photo: Todd Woody In a follow up to my story in Friday’s New York Times on the beginning of a solar building boom in the desert Southwest, I take a look at California regulators’ approval of the seventh Big Solar farm in two months, the 663.5-megawatt Calico project: In an article in Friday’s paper, I [...]
Archive for the ‘environment’ Category
Megawatt mania: California approves seventh Big Solar farm
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, global warming, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Tessera Solar, tagged California Energy Commission on October 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Desert solar boom begins, may be short-lived
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, energy, environment, global warming, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, Solar Millennium, solar power plants, Tessera Solar on October 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In Friday’s New York Times, I write about the beginning of the long-awaited solar boom in the Mojave Desert and how it may well be short-lived if crucial federal incentives for renewable energy are allowed to expire in the coming months: NIPTON, Calif. — The long-promised solar building boom in the desert [...]
Ground broken on U.S’ first big solar power plant in 20 years
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, climate change, environment, global warming, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged John Woolard on October 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo of desert tortoise tagged with a radio transmitter at the Ivanpah solar farm site: Todd Woody In Yale Environment 360 on Wednesday, I interview John Woolard, chief executive of BrightSource Energy, the California solar developer that has begun construction of the first large-scale solar thermal power plant to be built in the United States [...]
Recipe for U.S. solar boom: policy, money + a little sunshine
Posted in alternative energy, climate change, energy, environment, global warming, green financing, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Bloomberg New Energy Finance on October 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The United States is on the verge of a solar boom that could provide 4.3 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2020, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. There’s just a 12-figure catch: Investors need to put $100 [...]
Feds approve first solar farm on goverment land in Nevada
Posted in alternative energy, environment, First Solar, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Ken Salazar, Nevada, Silver State solar project on October 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The Obama administration’s solar building boom continues. On Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed the first lease to build a large-scale photovoltaic project on federal land in Nevada. “Yes, it’s about jobs and finding a new way forward but it’s also about [...]
Silicon Valley’s solar strategy to compete with China
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, Solyndra, SunPower on October 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In The New York Times Green blog on Wednesday, I follow up on my print story about the impact of low-cost Chinese solar manufacturers on high-tech Silicon Valley startups: In an article in Wednesday’s paper, I write about how high-tech Silicon Valley solar companies are retooling their strategies to compete with low-cost [...]
Not just a photo(voltaic) op: Maldives leader goes solar
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, global warming, green policy, renewable energy, solar energy, Sungevity, tagged Maldives, President Mohamed Nasheed on October 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed (on right in above photo), didn’t just agree to have solar panels installed on the presidential mansion; he helped put them in. Nasheed scrambled up to the roof this week, screwdriver in hand, and joined the crew from [...]
Green tech investment plummets, California hit hard
Posted in alternative energy, enviro capitalism, enviro startups, environment, green financing, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy on October 1, 2010 | 1 Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In The New York Times on Friday, I write about a report showing venture capital investment in green technology companies nose-dived in the third quarter of 2010, with California taking a big hit: Has the green tech recovery stalled? Global venture capital investment in green technology companies fell 30 percent, to $1.53 [...]
California’s solar binge continues; enacts energy storage law
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, green policy, NextEra Energy Resources, solar energy, solar power plants, Tessera Solar on October 1, 2010 | 2 Comments »
photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. While efforts to pass federal climate change legislation have stalled and a fight rages in California to overturn its global warming law at the ballot box, Golden State regulators have been licensing massive desert solar power plant projects at a breakneck pace [...]
GE plugs into Better Place, Sharp buys U.S. solar developer
Posted in alternative energy, Better Place, electric cars, energy, environment, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, tagged GE on September 22, 2010 | 1 Comment »
photo: GE I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. General Electric on Wednesday gave a jump-start to Better Place, the Silicon Valley startup developing an electric car infrastructure in several countries. Better Place plans to deploy a network of urban charging posts and swapping stations where drivers can exchange depleted company-owned batteries [...]
