American Yossi Abramowitz, Kibbutz Ketura member Ed Hoflind, and their US-based partner David Rosenblatt have built Ketura Sun, Israel’s first commercial solar energy field. On these twenty acres of land in the Negev desert, 18500 photo-voltaic plates convert the sun’s energy into electricity. Only 1% of Israel’s electricity currently comes from renewable energy sources, but entrepreneurs like Abramowitz hope to change that. With funding from Siemens, Ketura Sun began operating last June, and it now generates nearly five megawatts for the national grid at peak performance. Although it’s a fraction of Israeli’s daily peak usage of 11000 megawatts, the Arava Power Company plans to build 50 more solar fields in the next five years. This is expected to greatly alleviate Eilat’s dependence on diesel. Israel has a national goal to generate 10% of its electricity using renewable sources by 2020, which will be 2.76 gigawatts. There is also an interim goal of 1.6 gigawatts by 2014, and the government expects 460 megawatts from solar power. Arava has plans for 500 megawatts capacity, and competitors are expected to add a further 1000 megawatts. This puts the country largely on schedule for the 2014 and 2020 targets, although some say the government is not doing enough. However, solar energy is still more expensive than natural gas, and analysts say removing restrictions on solar energy fields could result in price increases for consumers. SOT Arava Power Company President Yossi …

Andrew Swapp is a veteran and shop teacher, who started teaching the first renewable energy class in the State of Utah. Swapp brought his message to Washington where he told lawmakers about the jobs created by wind industry.

Power through the roof! New technology in wind energy has arrived. www.vortexwindfunnel.com

www.washingtontimes.com American Wind Energy Association executives Jimmy Glotfelty, Steven R. Trenholm and Denise Bode talk to The Washington Times about tax credits and job loss.

FREMONT (CBS 5) — After filing for bankruptcy last year, Fremont solar company Solyndra still owes American taxpayers half a billion dollars. But CBS 5 caught them destroying millions of dollars worth of parts. At Solyndra’s sprawling complex in Fremont, workers in white jumpsuits were unwrapping brand new glass tubes used in solar panels last week. They are the latest, most cutting-edge solar technology, and they are being thrown into dumpsters. Forklifts brought one pallet after another piled high with the carefully packaged glass. Slowly but surely it all ended up shattered. And it’s not a few loads. Hundreds of thousands of tubes on shrink-wrapped pallets will meet a similar demise. Solyndra paid at least million for the specialized glass. A CBS 5 crew found one piece lying in the parking lot. Solyndra still owes the German company that made the tubes close to another million. So why is a bankrupt company that owes a fortune to creditors, including American taxpayers, throwing away millions of dollars worth of assets? Solyndra is not commenting. But court documents reveal the company received permission from the bankruptcy trustee to abandon the high grade glass, the court agreeing that it was of “inconsequential value” because the cost of storing them exceeds their value. An employee for Heritage Global Partners, the company in charge of selling Solyndra’s assets, told CBS 5 they conducted an exhaustive search for buyers but no one wanted them. But how …

AWEA CEO Denise Bode explains what membership with the American WInd Energy Association can mean for your business.

13-year-old Aidan Dwyer developed a new way to collect solar energy, and along the way sparked a fierce debate among scholars and scientists. He joins the News Hub to tell his story.

This year’s last meeting of Lenox, Massachusett’s Wind Energy Research Panel took place on 12-29-2011. A quorum was gained by the last minute arrival of Jaimie Cahillaine, the only pro-wind panel member who showed up. Chris Magee, Jo Anne Magee, Chan Gibson were attending on the pro-ridge side and Selectman Ken Fowler moderated. Because things were so lopsided, the meeting focused on process and scheduling issues. Members of the public audience were allowed to speak at the end and the comments were universally against Lenox going forward with the industrial wind project.

150+ Fox News Bias videos at www.youtube.com Fox News reporter Laura Ingle’s story about a New Jersey power company’s installation of 200000 solar panels on utility polls heavily concentrated on the views of critics, even talking to local critics while ignoring twice as many local residents gathered who supported solar panels, to falsely frame the issue as the people vs the power company and state mandates, as I show in this video. The clips I show of Laura Ingle, the residents of Dumont, NJ, and Paul Rosengren of Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) come from a longer segment of Fox News’ June 8, 2011, broadcast of “Happening Now” which is available online at bit.ly The image I use of my previous video titled “Fox News Hates Trains?” comes from the YouTube video player page at www.youtube.com The image I use of the PSE&G’s FAQs on solar panels comes from bit.ly

Some homeowners are installing wind turbines in their backyards. These windmills are connected to the grid, and deliver renewable, green energy to the owner’s home. MarketWatch’s Stacey Delo talks with San Francisco homeowner Robin Wilson about putting in a wind turbine in an urban area. Video originally aired October 8, 2008. Check out more videos at www.wsj.com