Tag Archives: investments
Google’s Renewable Energy Investments Top $1B
Google, a company that has been carbon neutral since 2007, is about to top $1 billion in renewable energy investments. The company is a huge energy consumer; its data centers’ operations use as much energy as nearly a quarter of a million households. But Google is using renewable energy not only to fuel its own [...]
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 [...]
Report: Global Markets and Technologies for PV Systems
I’m happy to announce the publication of my most recent report, Global Markets and Technologies for Photovoltaic Systems, by the research company BCC Research. You won’t be finding it in your local bookstore–the purchase price is $4,850, although you can get bite sized chunks at a much lower price. The report has actually been in the [...]
The 12 Greenest Private Equity Firms
Green private equity is a vital funding mechanism that helps entrepreneurs secure sustainable venture capital. Green private equity firms supply venture capital to companies that are focused on sustainability. Private equity is capital that is not quoted on a public exchange. It consists of investors and funds that make investments directly into private companies or [...]
Smelling the Desperation of Chinese Solar Companies
The biggest Chinese solar panel producers like Sunech, Trina ,Yingli and Canadian Solar have come out strongly against the recent filing of a complaint of dumping of Chinese solar panels in Europe. Solarworld which is the biggest German solar panel company has led a group of 25 European solar companies in filing a complaint against [...]
Walmart Turns on 100th Solar Installation
The world’s largest retailer Walmart has finished the rooftop solar installation at its San Diego store, the 100th project completed so far in California. Last year, Walmart committed to extending its rooftop solar portfolio to more than 75 percent of its California stores (approximately 130) by the end of 2013. Installer SolarCity, which handled the [...]
GE Energy Splits Into 3 Units
General Electric announced that it’s splitting its energy division into three standalone businesses later this year. The move will greatly simplify communication with customers and investors and creates a more agile organizational structure that aligns more effectively with each industry sector. The three new businesses will report directly to GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. Currently, GE Energy Infrastructure employs 100,000 [...]
How Silver Prices are Affecting the Future of Solar
The skyrocketing cost of silver will force innovation in the solar industry, according to a report from Lux Research. Solar module prices have been dropping dramatically over the last two years, despite a six-fold price jump in silver since 2002. Silver is the primary choice for metal electrodes to collect the electricity generated by sunlight in [...]
Group Net Metering: Community Solar’s Golden Ticket
Almost every state in the country has net metering laws on the books. But only a few states allow a lesser-known policy that is critical for the expansion of distributed renewables, particularly community-scale solar— that’s aggregate, virtual, or group net metering. And there are a lot of good reasons to want to see its expansion. [...]