In Hong Kong, China, the name GCL means solar energy. So it wasn’t surprising when GCL subsidiary, Poly Energy Holdings Ltd., a world-leading polysilicon and wafer supplier, announced the formation of a joint venture (jv) with Los Angeles solar star SolarReserve, a design/build solar energy firm, to build solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants in the United States.

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Opel Solar, Inc. (Opel), recently announced that the US Patent Office has approved a patent for its latest high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) module.  The new technology promises to increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of solar PV installations.  This most recent patent is the international company’s thirty-third, with seventeen others pending.  Opel’s (more…)

A new type of transparent solar film developed by the U.S. Department of Energy could turn windows into clean electricity generators.

Harnessing the power of the sun means placing solar collection devices where they are most likely to be in direct contact with its rays. For many years, that ideal place has been the roofs of homes and businesses, (more…)

It’s called the Greenerator (thanks to my Twitter pal SolarKnowledge for pointing out this one), and it’s the sort of renewable energy device that offers apartment dwellers a way of generating sustainable energy without the attached real estate. (more…)

In the latest news on the solar rebate front, Florida – which in 2006 offered $4 per watt for solar energy installations as an incentive to increase the state’s renewable energy portfolio – appears to be about to renege on at least part of its promise. (more…)

The Queen City recently hosted BOMEX 2010 – the 20^th edition of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada (BOMA Canada) National Conference and Exhibition.

The line-up for the conference reflected the province’s growing interest in the environment, (more…)

On October 21, the National Research Council (NRC) began operations on a new high-efficiency solar energy experiment at the Canadian Centre for Housing Technology, located on NRC property in Ottawa.

“Semiconductors Using Nanostructures (more…)

Mitsubishi and Nippon Fruehauf, a light metals manufacturer, have developed an “idling-stop” solar-powered air conditioning unit that cools the truck cabin when the engine is not running.

Called the “i-Cool Solar,” the solar- (more…)

On Nov. 4, the Quechan Native American tribe filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, to block the Imperial Valley Solar Project.

Slated for 6,359.56 acres in El Centro, in (more…)

Most people will be surprised, but Italy was the first country in the world to build motorways. In fact, the A8 “Milano-Laghi” motorway (“Milan-Lakes”, as it connects the city of Milan to Lake Como and Maggiore) was completed in 1926. Time has passed and all developed nations now (more…)