Electric vehicles (EVs) are widely considered an inevitable part of the future of transportation. Every major auto manufacturer is working on their own electric model, with notables like the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt and an electric Ford Focus scheduled for release within the next year or two.

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It seems that the most important meetings at SunPower all take place in the Tiffany & Co. conference room. In fact, all the other conference rooms are named after significant SunPower installations—Nellis (14.2 MW), Bavaria One (10 MW), Moscone (675 kW), and Olivenza (18 MW).

Perhaps the high-quality, luxury jeweler, (more…)

Farmers and solar energy businesses are relieved after the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) announced on August 13 that recent changes to the pricing scheme for small-scale, ground-mounted solar panel installations under Ontario’s micro feed-in tariff (microFIT) will not be applied retroactively. (more…)

AT&T is bulking up its latest corporate sustainability plan.

A 296-kilowatt solar power system has officially been activated in San Diego, and it’s just the first of six company sites around California scheduled for solar installation. The goal is 2 megawatts of clean solar electricity. The Trade Street site in San (more…)

On July 13th, GE and its partners issued a challenge to the world: Submit breakthrough ideas that transform the way we create, connect and use power and they, (more…)

The first Smart Grid Cyber Security Summit was held recently in San Jose. IBM’s Andy Bochman, in his excellent Smart Grid Security blog provides a good review of the proceedings, and I’ll add a few of my own thoughts.

The attendance of approximately 75 people was not bad for a first time event, (more…)

Australian officials plan to build a 140-turbine wind farm in Victoria, the nation’s most densely populated state, by 2013, a billion-dollar project that would be the largest in the Southern hemisphere. The wind farm will provide enough electricity for 220,000 homes and is key to the nation’s new target of meeting 20 percent of its energy needs with renewable (more…)

Late last month, Toronto-based Atlantic Wind and Solar Inc. announced an encouraging step forward in the transition to a greener economy. The firm is planning to launch a brand new financing program designed to help organizations develop large-scale wind and solar energy projects. The Renewable Energy Finance program will focus on helping companies complete (more…)

One of the best and most exciting parts of my job is helping make homes and businesses more efficient. Why? The places where we live and work consume 40% of the energy we use in the U.S. Through tune-ups to existing homes or new construction, doing more while using less energy is key to improving our buildings and energy future. (more…)

This month, BlackGold Biofuels, a Philadelphia-based company, turned an 800-pound butter sculpture into diesel fuel. It was part of an experiment led by Michael J. Haas, a research biochemist at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The sculpture, shaped like Benjamin Franklin and the Liberty Bell, was made for the Pennsylvania Farm Show. (more…)