1. Wake up to the power of solar
Ron Swenson, SolarQuest®
United Nations Association
Monterey, California
April 21, 2007

2. The Elevator Speech
Solar (renewable) energy is the only way to stop global warming ... and mitigate oil depletion.
The Hydrogen Economy is a farce.
The Biofuel movement (Biodiesel, Ethanol (including Brazil’s sugar cane and fantasmagorical Cellulosic), is a boondoggle that will utterly destroy our farmlands and forests.
Only solar energy will do the job. Solar is sufficient for households, commerce, industry and transportation percent!

3. Three Kinds of People Those who make it happen!
Those who watch it happen.
Those who wonder what happened?
For starters, so you won’t have to wonder ….

4. My goal tonight is to help….
Dispel the myths
Bountiful oil
The hydrogen economy
Oil substitutes (tar sands, shale, coal-to-liquids)
The biofuel bonanza…
Demonstrate the potential of solar energy…
And challenge each of you to take action – to mitigate global warming and oil depletion.
There are incredible advantages to being ahead of the game!

5. Wishful Thinking: Energy Futures
Source: Bill Reinert, ASPO Boston, 2006 October
Used with permission by Peter Wells
Diversity of energy resources is increasing in line with growing energy demands

6. Luckily, folks around here know peak oil is coming…
Source: Colin J. Campbell,

7. For example: Mexican oil is fading…
Cantarell, one of the world’s Big 4 Fields, is dropping fast.
Cantarell offshore facility

8. So what about Alberta’s Tar Sands?

9. Money talks … but Energy Return on Energy Invested is critical.
Input
Output
Ethanol from corn ?
Kerogen from marlstone;
oil from tar sands ?
Society runs on Net Energy—what’s left over after we extract or produce the energy—not on Gross Energy. The dark barrels equal the amount of produced energy (equivalent) that must be used to produce the next gross output of energy. We built the society to run on large-return energy sources: oil at 1 input, 30 output or more. Running the same society on 1 input, 1.3 output (ethanol from corn) is fundamentally impossible.
U. S. oil industry today

10. Am I missing something?! So what about Hydrogen?
Start with a perfectly good unit of energy… and then..
Am I missing something?!
Energy Return on Energy Invested < ½

11. So what about Corn Cars & Bean Buses?

12. California Bioenergy Action Plan

13. Primary Energy Use and Production

14. High Heat Value*: Crops
* High Heat Value: The best you can do

15. High Heat Value: Green Remainder

16. High Heat Value: Total Above Ground

17. Projected Impacts of Climate Change

18. More likely, the All-New DonCar!

19. So what about Plug-In Hybrids??

20. US Gasoline Addiction: Undeniable

21. US Gasoline Addiction: Unsustainable

22. Vehicle Weight Determines MPG

23. Back to the subject of Peak Oil

24. “… solar power ... works, though not nearly as well as fossil fuel …
The Long Emergency
“… solar power ... works, though not nearly as well as fossil fuel …
James Howard Kunstler

25. Oil Addiction: The World in Peril
“But all of them combined -- sun, wind, and water -- could never produce enough energy to replace the astronomical amounts of fossil fuel the West is consuming...”
Pierre Chomat

26. Global Solar Energy Balance
Solar Energy Input (TeraWatts)
178,000
Reflected to Space Immediately
53,000
Absorbed and Then Reflected as Heat
82,000
Used to Evaporate Water (Weather)
40,000
Captured by Plant Photosynthesis
100
Total Energy Used by Human Society 13
Total Energy Used by US Society
2.5
Total Human Food Energy
0.6
99.99% of our energy is Solar and 0.01% is created by humanity.

27. 120,000 TW of solar energy received by the Earth
Source: Chu, Steve, Solutions to the energy problem, Asia Pacific Partnership Conference, Claremont Hotel, Berkeley,

28. Total Area Required for a PV Power Plant to Produce the Total US Electrical Demand
Source: J. A. Turner, “A Realizable Renewable Energy Future”, Science, 285, p 5428 (1999). “We will first address the question ‘Can we really supply all our energy needs from renewable energy?’ The power of renewable energy can easily be shown using the United States as an example. The US is the world largest energy consumer, total US annual electrical demand for 1997 was about 3.2 x 1012 kWh (representing 25% of the World’s consumption). If we assume flat fixed-plate collectors covering only half of the available land area with a system efficiency of 10% (current commercial technology), a PV array 104 miles (166 km) on a side (~10,900 sq. miles, km2), placed in southwest Nevada, would over one year supply all this energy. This area represent less than 0.4% of the available land area of the United States. A system efficiency of 15%, which should be available in the next 3-5 years, would drop the area to 7200 sq. miles. If we add wind to the energy mix, this area for PV grows smaller, if we add geothermal, smaller still, if we add hydro smaller still, …the point is clear, we can gather more than enough renewable energy to power our society and yet have an abundance of renewable resources available for future growth. Also one should note that wind alone or solar thermal alone could also provide all our electrical energy needs. The area of the Nevada test site is approximately 5000 sq mi.” [J A Turner, Solar World Congress, Orlando, FL, 2005 August]

29. The Biggest Stretch: Solar Transportation
Shall we continue to defy nature, trying to transform solar energy into something you can put in a tank?
Or shall we move on, and advance to the next generation of transportation?

30. Compare PV to Biofuels

31. Personal Rapid Transit (Podcars)

32. Podcars can be powered 100% by solar

33. Eliminate Parasitic Mass

34. Under construction in Uppsala, Sweden

35. Similar Solar Systems Exist
Source: A Hybrid Policy Model to Ensure Sustained PV Market Growth, Dan Shugar, President, Powerlight, Aug 9, 2005

36. Compare Solar to Gasoline at $2.50/gallon25
mpg, average fleet mileage
27,000
passengers per day to match
2.0
people/vehicle
13,500
vehicles/day
x $2.50
/gallon fuel price
= $33,750
Cost to travel fleet mileage daily
$ 12,318,750
Annual cost to travel fleet mileage
$ 45,000,000
Cost of solar to cover fleet mileage
= 3.7
years, Payback for solar system to offset gasoline

37. One Plug for Plug-In Hybrids: V2G Buffers Renewables

38. So what about end use appliances?

39. Which is the MicroComputer?
Combining solar with energy conservation is essential.

40. So what about buildings?

41. Typical Building Orientations
Orientation to South creates light and warmth in winter with shade in summer.
South-East and South-West elevations overheat in summer and produce inadequate heat in winter.
South

42. Remedies for Harsher Façades
Orient main axis East-West and minimize East / West elevations.
Just say No! to South-East and South-West orientations.
South

43. Unique Requirements for North Elevation
reduced window size
insulating hard-coat low-e glass
lets in more north sky light
South

44. Unique Requirements for East and West Elevations
reduced window size
insulating soft coat low-e glass
exterior shades
South

45. Unique Requirements for South Elevation
overhang provides shade in summer
insulating hard-coat low-e glass
allows high heat gain in winter
South

46. Remedies for SW & SE Elevations
What if a South-East or South-West elevation cannot be avoided?
South

47. In conclusion…
In this new game, there are incredible advantages to being first!

48. Plantronics, Santa Cruz
Real Estate Strategies & Solutions, Project Developer
Barry Swenson Builder, General Contractor
ElectroRoof, Project Integrator
Owens Electric and Solar, System Installer
Central Coating Company, Roofer
Solar Technologies, Panel supplier

49. Non-Oil, Power Exporting …
not to mention the numerous farmers now employed in growing hay for horses.[B]oat builders would suffer and towline, whip, and harness makers would be left destitute. Martin van Buren, Governor of New York, April
If canal boats are supplanted by railroads, serious unemployment will result …
If canal boats are supplanted by railroads, serious unemployment will result …
not to mention the numerous farmers now employed in growing hay for horses.[B]oat builders would suffer and towline, whip, and harness makers would be left destitute. Martin van Buren, Governor of New York, April
...not to mention the numerous farmers now employed in growing hay for horses.
Van Buren 1832
8th President
...not to mention the numerous farmers now employed in growing hay for horses.
Van Buren 1832
8th President
Non-Oil, Power Exporting …
Countries…(Sweden, Iceland..)
Cities… (Santa Cruz?)
Colleges… (UCSC?)
Companies… (ElectroRoof, 3 BOE/day)
Citizens… (You and I?)
To learn how, let’s go back to the future…

50. Thomas Edison
“I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait 'til oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”
( )

51. SolarQuest®