In the past month, the city of Minneapolis and its two investor-owned utilities adopted the nation’s first clean energy partnership, with a wide range of goals including meeting the city’s ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. How did it happen Read more…
Do customers still want solar even if they can’t put it on their own house? From Orlando, the answer is a resounding Yes! Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), the municipally owned utility serving one of Florida’s largest cities, launched its Community Read more…
Shading, ownership issues, limited space and many other factors means that most American households simply aren’t suitable for solar panels. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated that as much as three-quarters of residential buildings have physical restrictions to going solar.
Because of shading, building ownership and structure issues, only about 22%-27% of all American rooftops are suitable for solar panel installation. This means that the majority of people will have a hard time contributing to the solar movement. Luckily things Read more…
Getting energy from the sun is a great idea. However, installing solar panels house-by-house is slow, costly and cumbersome, and downright inefficient if the goal is to bring solar to the masses. This problem troubled Paul Spencer after he built Read more…
Maryland policymakers are considering two bills that would kick solar growth into high gear. With a solid 2% solar goal and core policies like net metering driving in-state growth, Maryland is already well on its way to building a robust Read more…
As the home of some pioneering community solar projects, Maryland’s clean energy champions are seeking to establish a platform on which these renewable energy arrangements can flourish. Recently introduced as Senate Bill 595, state lawmakers will be considering a proposal Read more…
The house in which I grew up sat on a narrow plot of land – only 15 feet separated us from the neighbor’s home. Consequently, my mother didn’t have much room to grow produce in a garden. She wanted more Read more…
Cornwall Power, a company that helps landowners to set up renewable energy projects in the southwestern region of England, has been given the green light by local authorities to develop community solar farms in the region. The company has received Read more…
Consider that only one-quarter of residential rooftops are suitable for solar PV and that one-third of Americans are renters who are typically unable to install a solar system on their landlord’s roof. That adds up to a whole lotta energy Read more…
There are plenty of not-so-sunny renewable policy news headlines these days. Congress failed to pass comprehensive energy legislation this year – and as of yesterday, things don’t even look good for a piecemeal extension of the critical Treasury Grant Program Read more…
Yesterday was a day for the solar history books.
The country’s first community-owned solar installation began delivering clean, renewable electricity to the grid in El Jebel, Colorado. The 340-panel solar installation is unique because it is owned by an array of local residents rather than any single person, utility, developer or corporation. The El Jebel “solar […]