When the Arizona campus of the Nature Conservancy, a global charitable environmental organization, announced it was going solar, it seemed like a no-brainer. And Arizona is tops in the nation for solar insolation values.
So it was no surprise when the
Granville is your typical small American town. When college is in session, the population tops 5,000. Otherwise, the population is 3,200, with two schools – an elementary and an intermediate – besides the middle and high schools.
Recently, a school board cleared the path for solar panels on top of the middle and high school. The agreement allows the
On August 4, Oakland-based BrightSource Energy Inc. got the thumbs up from the California Energy Commission to develop the Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating System (ISEGS), the world’s largest solar energy project.
The project has been fraught with difficulties since inception. In late 2009,
PowerPly 400 by Lumeta Inc. is one of the first “peel n’ stick” types of workable home solar power systems. Using monocrystalline technology (or PV), the system insures maximum energy output per square foot of roof area.
The poly-Si thin-film solar cell on glass (with solid-phase crystallization of evaporated
South Africa has the space and the sunlight, so what better region to plan a 5-gigawatt solar park that could not only generate massive amounts of solar energy, but also serve as a field test for emerging technologies in PV energy, concentrating photovoltaic PV and concentrating solar power, or CSP.
The goal is ambitious, but the path
In one of the best indications that solar energy is ready for prime time, the New Jersey State Legislature approved A1084 and referred it to committee.
A1084, which would mandate solar panels in the design and construction of all new public school facilities, is currently before the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
In an interesting show of how established solar energy has become, on Monday, October 12, the New York-based Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) gave one of its 2010 Innovation Awards to Lakota Solar Enterprises, a renewable energy company owned entirely by Native Americans and located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Yes, you heard right. Among the many intriguing green innovations at last weekend’s West Coast Green were the new Plug n’ Save Solar Shutters, a rather simple solution for homeowners hoping to cut utility costs.
Mounted onto gorgeously crafted bamboo shutters, the flat PV panels collect power
A new design by Solimpeks Solar Energy Corp. that improves solar PV panel efficiency by turning “heat stress” into hot water is surprising, but perhaps only because we wonder why someone didn’t do it sooner.
The sad fact of solar PV electricity generation is, the more sunlight the panels
Advances in solar energy efficiencies have so far been made with irregular surfaces, thinner tabbing between cells, more optically perfect glass and even special coatings, but now Stanford engineers say the best efficiency is via ultra-thin polymer films inside solar cells that allow more “bounce room.”
Add to that a slightly rougher surface, such
On Friday, Sept. 23, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) – in the absence of a California Legislature vote on the issue – approved a greenhouse gas reduction target of 33 percent for 2020 for the Los Angeles and greater San Francisco Bay areas – a target originally set by AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act in 2006.
Even outsiders know that the solar energy industry has experienced huge growth during the past few years. This is particularly true of 2009, where solar energy prospered in spite of a worldwide recession. In the U.S., this prosperity is largely due to the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
You wouldn’t expect that energy from sunlight, which is very hot, could power air-conditioning units to cool things down. But that’s precisely the latest breakthrough from China-based Shandong Vicot Air Conditioning Co.
Debuting its solar-powered people-cooler at the 2010 World Solar-Powered Air
In a move that combines California environmentalism with aid to communities in need, the state has taken $3.2 billion from the California Solar Initiative (CSI) to fund solar panels on low-income housing.
Through a program called MASH, for Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing, the city of San Diego aims to make solar