Tag Archives: california
The California Canopy House by Michael Jantzen
The California Canopy House was designed to embrace Southern California’s sunny temperate climate. As a result, the structure is primarily made of a series of large, overlaping, curved and slotted canopies. Thesecanopies shade the majority of the enclosed portion of the house. They, along with fence-like extentions of theenclosed portion of the house, form shaded [...]
Solar Junction Achieves 44% Solar Cell Efficiency
A California-based company has broken its own world record in solar cell efficiency. Solar Junction has achieved 44 percent at 949 suns, beating the Silicon Valley company’s record of 43.5 percent at 418 suns it set in April 2011. Both records were verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). “Breaking our own world record [...]
Solyndra: Solar’s Poster Child For Failure
If solar industry had a poster child for failure, Solyndra is to solar as Jared Fogle is to Subway. Yes, solar had its share of flops, failures, and fiascos. Wall Street bashes the solar manufacturers for its low margins, huge debts, and of course, its constant political war different countries around the world. On top [...]
Mexican President Felipe Calderon Inaugurates Large Scale Solar Plant
Mexican President Felipe Calderon inaugurated a large-scale solar power plant that he touted as the region’s first, a pilot facility in the northwestern state of Baja California that features 4,000 photovoltaic panels and 1 MW in generating capacity. The current president of Mexico Felipe Calderon Hinojosa has inaugurated a large-scale solar power plant in the [...]
Los Angeles Plans Cleantech Complex
A developer plans to turn a former school bus manufacturing plant in downtown Los Angeles into a cleantech industrial park. The CleanTech Manufacturing Center is being built on speculation, hoping companies like solar, wind and electric vehicle equipment manufacturers will want to rent space there. Developer Trammell Crow Co. is spending $40 million for the cleantech campus - three large [...]
Can Vivint be the Biggest U.S Solar Installer in 2013?
Following on the heels of the announcement that Vivint would be purchased by Blackstone for more than $2 billion, Vivint has said it plans to install solar on at least 10,000 homes in 2013. That’s according to founder Todd Pederson, who discussed expansion plans with Bloomberg earlier this week. That’s up significantly from about [...]
The Official Obama vs. Romney Energy Policy Breakdown
240 local chapters of the US Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the Obama and Romney campaigns yesterday asking them to “support and advance clean energy as a truly non-partisan effort, and to make clean energy growth a top priority in supporting American business and innovation.” A simple first step would be to recognize [...]
San Diego’s Smart Energy Community
San Diego Gas & Electric Co. (SDG&E) and Sudberry Properties have announced plans to incorporate breakthrough smart grid technology in the construction of Civita, the new master-planned development in Mission Valley, California. With a focus on sustainability and energy-efficiency, the “smart energy community“ will be home to vehicle charging stations, solar and fuel cell electricity, [...]
Riding the Risks and Rewards of the Solarcoaster
It’s been a while since I reflected on my career journey on what many of us in the industry have affectionately begun calling “The Solarcoaster.” Rather than look at events in the industry as a whole over the 2011-2012 period, I wanted to take a more personal view; a view as a big fish in [...]