Long Island has officially gone solar, and what a perfect climate and location for adding the cleanest, most renewable form of energy around.

Long Island has always had a unique microclimate, influenced by global winds and the Atlantic Ocean, and one capable of supporting vineyards and even tender fruits in certain areas.

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Suntech Power Holding Co., Ltd. (Suntech), and Calisolar, Inc. (Calisolar), have signed a letter of intent to build a solar silicon plant in Vaughan, Ontario, which will produce the mineral for use in the renewable energy industry.  The plant will expand upon current operations by (more…)

If your electric rates are high, there is a silver lining. Chances are you live in a state that offers some of the greatest innovations and incentives for energy efficiency – or soon will. By taking advantage of these programs, you can reduce your bill.

Take a look at the chart below that I put together after reading the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s “2010 (more…)

Again East Coast states have won disproportionate recognition in a national analysis of energy efficiency programs, this time from the well-respected American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

ACEEE named five of the best state-led efficiency programs in a report issued Wednesday. Three of the five awards went (more…)

New Jersey passes law to encourage the development of 1,100 megawatts of new offshore wind energy capacity.

As the proposed Cape Wind offshore wind farm in Massachusetts fends off some last ditch legal challenges to become the first offshore wind farm in the U.S., New Jersey passed a law last week that would (more…)

While we’ve still got our eye on the prize of unleashing real solar market growth with the New York Solar Jobs Act, our work to improve New York’s existing PV incentive program keeps on truckin.

New York’s Public Service Commission recently released its 2010-1015 plans for the customer-sited program under the (more…)

Here is a startling fact: US power plants waste more energy than many countries use, including advanced economies like that of Japan. The wasted energy is in the form of heat thrown off when power plants produce electricity.

This is one of the points being brought to light by the International District Energy (more…)

What you don’t know will hurt you. That’s the message in Michael Lewis’ new book, “The Big Short,” which traces today’s worldwide economic downturn to a single problem: the secretive nature of prices in the subprime mortgage bond markets.

What’s this got to do with energy? Our industry has its own opaque corners that can cause widespread damage. This week the International Energy Agency (IEA) is attempting to focus light on a big one: energy subsides for fossil fuels. (more…)

There has been a ton of money floating out of Washington the past couple of years. Much is going toward propping up state governments with budget shortfalls, helping those who cannot find work by extending unemployment benefits and COBRA health insurance coverage, and a ton of dough is going to the banks.

This leaves a lot of us wondering, where is my stimulus package?

As an avid reader of current events and a novice financial expert, my opinion is perhaps literally worth two cents. As a renewable energy professional who has spent the past two years learning about solar energy and energy efficiency through community college courses and technical schools, I can tell there is a lot of money going to the right places.

In addition to extending unemployment benefits, there is a good deal of money flowing into community colleges and renewable energy. For example, I was able to get reimbursed from my state, New York, for the classes I took on energy efficiency. (more…)

Suppose your CEO calls tomorrow and asks, “What are we doing about power consumption?” What will you say?

Reducing consumption by turning off computer monitors and equipment requires lifestyle changes to be adopted through the entire organization. These are easy choices to make but they are hard to implement and substantial return on investment is not assured.

Proven, existing efficiency technologies — in everything from lighting to climate control and voltage regulation — can unlock the untapped reserves of efficiency gains buried in many non-residential buildings. Plus government incentive programs remove the barriers to implementation by making the up-front costs and payback periods affordable.

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