Here’s another update from my Kansas City-based friend Fritz Maffry. The approach to date in KC neglected all recognition that solar and battery prices are headed down considerably, while utility rates have been on an increasing cost ascension for the …
Category: Photovoltaics
From Guest Blogger Arthur Smith: Most Common Solar Energy Myths Debunked
Solar energy is a huge power resource all over the world, because as of last year solar power generates more than 1% of the electricity demand globally. That is no easy feat to achieve, because power generation market still is ruled …
From Guest Blogger Arthur Smith: Most Common Solar Energy Myths Debunked Read More »
Off-Grid Living in Africa
It’s always great to be able to report unequivocally good news, and this is such a story. As the cost of solar PV continues to plummet, many Africans are finding that this represents a far better–and less expensive–solution than kerosene.
Building-Integrated PV: It’s Happening Now
The subject of building-integrated solar PV (BIPV) is not new, and some version will almost definitely become popular soon, especially in places like California that have net-zero energy consumption requirements for new construction.
Prediction: The Migration To Renewable Energy Will Be Anything But Smooth
Doesn’t everyone love the promise of abundant, inexpensive, and totally clean energy? Actually, no. Those whose profit streams come from dirty, 20th Century energy most certainly don’t. These people are working diligently to delay the onset of renewables as long …
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Electric Utilities vs. Rooftop Solar
Here’s an article that suggests our power utilities don’t really want to see more rooftop solar. While that’s not really news to anyone, it certainly does raise a good question: what are the changes we need to make in our …
Tagged with: backup power, charge electric vehicles, Charge net-metering customers a lease fee for the service the grid provides, cost of building expensive peaker plants, Electric Utilities vs. Rooftop Solar, environmental damage, externalities, load shifts to daylight hours, low capacity factors, our relationship with our utilities, power utilities don't really want rooftop solar, pushback against net metering, rethinking the mandate we give the utilities, tax EV drivers, tax fossil fuel consumption, vehicle-to-grid programs, voltage and wave-form correction
Bottlenecks in the Solar Industry
Frequent commenter John Roche writes: Regarding bottlenecks associated with the adoption of solar, many groups have said that infrastructure and power lines are issues, namely getting new power lines in and expanding old ones–and that it could take years. Bottlenecks …
Tagged with: Bottlenecks in the Solar Industry, capacity to install large solar farms on otherwise low-value land, cost per Watt of solar will continue to fall, encourage faster adoption of solar, infrastructure, limited capacity to transmit energy of large distances, shift load to the day, store energy cost-effectively
From Guest Blogger Randy Carlson: Solar Osmosis–a Better Drought Solution for the Southwest
America’s Southwest is running out of water. Reservoirs are drying up, and our population continues to grow. Our cities, our high-value agriculture, our environment and our future all depend on water resources we don’t have. One abundant resource the Southwest …
Tagged with: alternative energy, clean energy, Climate Change, green energy, Renewable Energy, solar energy, sustainability
From Guest Blogger Alex Yackery: Solar Panels for Homes in the U.S. Are Rising In Number- Be Part of the Revolution!
There is no dearth of news featuring grim stories about the world’s growing energy problems. These basically focus on the rise in price of electric energy which seems to be rising every year. Reason being, the utilities need to pay …
Solar Power International Is a Learning Experience
Terrific day at the Solar Power International (SPI) show yesterday. I had the opportunity to take in a 30-minute presentation by an extremely senior analyst at Bloomberg, though it really wasn’t particularly good news for distributed solar. The over-supply midday …
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