Sunny California is prime real estate for solar energy, and a number of California rebates make home solar systems highly affordable for Golden State residents. The only downside to these programs is that some have limited funding. Homeowners interested in solar panels will want to act soon to take full advantage of all the savings. (more…)

Gehrlicher Solar America has announced the completion of two additional commercial solar energy installations in the United States. The company completed a 151 kW ground-mounted system in North Dartmouth, intends to add another 5 MW of projects in the state over the course of 2012. (more…)

Today global thinking on sustainability is undergoing a revolution. Whereas once we may have looked at water efficiency, alternative energy and land use as separate issues, today our understanding is growing that in order to truly address sustainability, we need to look at all three together. McKinsey & Company recently issued an important report on this (more…)

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has filed two proposals with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that, if approved, may allow you to choose electricity generated by solar energy instead of fossil fuel-based energy, whether you own a home or not.

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There are many solar energy gadgets out there, but some of them seem to stand out. Take the LightShip, for example. It is a practical, portable solar light that could be the clean energy answer to campers, boats, cabins and emergency use. I particularly like the fact that it features three suction cups so that you can attach it to any smooth surface! (more…)

Last September we ran a blog post about Nokia’s adventure with solar power for cell phones. The Finnish giant sent some testers out into the big wide world to see how solar power would fare when it came to charging mobile phones with sunlight. The conclusion: it depends on lifestyle, baby. (more…)

People developing solar energy lights have all sorts of ideas, and sometimes they are very swell …Take the case of the LuminAID Light. It’s an inflatable nifty number, that fully charges with four to six hours of solar exposure.

The light was designed for disaster zones. (more…)

As anyone who has taken on a remodeling project knows, more time can be spent preparing for the project than for the actual installation. Homeowners who try to install a residential solar photovoltaic (PV) system often face complicated processes to get the permits that will not only ensure that their projects are up to (more…)

One of the greatest problems of large scale solar power facilities is that they do not produce electricity at night, and when they do produce power, it is constantly fluctuating with the sun’s strength. Under development in the deserts of Tonopah, Nevada is a new technology that will effectively store solar energy (more…)

Andasol, a gigantic farm with 600,000 parabolic mirrors that follow the sun on its daily path across the Earth, has gone online. The system occupies an area that equals the size of 210 football fields.

According to 9Billion, the project is on the Guadix plateau and is a cooperation between four German (more…)