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 ‘solar 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
California utilities (just) miss renewable energy deadline
Posted in energy, PG&E, renewable energy, San Diego Gas & Electric, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison on March 11, 2011 | 1 Comment »
photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The California Legislature is moving to put into law a regulation requiring the state’s utilities to obtain a third of their electricity from renewable energy by 2020. But how did California’s three big investor-owned utilities do in meeting a previous mandate to [...]
Portlandia to help wean Los Angeles from coal
Posted in environment, solar energy, solar power plants, SolarWorld, tagged Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on March 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Portlandia may not be the sunniest of places, but it’s exporting solar energy in the form of photovoltaic panels used to build carbon-free power plants. On Wednesday, SolarWorld — the German photovoltaic module maker that operates a big factory in Hillsboro, Ore. — announced it [...]
Short-circuiting California’s solar thermal power plant boom
Posted in BrightSource Energy, energy, environment, NextEra Energy Resources, renewable energy, Sierra Club, solar energy, Solar Millennium, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, Tessera Solar on February 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In Thursday’s New York Times, I write about how the nascent solar thermal boom in California’s Mojave Desert is being derailed by lawsuits from environmental, union and Native American groups: SAN FRANCISCO — Just weeks after regulators approved the last of nine multibillion-dollar solar thermal power plants to be built in the [...]
