21st Century Essential Guide to the Solar America Initiative and the Million Solar Roofs Program - Integrated Research by the Department of Energy (Ringbound)

This up-to-date ringbound book presents a collection of important documents and publications about the Solar America Initiative (SAI) of the U.S. Department of Energy. The SAI is an effort to make solar energy cost-competitive with conventional forms of electricity by 2015. The Solar America Initiative is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) effort to make solar energy cost-competitive with conventional forms of electricity by 2015. The strategy pursues complementary activities in research and development (R&D) and in market transformation. The goals are to reduce costs through R&D and to eliminate market barriers through deployment. To achieve its goals, the Solar America Initiative partners with: Industry, Universities, State governments, Federal agencies, other non-governmental agencies. Benefits to the nation of the Solar America Initiative include: Boosting the economy by creating a U.S.-based solar industry; Increasing energy security by diversifying the nation's electricity portfolio; Decreasing the effect of power outages on cities; Reducing the impact on the environment of power generation from fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and natural gas. By 2015, photovoltaics will provide 5 to 10 gigawatts of new electric capacity (enough to power 1 to 2 million homes) to the U.S. grid, and avoid 10 million metric tons per year of carbon dioxide emissions. There is extensive coverage of solar energy, solar heating and lighting, solar concentrating technology, and photovoltaic (PV) solar power cells. Million Solar Roofs Initiative (MSR) - the goal of the MSR was to transform markets for distributed solar technologies by facilitating the installation of solar systems. This necessitated a diffuse, essentially grassroots, program approach. In contrast, SAI's goal of achieving cost parity with conventional electricity generation by 2015 demands a distinctly different programmatic approach and an accelerated pace of marketplace acceptance. Nevertheless, lessons learned in MSR have relevance to SAI. Moreover, an important part of MSR's legacy is the 971 partners nationwide that constitute advocates who are schooled in the technologies and knowledgeable about their local and regional markets. This marketplace expertise will be useful in SAI. Between 1997 and 2005, 94 coalitions across the country signed on with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as official MSR partnerships. These partnerships comprised 971 private sector firms, electric utilities, builder-developers, nonprofit organizations, and governmental entities-all voluntarily committed to facilitate the installation of a specified number of "solar roofs." Contents include: Market Transformation and Distributed Solar Technology Diffusion * Best Practices * Addressing Barriers to Technology Acceptance * Market Expansion Efforts * Million Solar Roofs: The Program * Program Design and Operational Approach * Partnerships * Best Programmatic Practices * Conclusions and Recommendations * Million Solar Roofs Products and Documents * Barriers and Million Solar Roofs Partnership Accomplishments * Categories of Million Solar Roofs Partners * Technology Overview * Technology Development Strategy * Program Activities * Systems Analysis * Photovoltaic Systems * Concentrating Solar Power Systems * Technology Evaluation * Market Transformation * Program Activities Chart * Acronyms * Contacts, Resources