The future of Computing

STEVE JOBS 1955-2011

Thank you for all your passion, conviction and unyielding commitment to create ...
You have inspired many young entrepreneurs (including myself). There is no failure in life to fear. Trial and error help to constantly improve and to remain focused. I have learned that with true believe, faith, love and by consequently following my dreams ... also the "dots" of my life connect.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.    
Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. (...) Stay hungry, stay foolish!"

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011), 2005 Stanford University Commencement Speech

Wisdom from the soul of a great entrepreneur, man and creator:

Nothing to worry about ... believe!

Don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing s'gonna be alright ...




Copyrights: In courtesy of http://www.playingforchange.com - This video is the first track on our new album, PFC 2 -- Songs Around The World.

Follow the link below to pre-order the album and support Playing For Change by telling all your friends and family to join the movement.

Pre-Order "PFC2: Songs Around The World" now on Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/PFCsatw2

Linea Trovata Group - Smart sustainable energy solutions

Our Group's marketing team is always good for a surprise. New year 2011 starts with a new corporate movie showing from helicopter-view several renewable energy installations realized by Linea Trovata Group in Belgium, the Netherlands, in France and Italy. We wish you a pleasant flight. Enjoy!

Season's Greetings

Season Greetings from Linea Trovata Italia.

We would like to thank you for your confidence in us. Hoping you are happy and smiling always. We wish you Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and look forward to an exiting and successful year to come. Our outlook for 2011 is sunny!

Belgium - not so boring after all

If you think about Belgium, you think about – well, good question – French Fries? Eddy Merckx? Belgium waffles? Jean-Claude van Damme? Admitted: the latter Wikipedia just supplied …

The small Monarchy stands geographically seen very much in the shadow of their rather PR abounding neighbours, it however has to offer a lot more than the delicious potato sticks and short musclemen. Not for nothing has Brussels become Europe’s capital. Thanks to GSDH Advertising agency and as a tribute to our Belgium colleagues of Linea Trovata in Lokeren, we are sharing a piece of Belgium country today: so grab a Heineken - ähh Cristal Alken - ähhh Duvel and take the tour. Enjoy!

Source: GSDH Blog

PV Legal Framework Italy

Who is active in renewable energy business knows, that legal-administrative barriers are among the main obstacles in several European countries impeding a quicker PV technology deployment. Although many countries have already implemented favourable PV support policies, when it comes to constructing PV projects, bureaucracy and highly complex procedures and requirements (i.e. notification, registration, licensing, environmental impact assessment, etc.) hamper installation processes significantly. As a result, the development and the sustainable establishment of solar markets in many European countries is unnecessarily delayed.

This Blog always tries to inform about the latest legal frameworks, national and regional laws in Italy. We would like to introduce the PV LEGAL project, an initiative co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Commission. The overall goal of the PV LEGAL Project is to overcome such legal-administrative barriers during planning and installation processes (including grid connection) of photovoltaic (PV) systems. The project consortium aims at improving the framework conditions for PV in Europe and to allow for faster and more efficient market development in the various countries. In this context the project website offers a free and comprehensive online database, gathering detailed quantitative and qualitative data on project development processes and bureaucratic barriers hampering the set-up of photovoltaic (PV) systems, in 12 EU countries, also in Italy.

Screenshot PV LEGAL 

This is the Status as of July 2010,
as you can find published on PV LEGAL consortium Website: 

In Italy, the need for a simplification and harmonization of the legal-administrative framework in the PV sector is widely recognized as a priority.  Actions are being taken at different levels.

• The National Guidelines for the Autorizzazione Unica the centralized procedure for the authorization of PV Systems), foreseen by DLgs. 387/2003 and left aside for many years, have been readmitted to the political agenda. The document has been adopted the 8th of July 2010 by the State – Regions Unified Conference and will enter into force after publication in the OJ. Regions will have to adapt their frameworks to comply with the National guidelines within 90 days. The Autorizzazione Unica is one of the main bottlenecks for the PV sector in Italy and the lack of clear procedures defined at National level allowed for the proliferation of regional norms. The Guidelines are a significant step forward towards the simplification and harmonization of the authorization process in Italy.

• A Regulation (now being examined by the Parliament) will simplify the bureaucracy currently necessary to get the landscape authorization. This will imply important simplifications for the installation of PV systems when landscape restrictions are present and Superintendencies are involved. The regulation might sensibly reduce waiting times from more than 100 to 60 days to get the necessary permissions for a number of interventions judged to be of “minor entity”.

• Modifications to the Legislative Decree 152/2006 (environment) have been adopted on June 24, 2010. The decree modifies, among others, the part II of the DLgs 152/2006 concerning the Environmental Impact Assessment (VIA) with the aim of simplifying the procedures and combining the public interest for the preservation of the environment with that of economic development.

• Plans for the development of the transmission grid extension and capacity are ongoing. The development plan (see TERNA –Piano di Sviluppo 2010) addresses the implementation of the development of the necessary grid infrastructures, gives an overview of the status and time for completion of works. Particular attention is given to the infrastructural development of the southern Regions. TERNA is the Italian company operating  the Italian high-voltage transmission grid.

• With regard to the low and medium voltage a convention between Enel and the Ministry of Economic Development was signed in February 2010 in order to adapt  the distribution grid to the use of electricity produced by PV systems (up to 1 MWp) and develop smart grid solutions in Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily (structural funds).

• Speculation on the grid connection permits and the “reservation” of the grid capacity has proved to be a problem particularly in some Regions, especially in Puglia. The Italian Authority for Electricity and Gas (AEEG) has acknowledged the issue in its “Relazione dell’Autorità per l’Energia Elettrica e il Gas sullo stato di utilizzo ed integrazione degli impianti alimentati da fonti rinnovabili”, (PAS 3/10 of January 29, 2010). AEEG has subsequently issued a consultation document (Documento di consultazione DCO 15/10) to address the problem of speculation by introducing some specific provisions in the regulation governing the procedures, costs and timing for the connection of RES systems to the grid (Unified Text for Active Connections - TICA).

• Some improvements are being introduced in the direction of a better and easier access to the FiT. The Deliberation of the Authority (AEEG) ARG/elt 173/09 gives the GSE (in charge of managing the electricity services) responsibility to introduce on-line procedures in order to simplify the information and document exchange between producers and GSE for the access to the incentives.  A new procedure for the formalization and subscription of the contract of the FiT Conto Energia has been introduced as of January 2010.

• AEEG started support activities to grant funding to pilot projects aimed at developing smart grid solutions (Deliberation Arg/elt 39/10 of 25 march 2010).

• Following the indications of another deliberation of the AEEG (ARG-elt 93/09), the GSE has defined aprocedure to improve the predictability of the production from variable and intermittent renewable sources.

Status as of April 2010

The National Guidelines for the Autorizzazione Unica (the one stop shop procedure for the authorization of PV Systems), foreseen by law and left aside for many years, have been readmitted to the political agenda after the issue was raised by Assosolare in the framework of the PV LEGAL project. A draft is now waiting to be discussed by the State – Regions Unified Conference and should be approved in 2010. The Autorizzazione Unica is one of the main bottlenecks for the PV sector in Italy.

A new regulation (now being examined by the Parliament) will simplify the bureaucratic procedure currently necessary to obtain the landscape authorization for PV systems having a “minor impact” on the buildings.  The regulation might reduce waiting times from more than 100 days to 60 days in those cases where landscape restrictions are present and Sopraintendenze (Ministerial offices at local level in charge of controlling that the heritage, landscape and architectural qualities of the territory are preserved correctly and responsible for the issuing of permissions) are involved. Also the administrative burden for the offices involved will be significantly reduced.

Some improvements are also being introduced in the direction of a better and easier access to the feed in tariffs. The energy regulatory authority AEEG has given the Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE, institution in charge of managing the energetic services and the feed-in tariffs) responsibility to introduce on-line procedures in order to simplify the information and document exchange between producers and GSE for the access to the incentives.  A new procedure has been introduced as of January 2010. 

Source: Copyright © PV Legal Consortium - All rights reserved
http://www.pvlegal.eu/results/progresses/italy.html

Ministry of Economic Development finally approves new Italian feed-in tariff "Conto Energia" and regional authorization guidelines

Sometimes it is worth waiting and finally a long wait comes to an end: On the 9th of July 2010, the Italian ministry of economic development officially announced the approval of the new PV feed-in tariffs and of regional guidelines for renewable power plants. Starting 2011, the third "Conto Energia" will gradually reduce the tariffs (18% to 20% in three reduction steps for the year 2011 as illustrated below and for 2012 and 2013 another 6% per annum), reducing the impact on the consumer's electric bills. The national guidelines give general rules about the approval procedure for building and operating power plants driven by renewable energies in order to coordinate the sector and grant a similar development in all Italian regions.

Source: Italian ministry of Economic Development, translation and summary: PHOTON (all rights reserved)

Other Sources and where to read more about this topic:

edilportale.com | Articles 1, 2, 3 | Authors: Rossella Calabrese et al. (all rights reserved);
APER | http://www.aper.it/newsite/images/stories/cstampa/2010/com_stampa_16-2010_l.g%20e%20c.pdf (all rights reserved).

The complete press release of  Italian ministry of Economic Development can be viewed using the following links:

http://www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it/pdf_upload/comunicati/phpcL4ra7.pdf

http://www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it/pdf_upload/documenti/lineeguidaenergia/lineeguidaenergia.pdf

PV incentives in Italy — Italian government to discuss new incentives for solar energy on July 8th

According to a recent press release by Italian Government and photon-international.com on the 8th of July 2010, the central and regional governments in Italy will discuss, among other things, future incentives for solar energy. After the first two incentive programs, named respectively “Conto Energia” and “Nuovo Conto Energia”, the future “Conto Energia” is expected to be designed. As reported before on this Blog there circulated already several drafts for such new PV incentives regime to be expected for the next three years in Italy.

Sources: Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Translation and summary: PHOTON (all rights reserved)

The complete press release can be viewed in PHOTON's archive using the following link:

http://www.photon-international.com/newsletter/document/27453.pdf

Simplified DIA Authorization Procedure sufficient for Renewable Energy Projects in Italy up to 1 MW

This Blog recently reported about Italian Constitutional Court’s decisions no. 119/10 and no. 124/10, declaring illegitimate the regional laws of Apulia and Calabria respectively (see previous Blog-Post on 10 April 2010). Main reason for such lawsuit and Constitutional Court’s decisions was, that both regional laws had unilaterally allowed for the authorisation of 1 MW or 500 KW projects by means of a simple “start of works” declaration (dichiarazione di inizio attività or in short “DIA”), contradicting federal law (Decreto Legislativo or Dlgs) no. 387/2003, which foresees and requires a lengthy autorizzazione unica procedure (in short “AU”) for much smaller projects (e.g. photovoltaic projects above 20 KW or wind energy projects above 60 KW).

Now, only a few weeks after and maybe as a reaction to the aforementioned Constitutional Court’s verdicts, which not only have caused significant uncertainty in the market as to the validity and risks of previously authorized DIA renewable energy projects (mainly solar pv plants) in Apulia and Calabria, but also were widely perceived by investors and renewable energy industry as a political obstacle to the expedited development and financing of renewable energy plants in Italy, it comes to a sudden and unexpected turn of events. Italian Government decided to enact a new national law in compliance to European Community Law and EU guidelines.

The Italian Chamber of Deputies has taken the above mentioned market concerns seriously and reacted accordingly by proposing on a federal level what the Apulia and Calabria regions had in the past attempted to achieve independently without the necessary federal backing. Indeed, on 23 April 2010 the Chamber of Deputies proposed an amendment to the latest draft of Italy’s so-called “Community Law 2009” (ddl Comunitaria 2009), the yearly framework law delegating the Government to enact by decree the rules necessary to comply with the mandatory provisions of European Community Law. In particular, the Chamber of Deputies proposed that, when implementing Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of renewable energy sources, the Government should provide that renewable energy projects with a peak capacity of up to 1 MW be authorised through a simplified “DIA”.

On 12 May 2010 the proposed amendment was approved by the Italian Senate (Art. 17 ddl n. 1781-B), which now means that it now will soon become law and therefore the Italian Government must enact the necessary provisions by legislative decree within the same deadline as for transposing the entire Directive 2009/28/EC into national law, i.e. 5 December 2010. In such new law (Dlgs) renewable energy projects of up to 1 MW will be subject to the simplified DIA procedure.

Latest developments and recent Italian Government reactions can be interpreted as a clear sign, that Italy is willed to finally end legal uncertainty and discussions due to regional normative chaos and to create a stable legal foundation on a national level in order to further promote renewable energy investments. Simplifying authorization procedures is definitely one first good step to reestablish market stability and investor's trust and to prepare the stage for future growth in Italy. Next decisive step should be the overdue regulation of the new incentive regime (Conto Energia) for the next three year period 2011-2013, expected to be officially announced within 30 June 2010 by GSE under the auspices of Italian Government (Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Environment).

Sources and where to read more about this topic:

edilportale.com | Articles 1, 2 | Author: Paola Mammarella (all rights reserved);
McDermott Will & Emery | Author: Carsten Steinhauer (all rights reserved);
projectfinancemagazine.com (all rights reserved).


Photo via picApp | Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
Content © 2010 Getty Images | All rights reserved.

100% renewable energy by 2050 is a feasible objective

According to an article published on PV-tech.org, a recent McKinsey feasibility study with the intention to determine if electricity from 100% renewable resources was possible, has observed that by the year 2050, such goal not only is feasible, but that countries like Germany are already leading the way to making it possible. The study report, published by the European Climate Foundation was commissioned to examine the possibility of the EU achieving 80% greenhouse gas reduction by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. Furthermore the study concluded that along with renewable energy being 100% feasible, it was also a reliable and economically sound energy decision. Renewable energy industries record strong growth, generate many jobs, hence represent emerging markets in times of global economic crisis.

As reported October last year, Germany currently has one of the biggest renewable energy markets in the world and represents European Lead-Market in Solar PV. Only in the year 2009 Germany had an incredible 16.1% increase in the total share of electricity from renewable resources. Beginning of the new year 2010, Germany also saw its solar PV installations surpass the 3.8GW benchmark, making it responsible for more than half of the world’s solar market. Considering that at present only 2% of Germany’s suitable rooftops are covered with PV systems, the country has plenty of opportunity to expand its international lead in the solar renewable energy market and to further proof, that a clean energy future is a convertible dream.

Sources: PV-tech.org | Author:  Syanne Olson (all rights reserved).

Earth Day 2010

Today the Earth Day Movement celebrates its 40th Anniversary. In fact the first Earth Day took place on 22nd of April back in the year 1970. That day US senator Gaylord Nelson managed to mobilize 20 million of Americans for a giant demonstration in favor of our environment.

Since then, the Earth Day became an year by year institution which takes place each year on April 22 in virtually every country on Earth, and also gave birth to the Earth Day Network, which was founded on the premise that all people, regardless of race, gender, income, or geography, have a moral right to a healthy, sustainable environment. The movement has the mission to broaden and diversify the environmental movement worldwide for promoting a healthy, sustainable environment. Today Earth Day Network has a global reach with more than 20,000 partners and organizations in 190 countries. More than 1 billion people participate in Earth Day activities, making it the largest secular civic event in the world.

For further informations visit www.earthday.org. GET INVOLVED!