photo: Todd Woody In The New York Times on Wednesday, I wrote about floating solar farms: PETALUMA, Calif. — Solar panels have sprouted on countless rooftops, carports and fields in Northern California. Now, several start-up companies see potential for solar panels that float on water. Already, 144 solar panels sit atop pontoons moored on a [...]
Archive for the ‘renewable energy’ Category
Offshore solar: Get ready for floating photovoltaic farms
Posted in renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged SPG Solar, Sunengy on April 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
GE to build U.S.’ largest solar factory, shake up market
Posted in energy, renewable energy, solar energy, tagged General Electric, PrimeStar Solar on April 6, 2011 | 2 Comments »
image: General Electric In Thursday’s New York Times, I write about General Electric’s bid to to become a major player in the U.S. solar industry: SAN FRANCISCO — In a move that could shake up the American solar industry, General Electric plans to announce on Thursday that it will build the nation’s largest photovoltaic panel [...]
Powering up: Green tech investment surges in first quarter
Posted in alternative energy, biofuels, electric cars, enviro capitalism, enviro startups, green financing, renewable energy, solar energy, tagged Cleantech Group on April 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
photo: BrightSource Energy I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Some good news on the environmental front for a change: Global investment in green technology in the first quarter of the year spiked 52 percent compared to the previous quarter, to $2.57 billion. That’s according to a report released Tuesday by the [...]
Prop 23 coalition revives campaign for green policies
Posted in energy, environment, green policy, Proposition 23, renewable energy, tagged Thomas Steyer on March 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In The New York Times on Friday, I wrote about the organizers of California’s No on Proposition 23 campaign resurrecting their coalition to press for green energy policies in the Golden State and Washington: George P. Shultz, the Republican former secretary of state, and Thomas F. Steyer, the Democratic hedge fund billionaire, are reviving the [...]
Starter homes get solar panels as standard equipment
Posted in alternative energy, green buildings, green packaging, renewable energy, solar energy, tagged KB Home on March 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
photo: KB Home In The New York Times on Thursday, I wrote about a home builder installing solar arrays as standard equipment in new developments in Southern California: Among the standard features offered for new homes at Manzanita at Paseo del Sol, a KB Home development in a desert suburb southeast of Los Angeles, are [...]
San Francisco mayor calls for city to go 100% renewable
Posted in energy, renewable energy, solar energy, tagged Vote Solar on March 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
photo: jfraser I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Where could you get 797 people to stand in line outside a nightclub to attend a $100-a-ticket fundraiser for a nonprofit that advocates for solar energy? Not-so-sunny San Francisco, of course. The queue to get into the Vote Solar Initiative annual spring equinox [...]
Google Ventures funds mobile biofuel refineries
Posted in biofuels, global warming, Google, renewable energy, tagged CoolPlanetBiofuels, Google Ventures on March 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
photo: CoolPlanetBiofuels In The New York Times on Thursday, I wrote about Google Ventures funding a Southern California startup that is developing mobile biofuel refineries that will travel to the fuel source to process agricultural waste and other biomass: Google Ventures has led a $20 million financing round in CoolPlanetBiofuels, a Southern California start-up that [...]
DOE nuke funds to continue, big green energy loans on way
Posted in nuclear energy, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Uncategorized, tagged Jonathan Silver, United States Departmetn of Energy loan programs office on March 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
photo: San Luis Obispo County In The New York Times on Thursday, I wrote about a United States Department of Energy official affiming that loan guarantees for nuclear power projects would continue in the wake of the Japanese reactor disaster. He also said loans for a “significant” number of large renewable energy projects would be [...]
California billionaire Tom Steyer takes on the Koch brothers
Posted in climate change, energy, global warming, green policy, Proposition 23, renewable energy, tagged Thomas F. Steyer on March 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In The New York Times on Tuesday, I wrote about the strategy of San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer, the leader of the campaign against Proposition 23 last year, to fight efforts to restrict the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions: Is Thomas F. Steyer the anti-Koch? For years, Mr. Steyer, a billionaire San Francisco [...]
Solar: It’s not just a California thing anymore
Posted in renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants on March 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
photo: REC Solar I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The United States solar businesses boomed, as usual, in 2010, growing 67 percent to $6 billion, according to an annual report released Thursday by an industry trade group. That’s been the story for the past several years, but what’s notable is that [...]
