Clean Tech News & Views: Solar Energy News. Wind Energy News. EV News. & More.
Yes, we’ve mentioned these interesting electric vehicles (EVs) before. They probably aren’t for everyone, but what is? T3 Motion has traditionally provided these EVs to security companies and police forces around the world (as well as the Pentagon, CIA, and FBI), but it has determined that it’s worth bringing them to the international consumer market now, as well.
Reaching about 28 gigawatts (GW), solar power capacity increased about 54% in 2011, according to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Germany and Italy led the way. “Photovoltaic installations rose to between 26.5 and 29.4 gigawatts last year, compared with 18.2 gigawatts during 2010,” Marc Roca of Bloomberg wrote. “The year was [...]
It’s been awhile since I read and wrote about so many huge clean energy stories in one day, or in one week. From clean, renewable energy providing Europe with 70% of its new power in 2011, to solar PV bringing down the cost of electricity in Germany, to the largest offshore wind farm in the world opening in the UK today, and even more big stories in between, this is a time to remember. Another big story, reported by Greentech Media and discovered by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), is that the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) from wind power has reached an all-time low.
Remember last year when Germany decided to speed up its phasing out of nuclear power and switch to clean energy and everyone (not in the clean energy industry) got freaked out about how German electricity prices would rise and the country would just start importing electricity from France’s nuclear power plants? Well, as I [...]
Oh, the solar power haters* are going to love this one—a recent study by Germany’s Institute for Future Energy Systems (IZES), conducted on behalf of of the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar), has found that, on average, solar power has reduced the price of electricity 10% in Germany (on the EPEX exchange). It reduces prices up to 40% in the early afternoon, when electricity demand is peaking and electricity typically costs the most.
While solar is blooming fast in many other states now, California’s still the U.S. leader and continues to install solar at a rapid clip. There is actually hardly a country on earth with as much solar as is installed in California.
PV Solar Report, “an authority on California solar market data,” and SunRun, “the nation’s leading home solar company,” recently released a list* of the California cities growing the fastest in solar power installations.
The world’s largest offshore wind power farm, Walney Farm, is opening off the coast of Cumbria in the UK today. The £1.2-billion ($1.9-billion), 367.2-MW offshore wind farm includes over 100 wind turbines and can produce power for up to 320,000 UK homes. (Note: it doesn’t compare to the 1,000-MW offshore wind farm I wrote about on [...]
After a completely blown-out-of-proportion battery fire issue that we’ve spent more than enough time covering (to show just how ridiculous it is that it got so much media coverage,.. ironically), GM is struggling to get its Chevy Volt into the garages of more Americans. Will a very attractive new lease for its California customers be [...]
