I've read various estimates, but eMarketer estimates that there were 22.6 million active bloggers on the internet as of April. There are, obviously, even more blogs--ones that just sit dormant for ridiculously long periods of time. One study showed that only a little more than half of blogs are still active three months after launch, and the overwhelming majority have not been updated at all in the last six months.
I want to get on the right side of that equation.
I recently received a note from one of my seven(!) followers, chiding me for not posting after an initial flurry. I pledge to do something about that now. I'm going to try to post at least once a day...
So I'll open the resurrection of this blog by noting a press release from Suffolk County with a disarming artist's rendering of the H. Lee Dennison Building with proposed new solar cells in the parking lot. County Executive Steve Levy and LIPA President and CEO Kevin Law (formerly a member of the Levy administration) are going to unveil a plan Tuesday to turn seven of the county's largest parking lots into solar farms, with space underneath for cars to park. They're working with a California company, enXco, on the project.
Certainly, there are many questions left to answer, but I think this is a great proposal, and a hint at the future. I think in a decade this will be commonplace--solar cells will be everywhere, on every building top, above every bit of asphalt. I can't imagine why schools and government buildings aren't already adorned with solar cells.
One big question: When the solar cells proliferate, will they be "made in America"? Or China? I think that's the big question...
I think solar is fantastic, but I would like these projects to go to American owned companies and enXco is not - its owned by the French. Also, it has been proven that the current panels that are placed on carports are highly inefficient. Suffolk County would benefit much more by utilizing some of their land to build serious solar fields that offer better output. The point you make about manufacturing here in the USA - critical to bringing jobs to our citizens. A start up plant can start in the $200 million range and the demand for energy to produce cells is very large, but the benefits are serious.
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