16-year-old Kelvin Doe -- Self-taught Inventor

          Kelvin Doe, a 16-year-old inventor from Sierra Leone, is known as the boy genius being both the youngest person to be awarded his country's presidential medal, and the youngest person ever offered a fellowship at MIT, where he spent a week as a visiting practitioner training MIT and Harvard undergraduates. He traveled 14 hours from Sierra Leone to attend the CGI conference this week.
          In middle school, the young boy would scavenge nearby trash yards in the capital of Freetown to find parts for his inventions. "I'd go to bed, then wake up after midnight," he told the audience with a laugh. "My mom would wake up most nights to see our living room transformed into a small electronic junkard." Doe had no formal engineering training, but he tinkered endlessly. "I just figured things out, just picked things and took them home and made things on my own. Sometimes it can take me a week, sometimes a month, but I just believe I can do it so I just keep on going."
          He first built small generators to solve what he views as his country's most pressing scarcity: electricity. "There was a problem affecting my community and I wanted to do something about it which was lack of transferred information from one community to another," he said. "I decided to a build a station for the people to be able to use to talk about issues, also educate people." After working as a radio engineer for his friends and neighbors, he'd pieced together enough skill and equipment to begin a radio station where he broadcast under the name DJ Focus. His inventive spirit only came under the spotlight when, just last year at age 15, he was discovered by a Sierra Leonean Ph.D. student at MIT during a high school innovation challenge.
           He is also currently working with Canadian provider Sierra Wifi to build solar panels and transmitters in all 400-odd schools and universities in Sierra Leone to power computers and bring Internet access to remote regions, all made possible by a $100,000 grant. Up next: a windmill prototype, which is a few months from being finished. "There are so many more problems I'd like to solve, how can human energy contribute to electricity."

A boy stands on a road at dawn in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on November 21, 2012

Reinstallment of Solar Panels on White House

          In 1979, former President Jimmy Carter had 32 solar panels installed on the White House but in the year 1989, President Reagan had them removed. Carter's panels have eventually found a place for them on a cafeteria at the Unity College in Maine, which one was also donated to the Jimmy Carter Museum.

Former President Jimmy Carter shown with the solar panels

 
           In 2008, shortly after President Obama's inauguration, a writer had written to President Obama that he should reinstall solar panels as a symbol for his commitment to encouraging the use of renewable energy. In September 2010, Bill McKibben and 350.org drove to Washington, D.C., with Jimmy Carter's original solar panels in an attempt to pressure President Obama to reinstall them. After initially denying the free solar panels, in October of 2010, the White House had announced they would install solar panels by Spring 2011. By that time, there was no sign of any solar activities until three years later whereas the White House is upholding their promise to do so.

Juliet Eilpern has reported in the Washington Post that "the White House official, who asked not to be identified because the installation is in process, wrote in an e-mail the project is 'a part of an energy retroit that will improve the overall energy efficiency of the building."

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Obama's Climate Action Plan: Domestic Renewable Energy

In his augural speech, Obama had announced he would double the production of renewable energy in the United States in the next three years

         Last week, President Obama had presented his Climate Action Plan. The goals for the plan are as follows: to reduce greenhouse emissions, especially carbon; to prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change; and to lead international efforts to prevent global warming. Renewable energy is the key component to the plan, whereas the growth of clean energy sources are steadily increasing.
        President Obama had expressed his enthusiasm in his speech that "over the past four years, we've doubled the electricity that we generate from zero-carbon wind and solar power." He continued, "jobs installing the solar panels that now generate more than four times the power at less cost than just a few years ago." Wind has also shown exponential growth over the years: "jobs manufacturing the wind turbines that now generate enough electricity to power nearly 15 million homes." Moreover, "75% of all wind energy in the country is generated in Republican districts."
        Tom Kieran, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, had praised President Obama's climate speech, stating "We welcome the President's initiative to proceed with climate actions focused at this time on executive agencies." "American workers," he added, "make nearly 70% of the equipment deployed here and wind power is more affordable than ever, protecting electric consumers with 25-year contracts and no risk of fuel price shocks."

President Obama Commits to Solar Power Investments

President Obama discusses about solar power to the audience during a stop in Nevada. Solar power will be part of a new initiative to bring electricity to millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.

          Along with more than $9 billion in private investments, the United States will be committing more than $7 billion in the next five years towards bringing electricity to millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa, President Obama had said on Sunday in South Africa. "Access to electricity is fundamental to opportunity in this age," Obama said in announcing the solar initiative, known as Power Africa. "It's the light that children study by, the energy that allows an idea to be transformed into a real business. It's the lifeline for families to meet their most basic needs. And it's the connection that's needed to plug Africa into the grid of the global economy."
        Sub-Saharan Africa compromises 48 nations. Among the countries to be targeted initially are Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania. "These countries have set ambitious goals in electric power generation and are making the utility and energy sector reforms to pave the way for investment and growth," the White House said. The more than $7 billion in United States investment will include up to $5 billion in support from the United States Export-Import Bank.
       "More than two-thirds of the residents of sub-Saharan Africa lack access to power," the president said. "In rural areas of the region, more than 85% of people don't have electricity. Power Africa will deliver electricity to cities, villages, and farms throughout sub-Saharan Africa." According to the International Energy Agency, sub-Saharan Africa will need more than $300 billion in investment to provide power for everyone by 2030. "Power Africa will supply electricity to at least 20 million households and businesses," the White House said.

Elementary School Solar Power Field -- $1 Million?

      Located in Warren County, New Jersey, Pohatcong Township Elementary School's officials have been discussing and reviewing bids for a $1.05 million solar field that could possibly save the school more than $90,000 annually on electric costs. According to Superintendent Diane Mandry, the ground-mounted photovoltaic field will help provide nearly all of the school's electricity and result in approximately $96,000 in annual savings. "The Pohatcong School District is excited about being able to incorporate a solar field that will produce a significant portion of the district's electric needs for the next 25 years, thus saving a substantial amount in operating expenses," said Mandry.
      The district had went out to bid for the project last month and had received a total of eight proposals from contractors, with bids ranging as high as $1.72 million. The lowest bid, however, was of $1,048,434 from Flemington-based Advanced Solar Products, Inc., although the school board is still in the process of formally accepting the bid. "The project will be funded through the school's district's capital reserve fund," Mandry said.
      "The solar field would be constructed on 2 acres in a field just north of the school and would include 1,694 solar panels on ground-mounted arrays," said Mandry. According to Advanced Solar Products President Lyle Rawlings, those panels will generate approximately 625,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. "In addition to the electricity cost-savings, the district stands to gain additional money by selling solar energy certificates to electricity suppliers," Rawlings said. Such suppliers are required to secure a portion of their electricity from solar generators. However, they also have the option of buying certificates to use as credits towards those requirements.
        "The school will be able to sell them and get substantial revenue," Rawlings said. "In fact, the revenue it would generate probably would be on the same order of magnitude as the power itself." Mandry had also noted that based on the average value of those certificates  last year, this project would have generated about $57,000 in revenue.

Pohatcong Township Elementary School

Uruguay Plans Cheap Solar Energy!

       The South American nation, Uruguay, is offering contracts to buy power equivalent to 200 megawatts of solar farms at the world's cheapest rates. Ramon Mendez, a director of energy at the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, has remarked that President Jose Mujica is planning to sign a decree that will require Uruguay's national power utility to purchase electricity from projects at a set rate of $90 a megawatt hour. The nation plans to produce some of the world's cheapest energy, referring mostly to solar and wind energy projects.
         China is offering Uruguay $160 a megawatt hour while Germany offers $154.33 a megawatt hour. Four months after the decree is passed, developers have the opportunity of proposing offers at a first-come first-serve basis. Mendez recalls that three companies have already proclaimed in selling at the price of $90 a megawatt hour. However, if the offers fail, they will plan to wait another couple of years until the equipment prices drop and they will try again.
        The decree that is to be issued also calls for a bid of developing a 1-megawatt and a 5-megawatt plant. Both these projects are to provide the national power utility power for 25 years at a price. Though this decree is currently in circulation, 80% of the nation's electricity is derived from hydroelectric power plants, costing on average $80 a megawatt hour. In a 2011 auction, Uruguay was offered a contract of  power at $63 a megawatt hour from wind developers. This nation has many projects in development to sustain their population as a low-cost nation.

Shopping for Solar Panels are easy!

      Are you interested in obtaining a solar panel onto your rooftop to save money on those utility bills that just never seems like it's going to end? Well, maybe this will help your matters: there is a new free online solar panel shopping service that can help you research and shop for solar power systems from solar power companies that will offer the best incentives for you.
      It is known as the Online Solar PV Marketplace, which Distributed Energy Research & Solutions, Inc. (EnergySage) had announced and released recently. It has been developed for the convenience of interested consumers, forming an open-market platform between potential customers and solar panel installers and for President Obama's Sunspot Initiative. The term "sunspot" has been formed as the President's call for a "Sputnik movement" to stimulate American innovation as the foundation for economic revival. It originally was developed in the year 2011 to make solar power as cheap and accessible as fossil fuels. Simply put, it tries to obtain information for potential solar consumers, which as said, Online Solar PV Marketplace offers.
     Because of this development which no longer barricades the opportunities between solar consumers and solar providers, EnergySage has been awarded $500,000 from the Department of Energy as a Sunshot startup investment. "EnergySage is thrilled to receive this Sunshot award," said Vikram Aggarwal, CEO of EnergySage. He also claims "by making it easier for consumers to navigate the solar PV system purchase process, we are lowering customer acquisition costs, lowering prices, helping installers improve profitability and ultimately, expanding the market exponentially."
     As you may be curious in the shopping experience, it opens as you take an online survey to outline relevant details about your property. You are, then, able to list your property on the marketplace and EnergySage's preselected network of solar companies will start bidding on your job. Instead of having to compare different types of variables from different companies, you will receive all bids in clear, standard format for easy access to be able to decipher. EnergySage only participates in this relationship by obtaining a small commission fee from the solar companies, which you do not have to worry about because the marketplace is, once again, free for use to businesses, nonprofit organizations, or even residential buildings.
     Check the marketplace out here to start looking!