Times Square bash left about 40 tons of trash

NEW YORK (AP) — One million revelers packed into Times Square plus a ton of confetti and countless noisemakers equals a whole lot of garbage — about 40 tons, according to the city Department of Sanitation.

Cleanup crews hit the streets shortly after midnight Thursday following the 2009 ball drop. Sanitation spokesman Keith Mellis said 163 people worked until 8 a.m. to sweep up the party trash, and a new shift started at 11 a.m. to tidy the area.

Because of the wind — nearly 25 mph gusts throughout the city — the department wasn't quite sure how much trash was strewn about, but Mellis expected a little more than last year's 40 tons. The Times Square Alliance, which puts on the event, said about 1 million people attended.

The biggest cleanup challenge is shooing away the massive crowd so crews can being work, Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty said.

"It takes a while," he said. "Last night was a windy night. There's probably confetti as far as the East River."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was out early Thursday praising the department's work and expressing optimism about 2009 despite the economic gloom of 2008.

"There were an awful lot of good things that took place in 2008," he said. "Fewer people went to bed hungry, fewer people slept without a roof over their head, democracy continues to work in this country."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

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6 Factors Shaping the Renewable Energy Industry in 2008

Many industries experienced turbulence this year and renewable energy was no exception. 2008 was really a mixed bag for the industry, with lots of good and bad news.

1. High Energy Prices
Natural gas and oil reached record highs in July, 2008. This impacts the price of energy overall and make renewable energy more favorable. The return on investment for a solar power plant for example is shorter when considering the cost of the electricity generated from natural gas.

2. Toppling Energy Prices
After peaking in July, the price of oil and natural gas have since plummeted. This has made it harder to finance renewable energy projects.

3. The Credit Crunch
It is not just hard to secure a mortgage. Homeowners wishing to pay for a solar system using a home equity loan may have been denied. Even billionaire, T. Boone Pickens hasn't been able to finance his enormous wind farm in Texas.

4. Extension of the Federal Tax Credit
After numerous near misses, the investment tax credit that encourages residential and commercial renewable energy projects passed. It removed the $2000 cap on the tax credit for residential systems and extends the incentive to utilities. This 30% tax credit was originally created in 2005 and has now been extended through 2016.

Although this incentive doesn't have a direct impact on renewable energy in 2008 because the law take effect in 2009, the indirect impact cannot be over emphasized. The existence of an 8 year incentives give stability to an industry that has seen many undulations.

5. Election of Obama
By 2025, Obama would like 25% of U.S. electricity to be generated from clean, renewable sources including wind, solar and geothermal. He calls for $150 billion to be invested over 10 years in clean energy and infrastructure to support it.

6. Fluctuating Commodity Prices
Renewable energy systems rely on raw materials, such as silicon, copper, and steel. Many of these materials have spiked in price in recent years, but some prices have started declining. The silicon shortage caused by a spike in solar panel production may be ending and the cost of copper has started falling.

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Chinese Planning World's Largest Solar Project

Written by Hank Green

Planned solar projects in the U.S. seemed to be one-upping each other throughout 2008, ending with the enormous planned 500 MW facility in San Luis Obispo CA. But now the Chinese are in on the game and, surprise, they're even bigger...planning a solar project twice as large as any currently planned, with a capacity of a full gigawatt.

The project is planned for the Qaidam Basin, a large, sunny desert and The China Technology Development Corporation just signed a deal with local officials to start working on the project.

The project will use only photovoltaic cells (no solar thermal) though it looks like some of the solar cells will be silicon, and others will be thin film. Unfortunately, there's no word on who'll be supplying the panels, but we assume it will be one of the several Chinese companies currently producing solar panels. We also assume that they're using both thin-film and crystalline cells because there would be no other way to get that many solar panels together.

The first phase of the project will bring 30 megawatts of solar power to China, costing roughly $150M and beginning construction in 2009. Whether or not the next phases will be completed, we imagine, depend on the success of this first installation.

This is, of course, fantastic news. Compared to the scale of other solar projects, this is truly massive. Unfortunately, compared to the scale of fossil fuel projects in China, it's minuscule. China reportedly added around 90 gigawatts of coal-fired power in 2006 alone.

This, my friends....is a small step on a very long road.

Via Venturebeat and Earth2Tech

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