Solar

Hooah For Hybrids: 9 Ways the Military Is Curbing Energy Use

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The mission: defeat the enemy while preserving Uncle Sam’s pocketbook. Saving the Earth is a worthy, but secondary, objective.

The Department of Defense last week rolled out its plan to consume less, and find new ways to source, energy. The need has become particularly pressing as operations in Afghanistan and Iraq last year led U.S. forces to consume 5 billion gallons of fuel. The military’s insatiable thirst for energy puts troops in danger as they transport fuel through hostile territory – the Marines estimate one service member is killed for every 24 convoys. It also exposes the Pentagon budget to price shocks in volatile energy markets. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 23, 2011 at 4:00 PM

COO Chat: meteocontrol At REFF

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As renewables generation becomes an increasingly significant portion of the American power grid, solar companies are flocking to the United States for business.

Service and analytics firms are following manufacturers from Europe and elsewhere to the burgeoning American market. Ben Compton, COO and VP of Commercial Operations of one of the world’s largest third-party monitoring systems, meteocontrol, told Breaking Energy that he attended the REFF Wall Street conference in order to meet with the American influencers in the solar solar photovoltaic (PV) industry. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 22, 2011 at 2:00 PM

Scaling And Financing Solar PV: Notes From REFF

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The decline in costs in the solar industry over the past three years is “nothing short of astounding,” Recurrent Energy CEO Arno Harris said today at the REFF Wall Street Summit in New York.

At back-to-back events today at the REFF Wall Street Summit, featured panelists discussed the distributed generation (DG) solar photovoltaic (PV) investment market and its scalability for the America utility grid. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 21, 2011 at 4:25 PM

Lessons From A Summer Solstice

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On June 21 the northern hemisphere will celebrate a read letter day for me – the summer solstice. This is the longest day of the year, when the sun’s position in the sky reaches its northernmost extreme. I’ve been an advocate for solar power for more than 35 years, so I’m also an advocate for a day dedicated to celebrating the sun. Simply stated: look up in the sky and see the solution to our energy needs. Most of our time is spent looking down at the ground for oil, gas or coal.

It’s been a common rule in the solar power industry that for each cumulative doubling of installed photovoltaic (PV) solar power (the type of panel commonly seen on the roofs of homes and businesses) the price of solar modules decreases by 18%. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 20, 2011 at 3:40 PM

#Solar #energy today beats #natgas prices for peak #power bit.ly/irQrSE – analysis of industry on AOL Energy – aol.it/jEClV5

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#Solar #energy today beats #natgas prices for peak #power http://bit.ly/irQrSE – analysis of industry on Breaking Energy – http://aol.it/jEClV5
@Aolenergy

 /  Published June 20, 2011 at 3:30 PM

Sunlight Synergies

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When does an alternative energy source start to be just an energy source, no “alternative” required?

Solar power isn’t at that tipping point yet, but forecasts for the day when electricity from the sun achieves global price parity with electricity derived from established fossil fuels are proliferating even among serious-minded business people. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 20, 2011 at 11:00 AM

Follow The Money To… Clean Technology?

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Money can come from the strangest places.

With Google’s investment of $280 million in rooftop solar panels on Tuesday, bringing its total investments in renewable power to $680 million, experts are beginning to see the internet search-engine giant as the newest green tech finance firm. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 20, 2011 at 8:45 AM

Eight Reasons Gas Can Be Green

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Last week was a good one if you happen to own a natural gas well. Two reports on the outlook for natural gas, both in the U.S. and worldwide, gave a glowing assessment of the fuel’s future prospects.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) cheekily titled its report, “Are We Entering a Golden Age of Gas?” The conclusion: global gas use will rise, in one scenario, by more than 50 percent by 2035. So, yes, it would seem the “golden age” is nigh. Meanwhile, the U.S.-centric report from the M.I.T. Energy Initiative, “The Future of Natural Gas” blasted critics who claimed that gas, when it comes from shale formations, is worse for the environment than coal. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 17, 2011 at 1:45 PM

China Becomes World’s Top Energy User

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When it comes to topics of energy, China has been making plenty of headlines. We’ve recently reported on China’s surge forward as the world’s leader in wind-energy capacity, surpassing the United States in 2010, and have covered reports showing that China now dominates the world in terms of clean energy investments as well. Now, based on a report from British Petroleum (BP) we learn that China holds another energy record of sorts.

BP’s report shows that global energy consumption grew by 5.6% last year, the biggest surge in energy use since 1973 Keep reading →

 /  Published June 15, 2011 at 4:00 PM

Video: Google Invests $280 Million In Rooftop Solar Panels

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Google announced its largest ever investment in clean technology today: $280 million for a special fund that California-based SolarCity will use to help with leasing arrangements and that both firms hope will encourage more widespread adoption of rooftop solar panels.

This video shows what homes would look like with rooftop panels feeding them electricity directly and how consumers can save money on their power bills. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 14, 2011 at 4:37 PM
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