Tag Archives: growth
285 Days of Rain A Year Hasn’t Stopped European Solar Industry
Everyone knows the United Kingdom gets a lot of rain – up to 285 days per year – but that hasn’t stopped solar panels from dotting up on rooftop after rooftop. Indeed, despite having one of the wettest climates in all of Europe, the UK has stealthily become one of the continent’s largest solar markets. [...]
In Focus: Corporate Sustainability in 2013
Despite ongoing economic difficulties around the globe corporate spending on sustainability is expected to increase in 2013. However, we still have a long way to go before sustainability is where it needs to be to reverse our dangerous trajectory towards runaway climate change. A Verdantix study indicates that corporate spending on sustainability, environmental, and energy [...]
Sustainable Investments Trending Up
11.2% of all investments under professional management in the US meet “sustainable” investment standards, a rise of 22% over the past two years. Whether it’s through mutual funds or individual stocks, investors are continue to increase their exposure to companies that rate high on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors, according to the biennial [...]
Infographic: Solar’s 5 Year Climb
It’s been a wild five years for U.S. solar power. Record growth. Incredible price declines. A backdrop of economic recession. Intense global competition. Messy election politics. The growing pains of any maturing industry. Through it all, solar innovators and entrepreneurs in all 50 states kept making big inroads into one of the most entrenched industries around: energy. [...]
Emerging Markets New Priority for SunPower and First Solar
The two biggest US solar companies, First Solar and SunPower, seem to be moving in tandem these days, accelerating development in emerging markets as revenue from more mature markets slows and projects near completion. Because of the difficulties in their traditional solar panel manufacturing business, they have both diversified into solar project development, and SunPower into solar [...]
Drive SunShine Institute Goes National
The Drive SunShine Institute, which recently got its start in Colorado, is planning to expand into multiple states, open offices and offer corporate test drive events to promote electric cars and home solar installations. “Over the last two months, we’ve really been ramping up our corporate test drives,” said Ken Beitel, advisory board chair of [...]
Growth in Low Income Housing Solar
Solar neighborhoods are gaining ground in lower income housing projects, here are some recent examples. Since Hurricane Katrina, government agencies have joined to foster new sustainable housing developments powered by renewable energy. One of those is in Louisiana, now home to the biggest solar neighborhood in the southeast. The new mixed-income River Garden Apartments replaces the St. Thomas Housing Project, which was known as a high-crime [...]
The Next Big Solar Growth Market: Romania?
With traditional European markets fading (or at least trying to fade, in Germany’s case), developers and manufacturers are scouring the globe for prospects in new and emerging markets. While many developers are turning to more obvious growth markets such as Japan or India, some more ambitious developers are turning to an often-overlooked bastion of solar [...]
German Solar Industry Up 50% in 2012
The world has been closely watching Germany’s renewable energy industry this year. Now the German utilities’ industry association BDEW has announced that the country’s solar power production is up over 50 percent in 2012, thanks to a wealth of photovoltaic installations. From January to September of this year, solar power production jumped from 16,500 gigawatt [...]