Tag Archives: america
Ernie Moniz To Lead the U.S. DOE
It’s hard to know what to make of this week’s unanimous Senate vote, confirming Ernie Moniz as the new U.S. Energy Secretary, replacing the outgoing Steven Chu. If you’re a fan of a sustainable energy policy, it’s certainly not a good sign when 100% of Senate Republicans like the way a certain person thinks. Of [...]
The Greenest Building in America?
On Earth Day this year, The Bullitt Center opened its doors in Seattle, Washington. The six-story building is being hailed as the greenest commercial building in the world. Its specs are very impressive indeed, including: 56,000-gallon cistern for rainwater collection; Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof that are estimated to generate 230,000 kilowatt-hours per [...]
Solar Impulse Flies Across America
If there is anything cooler than a solar-powered airplane that can fly at night, we sure haven’t seen it. The plane is called Solar Impulse (technically HB-SIA) and it is making its way across the country right now! In fact, if you live in Phoenix, you could go see it today or Tuesday (and yes, [...]
Solar Decathlon Readies for Road Trip
The world’s first Solar Decathlon was held in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall, our nation’s front yard, in 2002. Since 2005 the competition, which invites university teams from around the world to design tomorrow’s solar homes—today, has been held biennially on the mall. It’s also inspired Europe and China to hold their own Solar [...]
Google “Advises” Utility Companies to Use Renewable Energy
As North Carolina works on destroying its Renewable Portfolio Standard – the policy that’s catapulted it to US leadership – Google is showing how important renewables are to economic development there. Google is planning to expand its data center there, bringing its investment to $1.2 billion, and it wants renewable energy to power it. “They are [...]
Top 10 U.S Eco Cities
With Earth Day just around the corner, Redfin, a technology-powered real estate broker, today announced a ranking of the country’s top 10 cities with the greenest homes. The Redfin analysis looked at each city’s overall carbon dioxide emissions, as well as the number of homes currently for sale that have “green” features or eco-friendly ratings. [...]
George W. Bush Goes Solar
I always thought George W. Bush got a bum rap by people who said he didn’t care about the environment. Actions speak louder than words and when you take into account the geothermal system he installed on his ranch in Crawford before he became President and the solar energy systems he just installed on his new [...]
Secretary Chu Discusses The State of U.S Solar
Last Friday (Feb. 22) outgoing Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu hosted a Google+ Hangout along with a host of solar experts and discussed the progress that solar has made in the past few years. Particularly regarding the progress that the U.S. has made on reducing the costs of solar power and the trajectory the [...]
My Open Letter to Fox & Friends
Those silly kids over at Fox & Friends really went on a rant against solar the other day and capped it off by asserting that the German solar industry does so much better than ours here in the U.S. because, after all, Germany gets so much more sun that we do in the States. Here’s [...]