Featured Blogs - RenewableEnergyWorld.com

What Is Holding Back Solar Hot Water in the US?

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:46:26 GMT

Solar hot water has been a commercialized technology for many, many years now. It had its heyday back in the 1980s when it seemed like everyone was putting a system on his or her roof. Even my dad, the ultra-conservative New York City money manager put one on our house in Connecticut when I was a teenager. Unfortunately, however, the technology wa

Sandia Releases Web Tool to Evaluate Energy Storage Options

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Sandia National Laboratories and the Department of Energy have released a new tool to help utilities, developers and regulators identify the energy storage options that best meet their needs. Partnering with DNV KEMA, a global testing and consulting firm, Sandia is releasing Energy Storage Select, or ES-Select, software under a public license to t

A Solar Fred Caption Contest Featuring a Viral Slinky Video

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

There are times in solar marketing when one can use seemingly unrelated memes and turn them into useful (and inexpensive) solar advocacy and commentary on social networks. Case in point is this Slinky-on-a-treadmill video below, which now has over 1 million views, according to YouTube. We'll get to why in a bit. First the video: Let’s disc

Are IT Data Centers Emerging as a 'Killer App' for Green Power? Part 2

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:48:00 GMT

IT companies are increasingly exploring a wide range of green power solutions in response to growing energy use at their data centers and increased scrutiny from industry watchdogs. In part one of this article, we described utility-provided and offsite green power options available to IT companies. In this post, we will discuss the onsi

Doing the Math: Is Net Metering a Cost to Utilities, or a Benefit?

Tue, 22 May 2012 15:12:00 GMT

Utilities often claim that allowing customers to run their meter backward (by generating electricity on-site, e.g. from rooftop solar) can affect their bottom line because these customers don’t pay enough to cover the cost of maintaining the grid. In at least one case, however, a utility’s cost-benefit analysis of net metering was

Lawmakers Expand First-in-nation Solar Registration

Tue, 22 May 2012 15:01:13 GMT

Vermont’s pioneering solar registration program, which caught the attention of the national solar industry and policymakers last year, has been expanded. The program is providing a national model for reducing costly and time-consuming local solar permitting. A year after Vermont lawmakers initiated the program, Act 125 doubles the size of pr

There's Something To Be Said for Having the Right Kind of Singular Focus

Mon, 21 May 2012 16:24:29 GMT

Construction at the Youngs Creek powerhouse near Sultan, Wash., was moving along just fine when the day came to install the facility’s turbine. But there was one problem: It wouldn’t fit through the door. The casing on the turbine was too wide, and there was no way to reposition it to squeeze it in. (Left: The Young's Creek powerhouse

Will SolarWorld's Brand be Helped or Harmed by the China Trade Dispute?

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

When one thinks of the solar trade dispute that has led to a 31 percent-plus tariff on Chinese solar manufacturers, the first brand that comes to mind is SolarWorld, who publicly led the CASM Coalition and filed the complaint. Now that the decision is in, will SolarWorld’s leadership benefit its brand relationship with installers or hurt it?

Germany's Storage Conundrum

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Nobody is guaranteeing the success of Germany’s seminal energy revolution, not yet. As good as the timetable looks, there are still a lot of unknowns. One of the big items — but still nowhere near a solution — is creating new storage options for electricity. This is imperative because of the fluctuations inherent in renewable e

Energy Efficiency: What Are the Laggards Thinking?

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:12:46 GMT

Why do some states avoid creating policies that encourage consumers and businesses to save energy? What’s the psychology of the laggards? A new report by the American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy sheds some insight as it examines the states that consistently fall behind in the organization’s annual energy efficien

Are IT Data Centers Emerging as a 'Killer App' for Green Power? Part 1

Thu, 17 May 2012 20:39:50 GMT

Last month, Greenpeace launched a series of coordinated protests at Amazon, Apple and Microsoft locations to draw attention to the companies’ use of GHG intensive fuels in powering their data centers. The protests were a follow up to their recently released report, “How Clean is Your Cloud,” which criticized the companies fo

Rethinking the Role of Government in Cleantech

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:38:00 GMT

Another year, another wringing of the hands over tax credits and incentives for clean technology. Lobbyists and vendors in the U.S. are once again singing the blues, calling for continued and expanding government investments in clean technology. At the same time, political challengers continue their Solyndra hootenanny, raking the curren

Proposed New Jersey Solar Bill May Not Solve SREC Woes

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:01:29 GMT

Note: An update on the status of this legislation can be found here: Trade-offs Begin - NJ S1925 Update Senators Bob Smith and Stephen Sweeny recently introduced New Jersey Senate Bill 1925. The bill proposes to amend New Jersey's current solar Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirements in an attempt to help stabilize

A Review of Arizona's Generous Utility and State Subsidies for Solar Hot Water

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT

Free Hot Water often highlights California’s generous subsidies for solar hot water installations, but it’s not the only state committed to solar water heating. Arizona’s utilities all offer different — but valuable — solar hot water incentives for both residential and commercial installations. Of course, these are

Lots of Solar Power May Reduce, Not Increase, Electricity Prices

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:38:32 GMT

Whether German feed-in tariffs or U.S. tax incentives, opponents of solar rail at its perceived high cost. But a story making rounds this week, "why power generators are terrified of solar," presents a powerful image that may flip this conventional wisdom on its head. Building lots of solar power can actually reduce electricity prices, to the disma

Hans-Josef Fell, Father of the Feed-in Tariff

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

I dropped by the Bundestag office of Germany’s Green MP Hans-Josef Fell the other day. Fell is a fascinating character and is one of the figures hailed as “the father of the feed-in tariff (FiT)” — Germany’s law that guarantees private producers of renewable energy a fixed, higher-than-market rate for their e

5 Ways to Act Like a Solar Leader — or Become One

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

I read a bucket of press releases about solar companies every week, and if I’m to literally believe their words, then there are thousands of “leading” solar manufacturers and services in the world. In fact, the word “leading,” “leader,” etc has become so common and overused in press releases that it&rsquo

How To Become Energy Efficiency's #1 State

Fri, 11 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

It’s easy to get the impression that technology game-changers happen in a near flash. And the stories of Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Apple leave us thinking that genius pops right out of the dorm room. But in the energy industry it’s not that easy. The innovation we see today often stems from years of late nights, deep discussion a

Winners and Losers in the Renewable Energy Race

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:23:38 GMT

According to a recent Pew Charitable Trust report entitled, “Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race,” the United States overtook China in green energy investments during 2011 after lagging behind for the previous two years. When you add up asset finance, public markets, venture capital, and small distributed investments together, we

What Does it Take to be Australia's Largest PV Retailer?

Tue, 08 May 2012 08:45:02 GMT

In April 2012, SolarBusinessServices met with TrueValue Solar CEO Suren Chandrajit to discuss the phoenix-like rise of his company. The following is a summary of the key topics discussed. TVS has grown very fast to become arguably the largest PV retailer in Australia. What would you say are the top three keys to your success? I would hope its not