Net metering (also known as net energy metering or NEM) is a billing arrangement that allows businesses and individuals generating their own electricity to deliver unused energy back to their local power grid and get credited back for its retail price. While it’s a simple concept, it can lead to complex questions. Are all net […]
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Simply put, Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) are a specialized form of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) that allow organizations to track—and potentially profit from—the amount of clean, renewable energy produced by commercial solar power systems. SRECs exist in states that have specific mandates for generating solar energy. The more electricity produced, the more Solar Renewable […]
Many of America’s biggest and most successful businesses have gone solar. The list includes industry giants like Wal-Mart, Target, Apple, IKEA, Macy’s, FedEx, Verizon, General Motors, L’Oreal and others. And every day, more companies, both large and small, are investing in solar as well. Why? For many, it’s to save money. But solar can also […]
Source: Aalto University Summary: Researchers have lengthened the lifetime of perovskite solar cells by using nanotube film to replace the gold used as the back contact and the organic material in the hole conductor. Five years ago, the world started to talk about third-generation solar cells that challenged the traditional silicon cells with a cheaper […]
Source: University of Oslo Summary: In the future, solar cells can become twice as efficient by employing a few smart little nano-tricks, suggest investigators in a new report. Bengt Svensson and co-workers are currently producing the solar cells of the future out of nano-materials, which will capture sunlight in both the red and the blue […]
A new materials discovery approach puts solar fuels on the fast track to commercial viability Source: California Institute of Technology Summary: Combining computational with experimental approaches, researchers identify 12 new materials with potential use in solar fuels generators. New materials are created through deposition onto disks, which are then tested to determine their properties. […]
Solar trackers cover a field in South Burlington, Vt., in 2011. (Toby Talbot/The Associated Press) By Froma Harrop Syndicated columnist On the average sunny day, Germany’s huge energy grid gets 40 percent of its power from the sun. Guess what happened one recent morning when the sun went into eclipse. Nothing. Or close to […]
“It takes a central procurer — in this case, historically, the utility — out of the mix,” she continued, “and really sets the market where they’re not buying and selling to the utility but they’re identifying each other’s need and willingness to buy and sell.” The project is but one example of how rapidly spreading […]
Over the past decade it has plummeted in cost, surged in volume, and, as booming industries do, benefited some investors and burned others. The International Energy Agency has predicted photovoltaic solar could provide up to 16 percent of the world’s electricity by midcentury — an enormous increase from the roughly 1 percent that solar generates today. But […]
Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Summary: A new report surveys utility planning practices from roughly 30 studies across the United States. The rapid growth of rooftop solar has not been distributed equally across U.S. utility territories, and the same is true for projected future growth. When an individual utility customer decides to add rooftop solar […]