Tag Archives: television
NREL Gets 2nd Solar Canopy
The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) now has a second Envision Solar International Solar Tree array at its Vehicle Testing and Integration Facility. Envision completed the installation of the solar EV charging canopy at NREL’s Golden, Colo. facility in mid-April. “I’m proud that we have been chosen again by NREL. They are delighted the [...]
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 [...]
Lighter and More Efficient: Ford’s New Carbon Fibre Technology
Detroit automaker Ford has been experimenting with a new carbon fibre technology that could help lower fuel consumption for its customers. The carbon fibre bonnet for the Ford Focus was displayed at the Composites Europe event in Dusseldorf, Germany. It is constructed from the super-strong material usually associated with bespoke racing vehicles or high-performance sports [...]
Big Data in the Utility World: Future Trends
As the California Independent System Operator asks for voluntary cooperation in reducing energy use as it climbs toward peak usage, Greentech Media opened up its conference, The Soft Grid 2012, in San Francisco to discuss how big data is coming to the utility world and what it means for grid reliability and customer service. Imagine [...]
“The Secret to Solar Power” from the NYT Times Magazine
If you haven’t read the Sunday New York Times Magazine piece, “The Secret to Solar Power,” we strongly recommend that you check it out, as it’s an important one for the industry. Among other things, it pushes back on critics of clean energy, who often brush the whole industry with a broad, “Solyndra” brush. It [...]
Recent India Power Blackout Reinforces Need for Solar
600 million people without power – and those were the ones expecting to have power. I’m not going to join the chorus of critical voices reacting to two of the world’s largest power black-outs this week in India. While surely there is ample blame to go around, it’s not really clear what happened. It could [...]
Solar for the Price of a Television
The crushing margins experienced by solar manufacturers over the past couple of years are likely to get worse and force consolidation of the industry to just a handful of manufacturers by 2015. Consolidation is also happening on the installation side of the solar industry. That’s what the Shawn Qu, CEO of Canadian Solar said, according to [...]
Romney vs. Obama: Who is Better for Solar?
One of the anecdotes I’ve been hearing a lot about in the halls at Solar Power International in Orlando this week came from the opening day CEO panel addressing “Change in an Uncertain Market.” The moderator asked the CEOs whether they thought the solar industry would be better under a Romney or Obama administration. The [...]