ToughSolar, backed by a UN initiative, aims to offer some 33 million Africans access to clean, renewable solar PV systems. The program’s success would help fight poverty, reduce health risks and environmental degradation and literally empower rural Africans in ways beyond access to clean, renewable electricity.
Arizonans will see a reduction in their 2012 utility bills. Falling solar prices and growing use of solar power among households, business and industry, as well as 2011 renewable energy savings, prompted Arizona Public Service to propose, and the state Corporation Commission to approve a reduction in utility customers’ monthly renewable energy tariff. Small solar power installation businesses are concerned about the effect falling homeowner rebates will have on growth, however.
Pioneering one-stop residential solar systems provider Sungevity and Holland multinational Rabobank have teamed up to establish a residential solar fund that will support over $50 million of new residential solar lease projects around the US. Sungevity’s been growing fast lately: monthly sales have grown 10-fold since January while employee headcount has tripled to around 300.
When you think of solar energy, you tend to think of decades-old, inefficient photovoltaic panels delivering electricity. You think of them in fixed positions on the ground in massive utility-scale arrays and on rooftops of businesses, government buildings, and homes. Think again, because SunScience has developed as the flagship of their product line a “hybrid” solar system called DG1 that integrates both concentrated and thermal solar power for a highly efficient energy footprint.
Pittsburgh-based Alcoa and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory have partnered up to take us another step closer to low cost solar power. The lab is hosting a test run of Alcoa’s new concentrating solar power technology, which was designed to be competitive in the U.S. energy market partly due … [continued]
As if Google isn’t already doing enough for the world of technology, they’re actually joining the solar technology movement in order to help increase the progress, which they believe has been disappointing to date. Their goal is to use mirror technology for solar energy that will be cheaper and therefore … [continued]
Spread out the cost of your solar photovoltaic system over time! Afterall, very few people buy a car or house outright. The state of solar energy has long been a lose-win situation. Spend a lot of money (lose) in the beginning and slowly break even over the course of the … [continued]
