Tag Archives: weather
Green Economy: Historic Opportunities Everywhere
We have the means to reinvigorate the economy, create millions of jobs, increase energy security and open up vast new exports markets. If we are to keep carbon concentrations below 450ppm, we can anticipate clean energy investments exceeding $13 trillion over the next two decades. These investments lower energy costs and directly benefit manufacturers of [...]
Climate Denailists: You Have Won Nothing
Yesterday (August 1st2012), in separate but strikingly similar events, those who deny that climate change is real and say climate science is a conspiracy were told that they could declare victory. First, the U.S. Senate, during its first hearing on global warming in almost three years, was informed by Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) that global [...]
Digging into the DOE’s Energy Consumption Predictions
Here we continue our look at the DOE EIA’s projections of U.S. energy consumption through 2035. In this post we look at what they foresee happening in the commercial sector (essentially composed of offices and stores). Almost immediately we encounter issues that can leave us scratching our collective heads, especially when we compare what is [...]
The 5 Biggest Solar Myths
Solar power technology has been around for decades now, but adoption is still low per capita. Part of the reason is because of the pervasive myths about solar power. People tend to think that solar technology is out of their budget, that it doesn’t work in cloudy areas, and that it’s impossible to use in [...]
How Clouds Affect Solar
While solar panels generate the most electricity on clear days with abundant sunshine (not surprisingly), they continue to work when the weather turns cloudy. On a cloudy day, typical solar panels can produce 10-25% of their rated capacity. The exact amount will vary depending on the density of the clouds, and may also vary by [...]
Loading the Dice
As I sit here writing this, cleanup crews are winding their way through my neighborhood picking up the broken branches left by Hurricane Irene. Just this year, millions of people in the U.S. and around the world have directly experienced intense storms or intense drought. Anybody in Vermont or Texas, anybody along the Mississippi, anybody [...]
Solar Panels Hold Their Ground Against Hurricane Irene
How do rooftop-mounted solar panels weather a hurricane? Apparently pretty well. While Hurricane Irene battered the East Coast this past weekend, solar installations on homeowners’ roofs remained relatively unscathed. Homeowner David Surge posted a video of how his solar rooftop weathered Irene in Southern New Jersey. “Sunday night, Aug. 28th, the storm has passed us. [...]
Cold Weather, Snow, and Solar Power in New England
We got our first real snowfall in Boston so I thought today’s post would be fitting. Many people think that investing in solar power in New England is ludicrous. Here in Massachusetts, we live in a climate that is prone to cold temperatures andunpredictable weather conditions, including ice and snow, for about athird of the [...]
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. [...]