Flight to the future: Solar Impulse shows we can run the world without consuming the earth Embed from Getty Images By Ulrich Spiesshofer, President and CEO, ABB Solar Impulse has made history by completing the first flight around the world in a plane powered only by energy from the sun. Its achievement is a tremendous success for clean technologies and …

The practice of harnessing clean, renewable energy from the sun to power homes and businesses is gaining popularity as improved technology and business models are reaching consumers. Solar energy is harnessed using photovoltaic (PV) panel systems that convert sunlight directly into electrical energy that can be used to power your home’s heating, cooling, lighting and appliances. PV panels are easily …

Sprig Electric Pioneers A One, Two Solar Punch In Silicon Valley, To Dramatically Reduce Energy Costs Sprig Electric is now among the first electrical contractors in the nation to pair Tesla’s Powerpack battery with a 350 kW commercial rooftop photovoltaic (PV) system to optimize energy savings. The pairing, installed by Sprig Electric at their corporate headquarters in San Jose, will cut …

Solar industry warns that more job losses are inevitable after the UK government cuts subsidies   Already four firms have folded and over a thousand jobs have been lost as the UK solar sector braces for an unforgiving winter.   Zep Solar is the most recent firm to fold in the UK, and it lays the blame squarely on the …

New analysis provides unprecedented view of consumer behavior, solar system and financing trends, and other dynamics of the residential and small-scale commercial solar market from July 2014 to June 2015   EnergySage published today its first Solar Marketplace Intel Report™, providing one-of-a-kind visibility into the residential and small-scale commercial solar market in the United States. Based on statistically valid transaction-level …

The greenest most cost-effective solar-plus-storage solution for utilities Solution available now through long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) that guarantees performance Energy Storage North America (ESNA) – San Diego, Calif. – October 14, 2015 – Ice Energy, the leading provider of distributed thermal energy storage solutions, announced the launch of Solar + Ice which bundles Ice Bear thermal energy storage with rooftop …

Leading Residential Solar Company Announces Professional Baseball Partnership to BringAffordable Solar Energy to Homeowners   Sunrun (Nasdaq: RUN), the largest dedicated residential solar company in the United States, today announced a multi-year agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sunrun designs, installs, finances, insures, monitors and maintains solar systems on a homeowner’s roof, while families pay just for the electricity at …

Britain’s First Low-Cost Energy Positive Home is an “I was there moment” The question of how we will power our homes in a carbon-free future is, in many ways, the defining challenge of the 21st century. While climate scientists are in unanimous agreement that fossil fuels must be left in the ground if we are to avert dangerous levels of …

  Energy storage is poised for massive growth – as technologies advance and costs decline it will have a disruptive effect in the energy value chain. The arrival of energy storage as a mature technology at both grid-scale and residential and business levels is opening the way for the large scale integration of wind and solar energies and a more …

A massive grid cyberattack may sound like the stuff of an apocalyptic movie. But for insurance giant Lloyd’s the prospect carries enough probability to carefully weigh the financial risk. The cost? As much as $1 trillion if hackers take down just 50 generators out of 700 in 15 states within the Eastern Interconnection, according to a new study by Lloyd’s …

Kyocera, Gaia Power, Kyudenko and Century Tokyo Leasing Announce Construction of 92MW Solar Power Plant in Japan One of Japan’s largest solar installations to provide equivalent power for roughly 30,500 households Kyocera Corporation (President: Goro Yamaguchi, herein “Kyocera”), K.K. GAIA POWER (President: Koji Fujisaki, herein “Gaia Power”), Kyudenko Corporation (President: Matsuji Nishimura, herein “Kyudenko”), and Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation (President: …

The power flickered off four times in the 2 ½ hours that Darren Hammell waited at Cuba’s Santa Clara airport for his return flight to the United States last month. This departing experience underscored what he had learned on his trip: There is work for U.S. energy companies in the Caribbean’s largest island. But how quickly that work materializes remains …

Innovative partnership is celebrated on Earth Day for turning waste to watts, saving tax dollars GRESHAM, Ore. – The City of Gresham today celebrated the ingenuity and collaborative spirit that made possible an environmental achievement – engineering the Pacific Northwest’s first energy net zero wastewater treatment plant. Achieving net zero status means that the plant makes about the same amount of electricity as …

  World’s Largest HOA Management Firm Enters into First Nationwide Partnership with Leading Home Solar Company    Sunrun, the largest dedicated residential solar company in the United States, today announced a partnership with Associa, the world’s largest community association management firm, which serves more than two million households. This is Associa’s first relationship with a solar provider as it seeks …

Station on O’Hare property will offer compressed natural gas (CNG), biodiesel and fast-charge charging stations for electric vehicles. CHICAGO – As part of the ongoing sustainability efforts at Chicago’s airports, the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) announced it has contracted with a private company to develop a 4,000-square-foot fueling station and travel center featuring a range of alternative fuels and …

The United States’ solar market hit a major milestone in the second quarter of this year, with more than half a million homes and businesses now generating solar energy. According to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) Q2 2014 U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, the U.S. installed 1,133 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaics (PV) in the second …

A funny thing happened to Urban Green Energy (UGE) on the way to becoming a small wind turbine manufacturer. The New York company discovered that demand was limited for its product on a stand-alone basis. But combine small wind turbines with solar, storage and some intelligence – into a remote microgrid – and the market is vast. This is especially true …

Sustainable energy expert reports on market study at SOLAR 2014 Conference  With the growth rate of the solar energy market expected to increase by double-digits over the next decade, so too will the demand for copper which is needed to  power and ground cabling for these installations, said Zolaikha Strong, director of sustainable energy for the Copper Development Association (CDA), …

For many states struggling to reduce their carbon emissions, solar can be a real game-changer. With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set to announce new air quality standards for coal and natural gas-fired power plants on Monday, June 2, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) today released a comprehensive report, “Cutting Carbon Emissions Under §111(d): The case for expanding solar …

   Green Hygienics to Address Critical Global Power Demands and Conservation The advantages of low-cost, clean forms of energy are increasingly moving from the margins to the mainstream of public awareness in countries around the world, especially developing nations with fast-growing economies, rising numbers of middle class consumers and traditional power supplies that are unreliable or heavy polluters or both.The decision by Warren Buffett’s utility company …