Ireland’s energy storage plant to boost grid's reliance on wind and solar up to 75%
Wind and solar energy has a main flaw: it is unpredictable. It is controlled by the sun and the wind—which have little consideration for the fluctuations of power demand based on predictable human activity. The promise of energy storage has been all the rage of late, including Tesla’s much Read More...
Trend towards consumers’ energy self-sufficiency is about to disrupt the utility model
Technology advances and declining costs for both rooftop solar and energy storage are the conditions for the perfect storm that will soon make utilities obsolete, according to the new report by the Rocky Mountain Institute, an influential energy policy think tank. “New customers will find Read More...
US military vets to receive free training to join the solar industry
The Obama Administration is determined to support the growth of the solar industry, while helping veterans land on their feet. Days after declaring its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions nationwide by up to 28% below 2005 levels within a decade, it announced it would train 75,000 workers by Read More...
Germany’s Solar Village produces four times the energy it consumes
Global investment in solar energy has been soaring while the cost of solar has been tumbling, yet we barely have scratched the surface of what’s possible. A German development of 52 homes and some commercial buildings that was built over the past decade near Freiburg, currently generated four Read More...
Germany gets 50% of electricity from solar
On Monday June 9, 2014 solar panels in Germany produced 23.1 GW of electricity– or a little over half of the electricity Germany consumed that day. Though this surge in solar panel power only lasted for one day, it is an indicator that solar technology is beginning to make par for supplying base Read More...
New solar panels are cheaper, more environmentally sustainable
Scientists from Northwestern University have created a new type of solar panel that is less expensive to produce, better for the environment, and could eventually be more efficient at capturing the suns rays and turning them into energy. Perovskite solar panels, solar cells with a crystal structure Read More...
Danny Kennedy: Solar energy entrepreneur
Actress Cate Blanchett applauds Danny Kennedy's work in the solar power industry. He helped in turning the Sydney Theatre Company into a green building. Cate Blanchett | Jan/Feb 2010 issue I first met Danny through my husband, Andrew, and have followed his work on clean energy for years. Read More...
Passive House: Super energy efficient housing
How a new kind of home which produces more energy than it consumes, can drastically reduce fuel bills and CO2 emissions. Ursula Sautter | June/July 2009 issue Governments around the world are scrambling to address the twin crises of our times—the recession and climate change—by investing in Read More...
The second coming of solar power
More than just an environmental breakthrough, a new generation of photovoltaics can improve life in remote communities. Craig Cox| September 2007 issue For 40 years, scientists and environmental activists alike have been eagerly awaiting the dawn of the solar age, a time when humans could finally Read More...