Tag Archives: panels
Sharp to Launch Windows That Double Up As Solar Panels
Japanese manufacturer Sharp this week announced the arrival of what it hopes will become a common money-saving building material. Its see-through solar panel, or window with built in solar capacity depending on which way you look at it (or indeed through it?) has been designed for use both as windows and balcony infill panels. The [...]
More SolarWorld Drama
As I was looking at the stories crossing the wires a few minutes ago, two in particular grabbed my attention. The first was a story about a report that the state-owned China Development Bank is planning to continue its support for Chinese solar panel manufacturers: China Development Bank Corp. plans to renew a pledge of support [...]
3 Examples of Solar as Architectural Design
When people think of solar panels they don’t immediately think of beauty and innovative design. Instead they tend to picture ugly, blocky panels that have been awkwardly placed on the roof of a building. The bad thing about this is that the common perception of solar panels tending to be ugly is in fact a [...]
Nano Coating Could Make Solar Panels Self-Cleaning
Seamus “Shay” Curran, director of the University of Houston’s Institute for NanoEnergy, doesn’t like cleaning windows. “My wife gets after me about it,” he said. A new hydrophobic nano coating he and his team of researchers at UH have developed holds the promise of self-cleaning windows. Of course, that’s just a pleasant byproduct. Curran developed [...]
Big Box Retailers: All About Solar Power
In the news lately we have been hearing about big box stores going green by installing solar power on their stores. Which retailers are expanding their renewable energy strategies in an effort to make the world a little greener? Wal-Mart just announced a large solar power installation on their 100th store in California. They are [...]
Homeowners’ Associations: Fighting for Solar
There aren’t many reasons not to get a solar PV array installed on your rooftop, and a number of reasons to consider the clean, free, renewable energy solar panels provide. But if you live in a gated community or a development with a homeowners’ association, it may not be as easy as a phone call [...]
Solar Leasing Raises Big Money
Two US solar installers that use the popular solar leasing model to support residential and commercial projects have closed substantial new rounds of financing. SolarCity, which ranks as the second biggest US installer after SunPower, has raised $100 million from Credit Suisse — bringing the total invested by the Swiss bank to $200 million. The [...]
Solar Power in the Developing World
Renewable energy is a goal for many developed countries, including the United States. Plugging into the existing power grid is the “norm”, while renewable resources are the next step. Interestingly enough, while many people in these countries may see solar power as a step beyond the traditional power supply, or even an innovative luxury affordable [...]
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. [...]