Kickstarter, move over. The US Department of Energy has just announced a new competition, complete with cash prizes, to help launch cutting edge solar companies that offer solutions to the challenges of today’s solar marketplace. Called SunShot Catalyst, the competitive program will culminate in award packages of up to $100,000 … [continued]
The solar company Natcore Technologies is set to take a huge bite out of the cost of producing solar cells while reducing the amount of manufacturing-related hazardous effluents. The key is a new low temperature laser process that Natcore plans to introduce, which will eliminate the need for a high … [continued]
Solar power “soft costs” have been targeted in recent years as having the most potential for further solar power cost reductions. We see a lot of exciting stuff happening to improve the customer side of that as well as the solar installer side of that. However, a couple of pioneering … [continued]
NREL’s simuwatt software could reduce the cost of commercial building energy audits up to 75% and help save millions annually through increased energy efficiency.
Originally published on the Rocky Mountain Institute website By Dan Seif and Jesse Morris Why does Germany, a country with the same amount of sun on a yearly basis as Alaska, have residential solar costs half that of the U.S.? Why have solar panel prices dropped significantly while whole-system cost … [continued]
Last week’s graphic on the impact of local permitting on the cost of solar power was a big hit, so here’s a follow-up on “soft costs,” the expenses in a solar installation (including permitting) that are not the solar module. The chart compares the soft costs in the US to … [continued]
Solar energy could supply one-third of all electrical demands in the Western US by 2050 while massively cutting emissions – if DOE’s SunShot Initiative succeeds, according to a new report from University of California, Berkeley researchers.
Here are some top solar energy, wind energy, and energy efficiency stories we think are worth a read (after you’ve read our own stories on these topics, of course. :D). There are links on each of the titles below — click through to read more! Solar Purple Solar Panels Building … [continued]
Palo Alto is a leader in so many ways. It is one of the best bicycle cities in the US, and it is also becoming a clear leader in solar (as well as many other things). Here’s more regarding its latest solar news via Solar Love: Solar permitting, obsessively onerous, … [continued]
Establishing a single national policy and regulatory standard for residential solar energy systems that grants “homeowners the right to install a standardized, under 10 kW system, using UL-listed components, following National Electrical Code standards, installed by a qualified contractor subject to a single local inspection,” should be the first step taken, SFN contends.
