I was heartened to see U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse corrected by the Providence Sunday Journal’s PolitiFact for his “mostly false” assertion “that the development of solar power and other forms of renewable energy will ‘get us off’ foreign oil.” It won’t. Not by a long shot, and not anytime soon. It seems the “hope” in Continue reading →
solar power
What were the important topics within the Smart Energy technical community in 2011? An analysis of what happened with solar power startup Solyndra was the clear winner, followed by articles on LEDs and smart meters. But over all, design articles on all smart energy topics are the perennial favorites. Without further ado, here are the Continue reading →
The Town of Prescott Valley, AZ, is estimated to save more than $1.5 million in electrical costs over the next 25 years with new solar power projects being built at the town’s water pump stations and the wastewater treatment plant. via Smart Energy Capital – Solar Power Development and Financing.
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, the only Nobel Prize winner in the Obama Administration’s cabinet, has developed a strong optimism about solar energy’s potential to be a major player in the U.S. and global electrical system. The “Sun Shot” is one of the core innovation efforts aiming to accelerate solar power’s cost curves so that, Continue reading →
Dignitaries celebrated what they touted as a first-in-the-state kind of municipal solar initiative Friday. The program, which includes installation of solar panels on school buildings and public locations throughout New Bedford, could save the city $10 million by 2033 and produce enough power to run about 1,500 homes, according to the city. via New Bedford’s Continue reading →
SANYO North America Corporation (SANYO) introduces a new solar lease program, which helps homeowners with financing a SANYO Solar Panel System. SANYO is working with BrightGrid Solar to offer various financial programs that will give homeowners the power to choose the way they want to pay for their electricity costs. Currently, the program is available Continue reading →
The sunset of two key U.S. subsidies has set the solar industry scrambling to keep the cash flowing to fund new renewable energy projects, and the outlook looks cloudy, according to industry experts. The U.S. solar industry is on pace to install a record 2 gigawatts of new installations this year, according to China’s Suntech Continue reading →
Cloudless desert skies and the nation’s highest unemployment rate are turning the Imperial Valley into a testing ground for the nation’s push to create green jobs and innovate its way back to prosperity. via Can solar help the jobless? | SignOnSanDiego.com.
Twelve everyday families are at the heart of an energy-efficiency revolution taking place in Houston’s historic Sixth Ward neighborhood where Reliant Energy has transformed a typical street into an avenue of innovation. The neighborhood, dubbed Reliant Innovation Avenue, has been outfitted with advanced energy technology – from home energy monitors and smart appliances to solar panels Continue reading →
A neighborhood in Austin, Texas, is going “Back to the Future,” as it moves forward on plans to completely redevelop a 700-acre former municipal airport site into a leading-edge, mix-used, sustainable urban test bed. The development — a part of the Pecan Street Inc. demonstration project launched in 2009 by the University of Texas at Continue reading →
SANYO North America Corporation (SANYO) announces their partnership with PV Trackers, manufacturer of solar ground-mounted tracking systems. The combined systems provide the world’s most efficient Solar PV System for large commercial and utility scale systems. The added efficiencies allow power plants to achieve the lowest cost per MWh in the industry on a ground-mounted system. Continue reading →
IBM’s signing on as a member of EcoGrid EU, a consortium of companies that is planning a European Union (EU) smart grid demonstration project that will source at least 50% of its electrical power from renewable sources, such as wind, solar and biogas, the Armonk, NY-based information technology leader announced Oct. 13. via IBM Joins Continue reading →
It’s a job that would make working as a United Nations switchboard operator seem simple. Out in Austin, Texas, the federally funded Pecan Street smart grid test bed is asking plug-in cars, rooftop solar panels, smart appliances and household batteries to talk to each other — and to the grid at large — in a Continue reading →
Enecsys Limited has teamed with Ember to bring wireless ZigBee communications to roof-top solar photovoltaic (PV) systems so that households and businesses can better monitor and optimize their systems’ performance. via Enecsys Selects Ember’s ZigBee Technology to Help Optimize Solar PV System Performance – MarketWatch.
The city of Rome, Italy is poised to welcome electric cars to its streets, according to Toshiba. The electronics giant announced this week that its Italian subsidiary Ansaldo Transmissione & Distribuzione S.p.A (Ansaldo T&D) won a contract to supply a smart grid distribution system to ACEA Distribuzione S.p.A (Gruppo ACEA), one of Italy’s leading public Continue reading →
MORE than 6000 households with new solar systems are losing money while they wait months for Energex to install meters. In another sign that Queensland is struggling to cope with the green revolution, residents have voiced anger at delays in getting “smart meters” that measure the value of their surplus power. via Customers lose as Continue reading →
May I please emphasize this? “A small, 1.2-kilowatt solar system priced at around $4,000 will cover charging costs for an electric vehicle for up to 40 years.” For $4,000 you can buy your ‘gas’ for the next 40 years. via Combining Solar Power and Your Electric Vehicle — Too Practical to Pass Up (Reader Comment) Continue reading →
The U.S. media is abuzz over last week’s bankruptcy of thin-film solar manufacturer Solyndra LLC, with some conservative politicians trying to use the demise of the start-up to argue against federal financing for green energy. But the Chinese media is focusing on a far more important solar power development: two major energy plans that will Continue reading →
Principal Solar Inc. has acquired Talmage Solar Engineering/Solar Market’s 110-kW SunGen Step Guys solar facility in Alfred, Maine. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition advances the business roll-up platform of Principal Solar and builds upon the momentum that began with the company acquisition of Capstone Solar news and networking community for Continue reading →
The Department of Energy is soldiering on with a new $145 million round of SunShot Initiative funding for high efficiency, low cost solar energy technologies, despite the recent bankruptcy of one of its biggest past awardees, Solyndra. The money will go to sixty-nine projects in twenty-four states. The investment of $145 million is a drop Continue reading →
