3TIER MAPS THE SUN

3TIER – rapidly becoming THE name in the New Energy resource mapping field – has been invited to present its most recent maps and conclusions to the United Nations’ NGO Committee on Sustainable Development. This is emblematic of the achievement by 3TIER CEO Ken Westrick, who started developing his idea in his bedroom a decade ago and has turned his company into a worldwide authority.

Westrick, founder/CEO, 3TIER: “There are more than 1.3 billion people around the world with no access to electricity…If we want developing nations to ‘leapfrog’ over fossil fuels, they need information about what renewable energy resources or combination of resources exist. REmapping the World is a sophisticated mapping technology initiative to show where renewable resources are, and change the way we look at the world’s energy production options.”

3TIER’s REmapping the World ™ initiative is all about providing information. The company’s motto: “knowledge is power™.”

Roma Stibravy, Chair, UN NGO Committee on Sustainable Development: “REmapping the World is the kind of initiative needed to spur partnerships between public and commercial efforts, which are necessary if we are to make meaningful progress in the advancement of renewable energies…”

3TIER’s goal is to create an information foundation on which nations can go to work building New Energy.

Westrick, 3TIER: “We are developing – at our own cost – high-resolution wind and solar global maps to provide the critical information that has been missing to make renewable energy a viable choice: information regarding the location, availability and value of wind and solar resources.”

3TIER recently added a solar map of the Western Hemisphere to its First Look Solar database. 11 years of half-hourly data-collecting went into this map.

Kenneth Westrick, founder/CEO, 3TIER: “To produce this map, 3TIER developed a dataset that is approximately three times the resolution of existing industry solar data standards for the United States…This is the first and only database of the solar resource that covers all of North, Central and South America… Not many organizations have the expertise and super-computing resources to synthesize such massive amounts of historical satellite data or a tool like 3TIER’s FirstLook to present the data in a simple and elegant way.”

Footnote: 3TIER’s presentation to the UN Sustainability Committee will be November 4. They are lucky to have scheduled something to keep them occupied that day. The rest of the world will be waiting anxiously for the polls to close and the results to come in.

click to enlarge

3TIER Releases First Seamless Solar Map of Western Hemisphere
Todd Stone and Robert Gara, October 13, 2008 (ETIER)
and
3TIER to Present “Remapping the World™” to UN Committee; Initiative Accelerates adoption of Renewable Energy through Mapping Technology

WHO
3TIER (Kenneth Westrick, founder/CEO); United Nations’ NGO Committee on Sustainable Development

WHAT
- 3TIER CEO Kenneth Westrick will explain to the United Nations’ NGO Committee on Sustainable Development how 3TIER’s “REmapping the World™” initiative can speed the development of New Energy worldwide.
- As part of 3TIER’s ‘REmapping the World ™’ initiative, it recently released the a solar map of the Western Hemisphere as part of its First Look Solar database.

click for FirstLook.

WHEN
- 1999: 3TIER was founded.
- November 4, 2008: 3TIER’s presentation to the UN Sustainability Committee.
- 11 years: half-hourly, resolution-to-1-kilometer satellite imagery processed to create the new Western Hemisphere solar map.
- 11 years: hourly values of Global Horizontal Irradiation (GHI), Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI), Diffuse Irradiation (DI) (horizontal resolution ~3 kilometers) created

WHERE
- 3TIER is based in Seattle.
- 3TIER’s data serves New Energy developers from the prospecting stage to the operations process.

WHY
- 3TIER also maintains a First Look Wind database.
- 3TIER is one of the biggest independent providers of New Energy assessment and forecasting.
- The First Look databases are presented as clickable maps with a 5 km resolution allowing policy-makers, developers and financiers to easily assess sites for New Energy potential.
The recently released Western Hemisphere map is described by 3TIER as “comprehensive, contiguous and high-resolution…”
- Available from 3TIER:
(1) a “FullView Site Analysis Report” (basic information, deliverable in 2 weeks);
(2) a “FullView Comprehensive Report” (customized and in-depth);
(3) “GIS layers” (detailed, layered, time-based data for specific regions).
- 3TIER’s plan: Map solar resources, country by country, prioritizing solar development policies, sun availability and economic development.
- The UN NGO Committee on Sustainable Development promotes sustainable projects, monitors UN sustainable development activities and provides information to the NGO “development community.”
- T. Boone Pickens uses 3TIER wind maps in his Pickens Plan presentations.

click for FirstLook.

QUOTES
- Kenneth Westrick, founder/CEO, 3TIER: “Development of this solar map is another important milestone in 3TIER’s REmapping the World ™’ initiative, which is intended to accelerate the adoption and integration of renewable energies worldwide…REmapping the World is a sophisticated mapping technology initiative to show where renewable resources are, and change the way we look at the world’s energy production options…The maps provide enough resolution so countries and organizations can begin to look at the potential wind and solar resources at a regional level.”
- Westrick, on the new Western Hemisphere solar map: “With the solar market rapidly expanding in North, Central and South American markets, developers are looking for the quickest way to prospect solar sites and choose the best locations for optimum energy production…Our reports make it faster and more cost-effective for developers to evaluate potential solar projects and make capital investments in solar energy generation.”