As rooftop solar panels become increasingly popular, utilities are growing concerned that they will put pressure on local grids, destabilizing power service and requiring costly equipment upgrades.
The rapid adoption of solar photovoltaics has already prompted changes in Germany and parts of Hawaii, California, and New Jersey. Because nearly 10 percent of Hawaiian Electric’s customers have rooftop solar, the utility now requires solar contractors and customers on the island of Oahu to get approval before installing a PV system. It’s also developing a model for sharing the cost of studying what upgrades may be required to add another rooftop solar system, says a spokesperson for the local utility.
Le professeur Moti Herskowitz a dévoilé le 13 novembre dernier, à l'occasion du Bloomberg Fuel Choices Summit, un procédé industriel pour produire une alternative verte au pétrole brut. Utilisant des technologies matures, ce procédé pourrait être déployé rapidement et être commercialisé d'ici 5 à 10 ans.
A Moroccan solar project worth some €6.6 billion aimed at turning desert sun into lucrative power exports to Europe could be at risk as international lenders balk at plants planned for the disputed Western Sahara.
Morocco drew up plans in 2009 to build solar plants and wind farms to generate 4 gigawatts of power by 2020 but much of that output is to come from sites planned in Western Sahara, the focus of a decades-old territorial dispute.
Morocco has controlled most of Western Sahara since 1975 and claims the sparsely populated stretch of desert, which has offshore fishing, phosphate reserves and oilfield potential, as its own.
Some solar-energy companies have had a hard time in recent years, but SolarCity may look a little more promising.
That isn’t just because Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is the company’s chairman, either — though it can’t hurt.
Instead, says The Atlantic, it’s because the company is starting to use Tesla battery packs for energy storage, as part of its solar array systems–a move increasingly thought to be an essential part of the push towards greener electricity.
American Efficient wants to help everyone in the U.S. switch to renewable power suppliers and products through its energy-efficient-focused marketplaces.
The startup launched today with $2.5 million in funding from Clean Pacific Ventures.
American Efficient has two separate marketplaces: one that connects consumers with “renewable power plans” available through their local and trusted providers. This marketplace is called the Clean Choice Network and really focuses on that trust factor saying people have seen renewable power marketing, but likely thought it was too good to be true.
A thin sheet of dyed plastic could cut the cost of solar power, particularly for applications that require solar cells to be highly efficient and flexible.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are using the plastic to gather sunlight and concentrate it onto a solar cell made of gallium arsenide in an experimental setup. Doing so doubled the power output of the cells.
So far, the researchers have shown that the approach works with a single solar cell, but they plan to make larger sheets of plastic dotted with arrays of many tiny solar cells. The approach could either let a smaller solar panel produce more electricity, or make a panel cheaper by reducing the amount of photovoltaic material needed.
Today, SolarCity—a company that’s grown quickly by installing solar panels for free and charging customers for the solar power—announced a new business that will extend that model to providing batteries for free, too. SolarCity is a rare success story for investors in clean technology, and its business model has sped the adoption of solar panels.
The European Union put down the last piece of the bloc's 2020 climate and energy policy puzzle by adopting an Energy Efficiency Directive. The directive is a game-changer for energy companies, which are now required to achieve 1.5% energy savings every year among their final clients. The EU law is also expected to trigger the largest revamp of Europe's existing building stock to date and set new standards for public procurement and energy audits.
The Energy Efficiency Directive, agreed in October 2012, came as a belated followup to the EU's climate and energy package of legislation, which included legally-binding targets on renewables and CO2 emissions reduction for 2020.
The European Union put down the last piece of the bloc's 2020 climate and energy policy puzzle by adopting an Energy Efficiency Directive. The directive is a game-changer for energy companies, which are now required to achieve 1.5% energy savings every year among their final clients. The EU law is also expected to trigger the largest revamp of Europe's existing building stock to date and set new standards for public procurement and energy audits.
The Energy Efficiency Directive, agreed in October 2012, came as a belated followup to the EU's climate and energy package of legislation, which included legally-binding targets on renewables and CO2 emissions reduction for 2020.
Color-rich, energy-efficient, and flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays could soon be churned out more economically on giant inkjet printers.
OLED displays are widely expected to eventually supplant LCDs, the most common display today in TVs and computers. OLED displays use less power, have more vibrant colors, and can be made on plastic, making them attractive for flexible and even wearable electronics. The futuristic displays are already appearing in some expensive smartphones, digital cameras, and televisions. But manufacturing challenges have hindered attempts at mass production.
