Solar power is beginning to go mainstream

Solar energy may finally get its day in the sun.

GE to build nation's largest solar power plant

GE is taking aim at the world's biggest solar company in a bid to expand into a fast-growing renewable energy market.

GE to build nation's largest solar power plant

General Electric says it's going to build the nation's largest solar panel factory, part of a $600 million dollar bet on the future of solar power in the United States.

Here comes the sun: White House to go solar

Solar power is coming to President Barack Obama's house.

Group urges Texas to promote more solar power use

With a surplus of both land and sunshine, Texas could easily be the nation's leader in solar power generation but needs more help from state leaders, advocates said Wednesday.

eSolar strikes deal to build power plants in China

A U.S. solar power company said Saturday it will help build a series of solar thermal power plants in China, as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases tries to decrease its heavy reliance on coal, imported gas and oil.

SunEdison, Calif. school district forge solar deal

The Irvine board of education on Wednesday approved a plan to work with MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. subsidiary SunEdison and privately held SPG Solar to install solar power systems at 21 district sites.

Calif. utility wants to buy more solar power

California's largest utility said it plans to boost the amount of solar power it buys from residents and businesses as the state pushes for wider use of alternative energy.

Largest solar panel plant in US rises in Fla.

Greg Bove steps into his pickup truck and drives down a sandy path to where the future of Florida's renewable energy plans begin: Acres of open land filled with solar panels that will soon power thousands of homes and business.

Ohio budget tries to boost solar power

Ohio's latest budget seeks to put solar power in the financial reach of Ohio residents by addressing the cost of installation, the biggest barrier to the renewable energy technology's large-scale deployment.

Obama promotes clean energy, stimulus in Nevada

President Barack Obama on Wednesday hailed solar energy as a cost saver for a major Air Force base, one stop on a Western trip devoted to raising political money and promoting his economic policies.

Meltdown 101: Will the sun soon power our homes?

After 30 years of trying to squeeze electricity from sunlight, the solar energy industry is finally gaining some traction in its effort to compete with fossil fuels.

Hybrid solar plant to reduce need for fossil fuel

Proclaiming green the new gold, Florida Power & Light executives on Tuesday marked the groundbreaking of the first of three new solar power projects that will eventually make the state No. 2 in the nation for energy from the sun.

Solar deal to enrich firm with Schwarzenegger tie?

A relative of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and one of his former cabinet secretaries are part of a private investment group that could score a lucrative payoff if regulators approve a sprawling solar-energy complex near the Mojave Desert Preserve.

The solar power capacity of installations in Mid-Atlantic states has expanded to over one gigawatt, or enough to power up to one million homes. Solar capacity has doubled in the region for each of the past two years.

A new report from the prominent global consulting firm McKinsey shows why solar photovoltaics have hit a tipping point.

Solar-powered clothing has been talked about for years, probably decades. And there are options out there, but it obviously hasn’t hit the shelves of H&M yet,… and that’s not really its best market. Where it might genuinely make sense is on clothing fo …

For those of you who might be looking for a career change, training or, just a plain old job maybe look to the alternative energy field where the jobs growth rate has increased by 100%. Not only will you be helping to save our natural resources but you will be stepping further i …

Pacific Palisades residents in California consider solar energy as an alternative to building a controversial new high voltage power station next to an elementary school in order to accommodate a growing peak daytime demand for energy in the community. Residents are signing p …

What I Like About Obama

I like that he is pushing for alternative energy to be used. You just might find yourself going solar soon because of it. I have been supporting going to alternative energy since I was a child and read a book on it in some obscure corner of the public libaray. I see that the alte …

Has the solar-power industry lapsed into a classic cycle of boom and bust after a decade of unprecedented growth? It might appear so. As years of government subsidies boosted the global installed capacity of solar-photovoltaic (PV) modules and dramatically cut prices, new produ …

Do you think homeowners should have the right to install solar panels on their own condos? Many homeowner associations (HOAs) in the United States don’t think so. Even as solar energy becomes increasingly cheaper with tax incentives bringing the costs down …

While the largest contributor to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is the power industry, the second largest is the more often overlooked cement industry, which accounts for 5-6% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions. For every 10 kg of cement produced, the cement industry rel …

New York City has tripled its production of solar power by completing the installation of panels on 10 city-owned buildings, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday. By Michael Howard Saul

Halotechnics, an early-stage solar-thermal startup and ARPA-E recipient, has developed two radical new materials for storing solar heat energy, using new kinds of salts and even a new kind of glass. These allow much higher temperatures than have been used to date to store  …

Intensive research around the world has focused on improving the performance of solar photovoltaic cells and bringing down their cost. But very little attention has been paid to the best ways of arranging those cells, which are typically placed flat on a rooftop or other surfac …

Vermont has enacted a simple solar registration process that abolishes permitting, cuts time and has brought renewed vigor to solar power in the state.

Fraunhofer ISE has inaugurated a new hydrogen refueling station demonstration project. The refueling station is publicly accessible, providing one more place for fuel cell electric vehicles or vehicles with hydrogen-burning combustion engines to get their hydrogen fix.

Last week you might’ve read about Twin Creeks Technologies and its super-thin solar cells. This company aims to cut the cost of solar cells in half. Ampulse Corporation, another upcoming company in the solar industry, has taken a similar (but still a bit different) a …

I wrote yesterday about a Victorian textile mill installing a rooftop solar power plant, but that structure was a relative newbie compared St. Michael and All Angels Church in Withington, England. This 900-year-old house of worship has undergone a thorough green renovation  …

NEW YORK (AP) — Solar power installations in the U.S. doubled in 2011, helped by plummeting solar panel prices, weak demand for solar abroad and an expiring subsidy program.

Presence of horned toads and desert tortoises are holding up production at multimillion-dollar sites in California

President Barack Obama on Wednesday dismissed oil as "the fuel of the past" as he made an unapologetic election-year pitch for his alternative energy industry policies and sniped at Republicans over painfully high gasoline prices. "They get out on the campaign trail—a …

Germany once prided itself on being the “photovoltaic world champion”, doling out generous subsidies—totaling more than $130 billion, according to research from Germany’s Ruhr University—to citizens to invest in solar energy.

The technology developed for telescopes, it turns out, can harness solar power

Backed by the UN “Business Call to Action” (BCtA) initiative, Mauritius-based ToughStuff yesterday announced it will provide some 33 million Africans access to rugged, cheap and affordable solar power systems.

America’s first commercial-scale concentrating solar power (CSP) facility took a major step forward this week with completion of the project’s 540-foot tower. When complete, the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, located near Tonopah, Nevada, will feature 110-meg …

Instead, the project is providing a cautionary example of how the rush to harness solar power in the desert can go wrong — possibly costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and dealing an embarrassing blow to the Obama administration's solar initiative.