Tag Archives: problem!
The Power Problem in Texas
As Texans celebrated the Summer solstice last week, the forecast for this week’s weather was simultaneously making people uneasy. With practically all of Texas, from El Paso to the Panhandle and the Coast, hitting 100+ degrees the only solace is that we were spared triple digits for the majority of June. Despite this respite, it [...]
Green Energy Companies: Dropping Like Flies
Many of us in the environmentally-aware community have read or seen with alarm the news reports about companies like Solyndra going bankrupt, automakers like GM pulling back on production of the Volt, and similar stories throughout the news cycle. What’s going on? Is green energy such a terrible product that companies just can’t make it [...]
The Problem With Biofuels
Biofuels are liquid fuels that can be obtained from biomass like plant matter or by the waste that living creatures produce, such as manure. They are mostly used to help meet transportation fuel needs. The two most common types of biofuels in use today are ethanol and biodiesel. Ethanol – Any biomass which is high [...]
How the U.S Should Beat China in Solar
Conversations with analysts and advocates on both sides of SolarWorld’s anti-dumping suit against China lead me believe the U.S. cannot beat its communist counterparts on cost. What it CAN do is set policies that convince U.S. financiers that solar energy is worth investing in. This way, fresh capital can flow to U.S. companies so they [...]
Bad News for California REC Generators
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted today on the Portfolio Content Category (aka ‘bucket status’) issue, and the result was not good for in-state generators of unbundled Renewable Energy Credits (RECs). In a 5-to-0 vote the CPUC approved the Proposed Decision in its current form, which classifies in-state unbundled RECs into ‘bucket 3’. As [...]
Federal Tax Credits: Holding Back Clean Energy in America
Clean energy advocates should cast aside their worries about increasing Republican scrutiny of energy subsidies. The clean energy industry’s foolish reliance on tax incentives has already handcuffed its expansion. Unlike the leading nations in the clean energy race, the United States has no coherent energy policy. Rather, its energy market is balkanized by 50 distinct [...]
Solar Companies: Snow on Solar Panels is Overhyped
I’ve noted before that solar installers don’t take snow on solar panels seriously, they typically brush it off — pun intended – as an inconsequential issue and/or maintain that snow will melt quickly off your home solar system. I’m not going to get into the specifics of how, in certain circumstances — including our own [...]
Can Fleets be the Answer to the Electric Vehicle Problem?
At The Networked EV last week in San Francisco, there was a lot of debate on how muchinfrastructure and grid improvement is needed for the impending first wave of electric vehicles. However, there was some consensus that a good place to start was the more than 16 million fleet vehicles in the U.S. Today PTRM, [...]
The Durability Problem in Solar
There is a reason why, to date, the vast majority of all PV installations have been based on crystalline wafer silicon. Work done over 40 years ago identified a system (cSi) that seemed towork quite well and that appeared reasonably durable. Subsequentexperience demonstrated that, if the proper materials are chosen andcombined with good workmanship, the [...]