Every hour the sun beams onto Earth more than enough energy to satisfy global energy needs for an entire year. Solar energy is the technology used to harness the sun’s energy and make it useable. Today, the technology produces less than one tenth of one percent of global energy demand. Many people are familiar with [...]

In recent years, the global price of PV modules has undergone a rapid and sustained period of decline. In light of scaled back policy in key markets and recent bankruptcy announcements, the questions remain: How exactly is Chinese PV module pricing affecting the European market? And how best should European governments and solar companies react? [...]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon is a high-profile international competition in which 20 collegiate teams design, build and showcase solar-powered houses. Since the inaugural competition in 2002, each event has expanded the knowledge of solar living worldwide, through innovative and breathtaking designs. Homes are designed to be a fully functional yet practical net-zero-energy [...]

Solar energy is gaining momentum in Japan, where the solar market is experiencing a period of rapid growth. Japan has long been interested in alternative energy because of its economic and environmental implications. The country is home to one of the most ambitious and powerful hydrogen energy systems and has been using geothermal energy for [...]

China’s solar panel industry has become the world’s biggest thanks to a simple formula; Produce in China, sell in Europe. Benefiting from generous financial backing at home, which the U.S. Department of Energy says amounted to $30 billion in state support in 2010, Chinese manufacturers have spent years boosting capacity. Since the domestic market for [...]

With utilities investing a significant amount of capital into infrastructure, communications, and software for the distribution grid, GTM Research publishes an in-depth analysis on the requirements, technologies and strategies that are ushering in the new age of distribution automation (DA). Current utility DA upgrades are just beginning to scratch the surface of what will be [...]

A new report offers the latest evidence of solar energy-generated electricity’s approach to cost parity with other forms of generation that send power to the grid. The data comes from over 10,000 solar PV system installations in North Carolina from 2006 to 2011 whose owners, per a state regulation, reported installation costs to the Public [...]

On February 28th, 2012 Skyline Innovations LLC and WGL Holdings Inc. announced plans to finance and install solar water heating systems on 11 public housing buildings in the U.S. state of Maryland. “This clean, reliable system will save funds for the HACA by providing a fixed discount on its utility rate for water heating,” said [...]

Peak demand for electricity in the United States typically hits between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., which doesn’t quite line up with the sun’s schedule. It’s fortunate that the sun is high in the sky during many of the hours when the air conditioning is in demand. But in summer, people tend to need air [...]