidance on climate change and GHG emissions (PDF 102 KB), and the Federal Register notice.
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EREE Network News is a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
