Solar Investment Credit FINALLY Passed!

The House of Representatives has just passed what may be the largest bit of renewable energy legislation in the history of the world. Over the next eight years, this 30% tax credit for solar energy will create 440,000 permanent jobs, 35 gigawatts of renewable electricity, and foster the growth of a $300 billion market for solar energy.

So I guess I was being too cynical when I wrote last week that I thought the 8-year extension of the Solar Investment Tax Credit was going to stall out in the House because the bailout package would eat all of this session's remaining time. In the end, they just stuck the legislation into the bailout package, and it passed.

For those of you complaining about the DOE's measly $17M investment in solar companies earlier this week, this should please all, since it's going to pump billions of dollars into the solar industry.

The bill does a few things:

• Extends for 8 years the 30-percent tax credit for both residential and commercial solar installations
• Eliminates the $2,000 monetary cap for residential solar electric installations, creating a true 30-percent tax credit (effective for property placed in service after December 31, 2008)
• Eliminates the prohibition on utilities from benefiting from the credit
• Authorizes $800 million for clean energy bonds for renewable energy generating facilities, including solar

The bill has been widely touted as a win-win for America, but congress struggled for over two years to pass because they couldn't figure out how to pay for it. General Electric has said that the tax credit will more than pay for itself by encouraging companies to spend money and grow the solar industry. Several companies vowed to leave the United States entirely, and move their operations elsewhere, if the bill was not passed.

By the time this tax credit expires in 2016, the solar industry (and EcoGeek) expects solar power to be the least expensive form of energy. And without the heroic actions of the House of Representatives today, this simply would not have happened.

So yes, this is big frikkin' news...and very exciting. For the full press release from SEIA keep reading.

Federal Solar Tax Credits Extended for 8 Years, US Poised to Become Largest Solar Market in the World

Industry Leaders Forecast Dramatic Growth in the U.S. Solar Market by 2016 with Extension of Credit

WASHINGTON – Today, by a vote of 263-171 , the U.S. House of Representatives passed historic legislation that extends the 30-percent federal investment tax credit for both residential and commercial solar installations for 8 years. This landmark legislation is part of H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, designed to address the U.S. financial crisis. It is the most significant federal policy ever enacted for the solar industry. President Bush has vowed to sign the bill into law. The Senate passed the bill on Wednesday night.

“This bill is a major step in our long journey toward energy independence and ensures that solar energy will be a significant part of America’s energy future,” said SEIA president Rhone Resch. “This long-term extension of the solar tax credits will create a domestic solar industry with hundreds of thousands of jobs while providing clean, affordable, carbon-free energy to millions of American families, businesses, and communities.”

“On behalf of the 60,000 Americans employed by the solar energy industry, we would like to thank Leaders Reid and McConnell and Senators Baucus, Grassley, Cantwell and Ensign for their dogged support of the solar tax credit extension. In the House we are thankful to Leaders Pelosi, Hoyer, Boehner, and Blunt, and Chairman Rangel, Ranking Republican McCrery and Rep. Camp among many others who have long worked to bring solar energy to the mainstream. These leaders have broken through partisan politics and have provided a bright future for solar energy in the United States,” said Resch     

“By passing this bill, Congress has finally given the solar energy industry ‘policy certainty’ that will attract investment, expand manufacturing and lower the cost of solar energy to consumers,” said Roger Efird, SEIA chairman and president of Suntech America, a leading Chinese solar power manufacturing company. “This will allow companies like mine to move forward with expansion plans to serve the growing U.S. market.”

“This bill puts the sun to work for every American,” added Resch. “And by 2016, we expect solar energy to be the least expensive source of electricity for consumers.”

The solar investment tax credit (ITC) provisions will:

· Extend for 8 years the 30-percent tax credit for both residential and commercial solar installations;

· Eliminate the $2,000 monetary cap for residential solar electric installations, creating a true 30-percent tax credit (effective for property placed in service after December 31, 2008);

· Eliminate the prohibition on utilities from benefiting from the credit;

· Allow Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) filers, both businesses and individuals, to take the credit;

· Authorize $800 million for clean energy bonds for renewable energy generating facilities, including solar.

The solar tax credits were originally enacted in the 2005 and have created unprecedented growth in the U.S. The amount of solar electric capacity installed in 2007 was double that installed in 2006.

“Over the last 2 years, these tax credits have turned the solar industry from a small, cottage industry into an economic engine for America. Electricians, plumbers, roofers and construction workers can now get back to work. These jobs are the backbone of the American economy and the solar industry is creating them at a time when they are needed the most,” said Resch.   

According to a new economic study by Navigant Consulting, Inc., the 8-year extension of the ITC will create 440,000 permanent jobs and unleash $325 billion in private investment in the solar industry. This study did not factor in elimination of $2,000 monetary cap on the residential credit, so the actual job creation and investment could be even greater.

“This is a big boost for the residential market in particular, allowing homeowners to contribute to our nation’s energy independence,” said Efird. “It also opens the floodgates for building large, utility-scale solar power projects that need longer timeframes to complete.”

To date, there are 27 such utility-scale solar power projects totaling 5,400 megawatts of power in various stages of development; most were on hold due to uncertainty surrounding the expiring tax credits.

Because solar energy components are manufactured near their markets, this extension will create manufacturing and installation jobs in all 50 states. The states that will enjoy the largest economic boost are California, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and Washington.

Similarly, the economies of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and the rest of the Great Lakes region will grow significantly as a result of the extension. This area of the country has suffered greatly from a huge decline in jobs in the automotive and traditional manufacturing industries.

According to the same study, more than 28 gigawatts of electricity will be produced from solar energy by 2016 – enough to power more than 7 million homes.

“Success has not come easy. It required a strategic campaign that included dedicated SEIA staff, a committed board, and active membership all focused on one goal. It took seven votes in the House and 10 votes in the Senate, but in the end, Congress came through. This effort has established SEIA as a major energy player on Capitol Hill,” said Resch. “We have a lot of opportunity in front of us and will be back next year to work on critical issues such as transmission infrastructure, renewable electricity standards, and combating global warming.”

EcoGeek - Clean Technology

Stargate Worlds Closed Beta Begins October 15

Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment has announced that the closed beta test for their upcoming Stargate MMO, Stargate Worlds, will begin on October 15 for the first group of testers. But if you're not already among that first group and still want in, don't fret -- sign-ups are still open, and new players will be added down the line.

To get in, simply head over to their official registration page and create a new account. "From now until launch, everything we do is about polish and fun," said Stargate Worlds studio head Dan Elggren. "We've laid a great foundation for the beta testers and their feedback is a vital part of the game development process."

Based on the (relatively?) popular sci-fi series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Worlds is set to launch for the PC in early 2009. If you do indeed get into the closed beta, feel free to play it while being comfortable and furious in your very own recliner of rage.

Stargate Worlds Closed Beta Begins October 15

Drivers Could Get Discounted Insurance by Gaming

Insurance company Allstate is exploring a new program that would reward the players of specialized video games with lower auto insurance rates, CNN reports.

The company will soon begin testing the effectiveness of the games in accident prevention through a study of 100,000 Pennsylvania drivers between the ages of 50 and 75. The likelihood of an auto accident is said to climb when drivers reach their mid-60s.

Developed by Posit Science, the computer games are "designed to reverse age-related cognitive decline and improve visual alertness," according to the report. In-game activities go beyond driving activities, with one, Jewel Diver, requiring players to follow the movement of a jewel and deduce where it is hidden after fish fill the screen.

With the help of Posit, Allstate will track the total amount of hours played and then compare the accident rates of gamers to non-gamers. Allstate suggests drivers play for at least 10 hours, and will decide next year if the program goes nationwide.

Drivers Could Get Discounted Insurance by Gaming - Shacknews

NASA at 50: The Shuttle, Space Station and Beyond

One vehicle's operative life is coming to a close, while the other's is still in its formative stages. Their legacies will be inexorably linked: Without the space shuttle, delivery and assembly of the International Space Station's (ISS) key components would have been difficult at best, and probably could not have happened.

And while the jury is still out as to whether history will deem the space station a success, the shuttle almost certainly will be remembered for its dramatic failures as much as the significant accomplishments its yeoman-like crews achieved

since Columbia first flew in April 1981.

In the meantime, there is enough work to go around for both the shuttle and the ISS. Before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010, their crews are scheduled to fly nine more missions to the station.

Five will involve installation of new equipment; two are more akin to space-borne teamster jobs, hauling supplies and parts.

Shortly thereafter, the Constellation program, with its Ares launch vehicle and Orion spacecraft, will be ready to take over the mission of carrying people into space for the next 30 to 40 years and expand the limits of the space frontier beyond low Earth orbit

The ISS, fully complete by then, will assume the shuttle's role as an orbiting laboratory.

At that point, the space shuttle will be relegated to museums, where the first thoughts that will come to most visitors' minds will no doubt involve the catastrophic losses of Challenger in January 1986 and Columbia in February 2003.

Such reactions may be overly simplistic, but they are understandable in the eyes of some who were close to the shuttle program.

"The shuttle is a remarkable technological achievement, but it is an equally remarkable policy mistake," says John Logsdon, the chairman of the Space Policy Institute at The George Washington University in Washington and a former member of the NASA Advisory Council. He also served on the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

The key error was the collective belief of the shuttle's champions that "it could be a system that could operate inexpensively, routinely, and with a high level of safety," Logsdon says. "It met none of those objectives."

An "incredible ship"

Those shortcomings are recognized within NASA — hence the willingness throughout the agency to embrace Administrator Mike Griffin's push toward Constellation as the next logical step toward the return to the Moon and the first trip to Mars.

The shuttle is an "incredible ship," says Mike Hawes, program integration manager at NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate. "It launches like a rocket, flies like a satellite, lands like a plane, and has cargo capacity — particularly a return cargo capacity that's huge."

With the shuttle, NASA learned how to mechanize regular access to space, and came to terms with both the good and bad challenges of reusable spacecraft, Hawes says. Until scramjet and ramjet technology gets off the drawing boards and test bays and joins flight lines, the shuttle remains the only fully hypersonic vehicle ever to fly regularly and carry crews and payloads as well. The data on high-speed aerodynamics collected during shuttle missions will serve the designers and engineers of future ultrafast winged aircraft well, he said.

The shuttle also performed well when called upon to support missions to build the space station, Hawes says, providing a platform for extravehicular activity as well as deployment for space arms and other complicated assemblies.

"But we learned it was a very expensive machine to operate, care and feed," Hawes says. "And another thing — because of its long life cycle and small numbers — the total production run of orbiters being five — there are unique challenges in maintaining an industrial base."

The shuttle's unmet aspirations can be traced to the unrealistic conglomeration of functions it was supposed to perform from the beginning, says Howard E. McCurdy, a professor of public affairs at American University in Washington and author of white papers that outline how NASA could operate more efficiently.

"It's important to keep in mind the huge controversy, going back to the 1950s, whether a spacecraft should have wings," says McCurdy. "Should it have a ballistic shape? We go back and forth on that."

Fixed-wing advocates prevailed, McCurdy says, convincing decision- makers that "the X-15 plus reusability equals one-tenth of the cost" of reaching space. Future generations of shuttles were supposed to do the job even better, he says, recalling former NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin's hopes of someday deploying shuttles back and forth from space with the reliability of combat fighter aircraft.

Further complicating matters, McCurdy says, "The project was in a perpetual state of redesign — not just by the engineers, but by the people who were providing the money." Engineers were "driven crazy," he says, by the responses they would receive from contractors, field engineers, even political types, who had the audacity to come back with submissions of drawings with their own ideas of what the craft should look like.

"As they say on Capitol Hill, it [was] the only train in the station. It involved large amounts of money, infrequent new starts. Everybody gets involved," McCurdy says.

At that point, projects like the shuttle take on the characteristics of any big undertaking. Because so many people have so many different objectives, it became unwieldy and hard to manage.

"The same thing was true with the space station in the beginning," McCurdy says. While some supporters wanted the ISS to carry hangars for satellites, others wanted space telescopes. The two are mutually exclusive, he says; you cannot have a space telescope on one end of a platform and somebody banging on some piece of hardware in a satellite bay on the other end.

That collective mentality is "one of the reasons why we spent tens of billions of dollars on the space station but got nothing but a bunch of Power Point presentations," McCurdy says.

A city in space

Now, as the ISS takes shape, it is emerging as a significant milestone in the history of cooperative ventures among nations.

The space station's scientific missions, from the U.S. standpoint, chiefly surround resolving issues related to survival in space. Until we learn how to reduce bone mass loss and mitigate the potentially deadly effects of long-term exposure to radiation, there will be no manned missions to Mars.

"But we can talk about science all we want, but really, international relations are the most important thing," says Roger D. Launius, the curator of the National Air and Space Museum and former chief historian at NASA. "That 16 nations [came] together to build the thing peacefully is a very significant development. It never happened in past human history, and quite frankly this may be the end of it, [given] the strife in the world and new strains between us and Russia."

The collaboration may appear touchy-feely to laypersons, but to engineers and scientists it is anything but. Construction and deployment of Canada's shuttle arm, the European space laboratory and the Japanese science missions meant that the task at hand became "truly multilateral," says Hawes.

Adding the entry of Russia into the mix in the early 1990s led to appropriate increases in potential complications to the matrix. U.S. and Russian teams had to learn to communicate in each other's language of program management and engineering.

"We learned there is no one formula to doing [international] partnerships," Hawes says. "What do you mean when you're talking about 'verification?' How do you test for structural strength? We found as we integrated the Russians that some [methods] are similar and some are different. Once we got past the language issue, we were able to build hardware that works once it gets into space, without ever seeing its physical counterpart on the ground."

The science, Hawes believes, will sort itself out after the ISS expands to a six-person crew, up from the present three.

"We'll have much larger capacity to do science both in terms of increased test subjects in which the crew is part of our experiment, and also the crew time to apply to a broader range of experiments," Hawes says.

SPACE.com -- NASA at 50: The Shuttle, Space Station and Beyond

Nanoparticles Can Slip Through Skin, Researchers Find

Are all those nanoparticle cosmetics really safe?

If there is one category of objects classed as the bleeding edge of modern science, it is nanoparticles. From the ever-popular carbon nanotube to the innocuous quantum dot, there doesn't seem to be anything that science can't find a useful nanoparticle for.

Many question the use of these microscopic heroes, however, as they are as of yet poorly understood in terms of what they may or may not do to human physiology after long term exposure. It is well-known that some nanoparticles can collect in various organs in the body and at least one study has shown that needle-like carbon nanotubes have a very similar effect to the much-feared asbestos particle when accumulated in the lungs.

A paper published by University of Rochester Medical Center researchers now confirms that at least one kind of nanoparticle can penetrate a human's most resistant line of defense against foreign particles: the skin. The group's study, which can be found in the September issue of Nano Letters, shows that quantum dots were able to pass through the skin of laboratory mice.

While quantum dots are some of the smallest manufacturable nanoparticles, the research raises concerns about the use of nanoparticles in consumer products like cosmetics and sunscreens. The research shows that not only can these dots pass through skin, but when skin has been exposed to ultraviolet light, like that from the Sun, it becomes much easier for them to do so. As many cosmetic products, especially sunscreen, are now harnessing the unique properties of nanoparticles, many are curious as to what effects may come of such seepage.

Though titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, two nanoparticles commonly used in cosmetics and sunscreens, are much large than quantum dots, Lisa DeLouise, Ph.D., the leader of the Rochester study, intends to continue studying how they may or may not be able to utilize the same vectors to enter the body. Funding from various centers and foundations has allowed DeLouise to expand her study for an additional three years.

Nanoparticle research will be important in the coming years as too little is understood about their affects on the body. As it stands, nanoparticles will be an important part of science in the next decade and it would be sincerely foolish to not understand all of the benefits and consequences their use may bring, intended or otherwise.

DailyTech - Nanoparticles Can Slip Through Skin, Researchers Find

New 'Nintendo DSi' Can Download Games, Take Pics, Play Music

Nintendo has just fired the latest salvo in the portable gaming wars.

Although the company's Nintendo DS Lite is still selling like gangbusters, even setting sales records, Nintendo said at a press conference Thursday that it will not wait for its popularity to wane. The Kyoto company will introduce a new model of its two-screened handheld, called Nintendo DSi, this November in Japan.

It's got bigger screens. It comes equipped with a small camera to take pictures. It can play music files. It can store all that content on an SD memory card. But most importantly, it's fully equipped for the digital distribution revolution. Just as Nintendo sells Wii games through its own direct-download store, so too will it begin selling Nintendo DS titles directly to consumers.

Some downloadable DSi software will be free, and some will be priced from $2 to $10, Nintendo said. The company is pursuing a gung-ho strategy to get DSi purchasers online with their handhelds and buying games -- it said it would give a free 1000 Nintendo Points (about $10 in online currency) to each DSi owner through the spring of 2010.

One of the first free applications that users can download from the DSi Shop is a web browser.

What the DSi is not is a brand-new gaming platform. It's a Nintendo DS with significant feature upgrades. While Nintendo has said that it will release software that is only playable on the DSi, it mostly just plays the same games as the current DS Lite.

So if you're not into the upgrades, you don't need to buy one.

There are actually two cameras on the device, one that faces outward (shown right) and one that faces inward, like a MacBook's camera. Nintendo says that the images the cameras snap are 300,000 pixels large, which works out to 640X480 resolution.

DSi can also play back audio, and you can alter the pitch and playback speed of the sound files you're playing.

An SD card slot sits on the right side of the machine, storing all the camera photos, music files, and games that you've added on to the system.

The DSi brings Nintendo's product offering closer to what rival Sony has with its PSP portable system, which has an optional camera attachment, robust media playback functionality, and can download games to Memory Stick media.

What it lacks is a Game Boy Advance game slot. So if you still want to play your old Pokemon games, you'll want to stick with the current DS Lite.

DSi will cost more than the DS Lite -- 18,900 yen, or about $185 -- and debut in Japan on November 1. Nintendo will release it outside Japan in 2009.

Nintendo will hold a U.S. media briefing Thursday morning at 9 a.m. Pacific, where it is expected to provide more details on the U.S. launch plans for DSi.

Images: Nintendo

New 'Nintendo DSi' Can Download Games, Take Pics, Play Music | Game | Life from Wired.com

Sign Up For Your Free Rock Band 2 Tracks

Want those 20 free downloadable tracks that Harmonix promised you when you bought Rock Band 2? They're just a few weeks away.

If you want to get them as soon as possible, you can sign up now. Head to the official site, and you can enter the code on the back of your Rock Band 2 manual. You'll have to fill out a survey and enter your email address -- come on, nothing is free -- and then click a confirmation link in the email they send you.

Once you've done that, all you need to do is sit back and wait for an email with a code that'll let you grab the tracks. While only Xbox 360 owners can do this right now, PlayStation 3 and Wii owners will also be able to enter their codes just as soon as their versions are on store shelves later this year.

Wait: Wii? You mean that Rock Band 2 for Wii will have downloadable tracks? Well, I'll be.

Sign Up For Your Free Rock Band 2 Tracks | Game | Life from Wired.com