It’s been a big week for investment in thin-solar technology with more than $400 Million being raised by two industry companies.  With NanoSolar raising $300 Million and AVA Solar bringing in over $100 Million the future is looking bright the next generation of solar collection technology.

The huge push for thin solar comes from its low cost, durability and efficiency at capturing incoming solar energy.  Some estimates put the technology bringing over $15 Billion in revenue by the year 2015 as efficiency continues to improve while costs steadily plummet.

Nanosolar, based in San Jose, California, plans to put the new capital to work expanding its production plants in San Jose and Berlin, Germany.  AVA Solar will put its $104 Million dollar in newly raised capital toward completing a production facility in Colorado where the company is based.

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The state of California is proposing something a little different in an effort to get more cars off the roadways: pay-as-you-drive auto insurance policies. The regulations, introduced by insurance commissioner Steve Poizner, would “base annual rates partly on the exact number of miles driven and would allow people to pay less if they drive less,” per the Los Angeles Times. The plan is two-fold: one, many families would save money. From the Times article:

Two out of three households in the state could save an average of $276 per vehicle, and lower-income people, who generally use their cars less than the middle class or the wealthy, might save even more, said a July study by the Brookings Institution in Washington.

The second goal is to give an incentive to drivers to simply drive less, which of course would be a tremendous environmental impact. In fact,

If just a third of California’s licensed motorists switched to the plan, it would be the equivalent of taking 10 million automobiles off the road, Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) said.

Insurance companies in the state are happy with the idea, pending some more information.

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Pacific Gas & Electric Company is now under contract to produce 24% of its energy from renewables by 2013 with the signing of two new landmark solar energy deals.  The deals will set up the largest solar plants in the world, to be located on roughly 12.5 square miles of San Luis Obispo County, California.  One plant, in partnership with Topaz Solar Farms LLC, a subsidiary of Optisolar, will produce up to 550 MW of energy, while the other, done in partnership with High Plains Ranch II LLC, a subsidiary of Sunpower, will produce 250 MW.  The combined facilities will gernerate enough electricity to power 239,000 homes.

These new deals will propel Pacific Gas & Electric’s reliance on renewable sources of energy to a startling 24% by the year 2013, 4% more than the 20% mandated by California law.  Plus their 800 MW of electricity production vastly outproduces any other solar field currently in operation on earth with the nearest operational competitor being the recently completed Nevada Solar One which has a capacity of 64 MW.

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is sticking to her guns, firmly rejecting the notion the House solely vote on whether or not to drill offshore.  The California Democrat will instead introduce comprehensive energy legislation which includes limiting tax breaks for oil companies and funding alternative, renewable energy with the royalties from new drilling in approved areas.  The Republican backed measures for a simple yes or no vote on offshore drilling, sidestepping or ignoring all other energy concerns in the United States for the GOP’s corporate oil sponsors, were described as “a hoax on the American people,” by the Speaker.

The Baltimore-bred, San Francisco Congresswoman went on to tell KQED television’s “This Week in Northern California“:

You want to drill? We want the royalties for the American people, and we want that to pay for renewable energy resources. We want to connect all that together.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

35 Million Tons of Toxic Stew by Wendy Cohen

“Waterboard Thrill Ride” Opens At Coney Island by Blair Golson

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Nicole Hughes:

Green Summer Music Tours Not To Be Missed

Eat Your Veggies: Quit Composting in the Fridge

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Andy Kondrat:

Almost Half of Earth’s Primates In Danger of Extinction

Beijing’s Pollution Not Gone, Just Moved Outside of Town

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Jon Popham:

GOP: Drill More Oil Or We’ll Shut Down the Government

Global Warming’s “Sausage Fest” Effect

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Gina Telaroli:

Olympic Flag Bearer for the US: A Champion of  Darfur

Time to Act: Sexual Assault and Women in the Military

Good Morning America! Hello!!! The Pacific Ocean is a mess. GMA has a story this morning about the world’s largest trash dump. And guess where it is? That’s right, the  Pacific Ocean.

This Great Pacific Garbage Patch is mainly made up of non-biodegradable plastic and smaller pieces in the patch extends thousands of miles, from California’s coast to China.

ABC news reports, that series of currents in the Pacific Ocean pull debris from North America, Asia and the Hawaiian Islands into this toxic stew which then lands into a graveyard of 3.5 million tons of trash that’s 80 percent plastic.

The amount of garbage has more than doubled in 5 years and it is making its way into wildlife.

“I found 26 pieces of plastic, all different colors inside one stomach,” said marine researcher Christiana Boerger.

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In a sad turn of events for medial marijuana backers, a federal jury found a 46-year-old  California man guilty of distributing pot through his dispensary.

Although it’s legal to sell pot according to the state laws of California (and 12 other states), it remains a federal offense to do so.

takepart by checking out the TakePart wiki on Drug Policy

takepart by checking out the Takepart wiki on Drug Policy multimedia

takepart by checking out the TakePart wiki on Addiction to Marijuana

takepart by checking out the TakePart wiki on Addiction to Marijuana multimedia

Some homosexual in California are using the occasion of their impending weddings to fight a bill that would invalidate same-sex marriages in the state.

From the A.P.:

Molly McKay plans to marry her partner on Sept. 1, and the two have decided to participate in one of the more popular anti-Proposition 8 wedding trends — replacing a traditional gift registry with a political version that accepts donations to the “No on 8″ campaign in lieu of gifts.

takepart by supporting Equality California in its efforts to keep gay marriage legal.

A recent scientific breakthrough has discovered drugs that drastically improve the fitness of subjects without them having to do one bit of work.  The research, performed at the Salk Institute in San Diego, California, has isolated two drugs that did wonders for the physical condition of so called “couch potato mice”.

One of the drugs, named Aicar, increased the endurance of mice on a treadmill by 44% after only four weeks of treatment without the test subject performing one other iota of physical exercise to get in shape during the trial period.  The other drug increased endurance by 75% but needed to be combined with physical exercise in order to gain the full effect, which if you’re looking for something for nothing, isn’t really where it’s at.  Scientists say the findings should translate over well to humans, who use essentially the same genes as mice to control muscle tone.

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California is the first state in the nation to place a ban on trans fats in restaurants and retail baked goods. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill today that states artificial fats can’t be used in restaurants beginning in 2010, and from all retail baked goods by 2011.

Top 10 films featuring unhealthy food is on its way…

and here is Marion Nestle discussing the New York trans fat ban on NPR.

takepart and eat well with the Eat Well Guide

Related:
Schwarzenegger Terminates Trans Fat in Calif.
California is First State to Ban Trans Fats