Author

Adam Browning

Solar Is a Perfect Match: A Video Valentine

With this post, CleanTechies is diverging from our usual content with this light-hearted Valentine’s Day tribute to clean energy from the Vote Solar Initiative, which is working to make solar power mainstream.

People love solar. There are plenty of reasons why that’s the case. Solar creates local jobs. It produces reliable electricity when we need it most. It improves energy independence by tapping a homegrown resource. It offers real hope in the fight against global climate change. And ultimately the idea that we could be harnessing electricity from that big, yellow sun of ours just makes people feel good.

Always up for a good sun pun, Vote Solar thought we’d hammer that point home with a tongue-in-cheek Valentine Video campaign.

02/12/2010 0 comment

Renewable Energy

Solar Energy Outlook: More Green Homes and Utilities in 2010 in California

written by Adam Browning

Felix Kramer of Calcars thinks 2010 will be the year of the plug-in car. He’s got a good case: After years of advocacy and technology development, 2010 is the year that major manufacturers will finally make plug-ins broadly available, and rapidly decreasing battery costs are helping the conversion industry reach new customers and help retrofit the existing fleet at scale. After years of work and promise, 2010 is the payoff year.

I see a similar trend in solar in California, where years of policy and business development are all coming together to make 2010 an extraordinary year for solar development.

There are four major market drivers:

01/19/2010 1 comment

Renewable Energy

Freeing the Grid — Building Local Solar Markets, One State At A Time

written by Adam Browning

It’s that time of year again … no, not when turduckens appear on dinner tables nationwide and it becomes somehow acceptable to call the marshmallow a vegetable. It’s time for the 2009 edition of “Freeing the Grid,” an annual report card to states on their net metering and interconnection standards. Together, these two key policies empower energy customers (that’s you) to go solar and reduce your utility bills.

Although there is still plenty of room for improvement, this year’s report shows solid progress across most states—an indicator that these once-obscure policies are becoming accepted best practices. Oregon was this year’s star pupil. Meanwhile, there were still a number of states that didn’t even show up to class. Want to see if your state made the grade? Download 2009’s Freeing the Grid here from the report’s lead author, Network for New Energy Choices.

11/25/2009 1 comment