The US Environmental Protection Agency’s Top Partner Rankings highlight US companies, municipalities, schools and government organizations that use clean, renewable sources of electricity to power their operations. “Using green power helps reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and supports the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide. Usage amounts reflect U.S. operations only and… Keep reading →
No, the idea isn’t to power commercial air travel with photovoltaic solar – that’s being left that to super-lightweight, experimental efforts like Solar Impulse. Nevertheless, a French collaboration this week plans to unveil a new way of bringing solar power to aircraft, with a photovoltaic window. The pitch is that it can automatically adjust the… Keep reading →
The NYS Unified Solar Permit program will streamline the solar project permitting process to cut costs and boost solar development across NY State. On September 20, 2013, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced the NYS Unified Solar Permit program to reduce solar project costs by streamlining municipal permitting processes across… Keep reading →
We’re only eight months into the year, and utility-scale solar installations in the United States have already surpassed the total for all of last year. Data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [PDF] shows 1,774 megawatts of new Big Solar capacity as of the end of August – compared to 1,476 MW for the entire… Keep reading →
Photovoltaic (PV) energy, the conversion of sunlight to electricity, was discovered in the late 1830s, followed by usable PV cells developed in the early 1950s. Despite its history, only recently has the U.S. solar market really started to take off. Driven by the volatility of energy prices from traditional sources such as coal, gas and… Keep reading →
Many assume that it’s cheap labor that gives Chinese companies an edge at producing solar panels that cost less than those that come out of Europe or the United States. But a new study says uh-uh. Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and MIT said a bottom-up cost model they developed shows that a plant… Keep reading →
The industry will soon install one solar system every minute and a half. A lot happens in America every four minutes. During that short time period, 30 babies are born, 4,080 McDonald’s Big Macs are consumed, and 48,000 tons of CO2 are emitted. And as it turns out, the U.S. is now installing one solar photovoltaic (PV) system… Keep reading →
The unpredictability of renewable energy sources like wind and solar creates reliability challenges for utilities seeking to balance power supply and demand across centralized grid networks. Policies compelling energy providers to incorporate more renewable energy into their portfolios make the challenge more urgent, but also create business opportunities for companies finding solutions. Those who crack… Keep reading →
Solar cells that convert sunlight to electricity at 1 or 2 percent efficiency don’t sound very exciting in a world where standard silicon cells produce at rates in the teens and even higher. But what if the cells were so thin and light that you could stack layers of them atop each other? That might… Keep reading →
The following is an excerpt from an Energy Solutions Forum Policy Primer for the New York Energy Week Series Breakfast, Solar Financing Market Perspectives. Solar energy provides significant amounts of electricity with no direct greenhouse gas emissions. Investment tax credits for solar energy projects, federal funding programs and renewable energy portfolios have increased the industry’s ability… Keep reading →
