Solar rebate programs are winding down. Austin Energy cut solar rebates for homeowners by a third. Xcel Energy will cut its rebate program by about 50 percent. The Long Island Power Authority made an immediate cut in its rebate program, and one scheduled for January. New York reduced its solar incentive by 50 cents per [...]

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Solar panels now only account for approximately 40 percent of the cost of a solar power system. And most technology studies project the cost of panels to continue its drop as a percentage of plant cost with continued advancements in technology and manufacturing. While this lower cost curve for solar technology is important, terms and [...]

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Despite the the poor economy, Solar Power International, the planet’s largest solar industry conference, expects record attendance of about 25,000 this year, according to Rhone Resch, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). That new record reflect solar power’s growing importance in this country, as the United States wakes up to the [...]

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Somehow it’s a fitting juxtaposition: using solar power to cool down. Mitsubishi Chemical has developed a solar technology system that enables solar cells to power air conditioning units in the cabin of trucks, according to reports from Kyodo News International and BusinessGreen. The result: reduced fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Japan’s biggest chemical manufacturer, based [...]

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If you’ve ever shopped at one of Costco Wholesale Corporation’s massive retail warehouses, you already know that it’s pretty much a low-tech, do-it-yourself shopping experience. Paper or plastic is a question unasked at the checkout line; the best one can do is to opt for a recycled cardboard box that might once have contained kumquats, [...]

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Frustrated with the lack of progress cutting the cost of solar thermal energy, Google, a prominent supporter of the technology, is privately working on ways to lower cost. Google’s Green Energy Czar Bill Weihl says it is working on lowering the production cost of the mirrors that are a primary component of solar thermal power [...]

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The interest in creating green jobs at the state and federal level has not diminished, nor has the interest by job-seekers in finding a green job.  California recently announced $75 M in training for green job programs.  Community Colleges in Oregon found that green job training was one of the fastest growing and most requested [...]

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There might be a new emphasis on yellow and maybe even burnt sienna from Crayola now that it’s engaged the sun to help it make about one billion crayons annually. The colorful maker of children’s art and stationery products, based in Easton, PA, is going solar in a big way. It recently signed an agreement [...]

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Common logic says that despite the surge in interest in renewable and clean energy, coal remains a dominant part of our fuel mix, and will likely remain so for many years.  Our infrastructure for a renewable energy grid is in full speed development, but remains years away from shifting the tremendous burden of powering our [...]

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By Tobias Schultz My uncle has nearly 100 acres of open land in the mountains east of San Diego, arguably some of the best territory in the country for both solar and wind energy generation; a rare combination. He’s a rabid do-it-yourselfer, and hoping to reduce his energy bills and mitigate the pesky blackouts he [...]

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While the first two quarters of 2009 won’t be remembered as the “brightest times” in the solar space, there are some positive shifts occurring on the solar finance front that will help the long-term viability and short-term health of the industry. On one hand there are fewer tax equity investors with solar experience than just [...]

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Boulder, Colorado-based Namaste Solar looks like the “real thing”– a solar power systems provider committed to establishing a Triple Bottom Line business driven by ethical consideration of people and the environment as well as generating profits.

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Photo Source: treehugger.com Cleantech investments have (mostly) rebounded according to a new joint study by Cleantech Group and Deloitte. After two quarters of decline, 2Q09 cleantech VC investment hit $1.2 billion.  The transportation sector was the clear winner—funding for biofuels, advanced batteries, and electric vehicles reached a new quarterly record of $607 million. Meanwhile, investors [...]

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I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the overlap between NASCAR fans and environmentalists is not large. But now they’ve got at least one shared topic of conversation: Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway, which hosts two NASCAR events each year, plans to build a three megawatt solar power plant to provide the [...]

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Many businesses, whether by legal mandate, internal desire, or to save money, are seeking creative ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Offsetting and making improvements on your facility are a great move, but then there’s the human component: You and your staff, how and where they work, and how they get there. Inevitably, bicycling to [...]

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We have to make sure that projects like Desertec are not just neo-colonists, stealing sun rather than gold

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STC says it has always been green and it is taking its “go solar” mantra to Africa.

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Private companies have teamed with the Sun to power a small African clinic.

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California has had 4 “rushes”. First was the Pioneer land grab, followed by the gold rush, then the information rush of the dot-com era, and now, finally, the green rush. I’m thrilled to say it’s not confined to Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, and Silicon Valley. Last week, I wrote about the city of Richmond, California, [...]

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Welcome to Friday’s Green Business Roundup from around the blogosphere! I’ll be filling in for the lovely and talented Jen Boynton for the next two weeks on this regular column as she finishes up her Green MBA at the Presidio School of Management. Send her positive energy and caffeine telemetry! The City of San Francisco, [...]

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If there’s one thing I know about being a longtime resident of San Francisco, it’s that it’s always hot and sunny here. Oh wait, did I say hot and sunny? I mean cold and ridiculously foggy. And the foggiest part of the city is, ironically, call the Sunset. Maybe it’s the name that threw them [...]

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If you’re looking for a green web host, there’s a large and expanding number of companies out there offering it. Trouble is, for the most part they do nothing different than their conventional counterparts, save buying RECs to offset their energy use. Server farms are a major user of energy, and to eliminate that all [...]

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If you take a look at OpenSecrets.org’s database, you can find a current list of lobbying expenditures for any number of industries – including the oil and gas industry. Turns out, in the past ten years, the oil and gas industry has ponied up $741,985,214 for lobbying efforts. Almost three quarters of a billion dollars! [...]

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Solar power. It’s talked about by many, it’s seen on many consumer goods, but as of yet, it’s not seen on many roofs. Not without substantial government subsidies. It’s often difficult and time consuming to install, requiring a team of professionals and reams of paperwork. It doesn’t have to be that way. Veranda Solar is [...]

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Whether you’re looking to change the world or want a career in an industry that’s only going to get bigger, solar may be for you. Along with wind, geothermal, and other clean tech industries, solar literally produces the power to change the world. According to a 2008 economic study by Navigant Consulting, the Emergency Economic [...]

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Johnson Controls is a major (but little talked-about) manufacturer of, among other things, heating and cooling systems for buildings. Now, however, the company is starting to really showcase its sustainability chops and is leading by example: it recently flipped the switch on a 1,500-panel solar energy system at its headquarters in Glendale, Wisconsin. This is [...]

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Energy companies are in a hurry to extend their solar facilities. So what do they do? They rent rooftops!

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You know times have changed when a German solar energy company is offering to throw General Motors a bone and shell out $1.26 billion for one of its subsidiaries. German solar powerhouse, SolarWorld issued a press release yesterday, stating that the company plans to bid on four German production facilities and Opel’s Ruesselsheim development center [...]

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Roofray’s solar panel calculator uses Google Earth to show you what solar panels would do for your house. The calculator also is perfect to see what energy savings you could achieve.

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Solar power is all the rage these days when it comes to building green. And one group hoping to remain on the forefront of innovation is the Palo Alto Research Center or PARC, the storied research facility in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. In a recent display of “next generation” technology, PARC researchers’ unveiled [...]

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