Driving Down Solar Costs: A 70% Reduction in 5 Years Launched by the Department of Energy in February 2011, the SunShot Initiative was designed to make solar energy cost-competitive by 2020. In 2010, the cost of one solar watt was $3.80. The SunShot project was attempting to reduce solar costs to $1 per… Continue reading “Driving Down Solar Costs: A 70% Reduction in 5 Years”
62 Million People (& Counting!) Living in Places with 100% Renewable Energy Targets The idea of communities, cities, states, or countries being powered by 100% renewable energy used to be perceived as fantasy. Enter the Go 100% Renewable Energy Project, which aims to perpetuate the clean energy movement by creating a revolutionary online… Continue reading “62 Million People (& Counting!) Living in Places with 100% Renewable Energy Targets”
Solar Power Ubiquity Through Training and Installing: GRID Alternatives GRID Alternatives is a national 501(c)(3) certified non-profit organization that facilitates solar power implementation and energy efficiency projects between community partners, volunteers and job trainees. Since it’s beginning in 2001, GRID Alternatives has installed over 24 megawatts of clean power, provided almost $200… Continue reading “Solar Power Ubiquity Through Training and Installing: GRID Alternatives”
What’s Going On With Global Renewable Energy Investment? From a macro perspective, renewable energy technologies seem to be a relatively safe bet for investors… 2015 hit a world record for global renewables investment despite challenging conditions, solar and wind have been deemed “unstoppable,”1 jobs in this sector seem… Continue reading “What’s Going On With Global Renewable Energy Investment?”
Blowing Emissions Away: Building a 6MW Wind Farm The Kingston Wind Project, a 6MW farm, has produced 48,360,370 kWh to-date, eliminating 35 metric tons of CO2 that would have been produced by a coal mine and equivalent to planting 33,263 acres of forest or taking 7,422 cars off the… Continue reading “Blowing Emissions Away: Building a 6MW Wind Farm”
Crowd Funding Meets Carbon Reduction CarbonCrowd is a crowd funding platform for individuals who want to take part in climate change reversal. We spoke to Co-founder and CEO Henry Sims about it… How does it work? People too often feel powerless when it comes to… Continue reading “Crowd Funding Meets Carbon Reduction”
When Cities Go Solar: 5 Ways to Make the Case Getting Your City’s Buy-In on Solar After years of dancing around the idea of sustainability, some select cities have begun to make it a reality with ground-breaking solar industry partnerships. Jackie Biskupski, mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, recently announced… Continue reading “When Cities Go Solar: 5 Ways to Make the Case”
Talking Energy Policy with Industry Leaders Join GRID Alternatives for the Women in Energy Policy webcast Leading women in the field of clean energy policy will discuss their career paths, projects they’re currently working on and the growing role of women in traditionally male-dominated fields. This lecture… Continue reading “Talking Energy Policy with Industry Leaders”
HeatSpring Named Co-Host & Partner for Women in Solar Energy Roundtable In the summer of 2015, HeatSpring set out to profile a few of the absolutely amazing women making waves in the solar industry… After discovering a shocking dearth of women students enrolled in our courses, and researching the far larger industry trend boasting… Continue reading “HeatSpring Named Co-Host & Partner for Women in Solar Energy Roundtable”
Incubating Clean: Emily Reichert, Ph.D. of Greentown Labs Emily Reichert, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Greentown Labs, spoke with us about the incubator, changes in the industry, the Massachusetts cleantech community and much more. “Greentown Labs provides prototyping space, shared machine shop tools, office space and an event space. We leverage… Continue reading “Incubating Clean: Emily Reichert, Ph.D. of Greentown Labs”
Solar Women Summer Series: Business Development in Solar The Solar Women Summer Series continues with Danielle Sheppard, Business Development Associate at Locus Energy headquartered in San Francisco, CA. What do you do in the solar industry? How’d you get started? My first experience in the solar industry was an entry-level… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Business Development in Solar”
Solar Women Summer Series: Find A Mentor! It’s week two of our Solar Women Summer Series! Last week we featured Lidija Sekaric, Director of the Technology to Market Program at the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative. This week, we’re excited to feature Tamika Jacques, Director of Workforce Development Programs at… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Find A Mentor!”
ASHP vs GSHP and The Importance of SEER and EER in Utility Air Conditioning Demand Side Management Programs Update: this article does not include the new regional efficiency standards that took effect on Jan 1, 2015. See this article on furnacecompare.com for updated definitions. The following post is by Mark Faulkenberry, Manager Marketing & Communications and Kalun Kelley,… Continue reading “ASHP vs GSHP and The Importance of SEER and EER in Utility Air Conditioning Demand Side Management Programs”
How New England Can Eliminate Oil Use For Single Family Homes for Less Than We’re Spending on Solar PV I first published this post in Renewable Energy World and it received a lot of comments, mostly getting into all the silly technical details of geothermal and not addressing how to implement policy to eliminate oil use. My hope is… Continue reading “How New England Can Eliminate Oil Use For Single Family Homes for Less Than We’re Spending on Solar PV”
Massachusetts = Large MW+ Solar Projects and Low SREC Prices In the Near Future I enjoy getting policy and finance updates at conferences from people who spend all day thinking about policy and finance. The 2012 Renewable Energy Vermont conference was no different. I also learned some great lessons about a community solar development… Continue reading “Massachusetts = Large MW+ Solar Projects and Low SREC Prices In the Near Future”
State-by-State Comparison of Geothermal Heat Pump Legislation I want to thank John Rhyner, Greg Mueller and LI Geo for putting together this report. If you’re new to legislation around renewable thermal technologies this article will provide you a great overview and direction for where you can get… Continue reading “State-by-State Comparison of Geothermal Heat Pump Legislation”
New 10 Year $.12kWh TVA Solar PV Feed in Tariff –> Requires NABCEP Solar PV Entry Level Certification In September 2012, the TVA introduced a new solar PV feed-in-tariff. The TVA will for solar PV production at retail electric rates + a FIT rate for 10 years, and then just retail rates for the following 10 years. A few… Continue reading “New 10 Year $.12kWh TVA Solar PV Feed in Tariff –> Requires NABCEP Solar PV Entry Level Certification”
A Guaranteed 5 Year, $100/MWh FIT For Renewable Thermal Sources Could Eliminate Oil Use for Single Family Homes in Vermont “A Simple Plan for Eliminating Oil Usage for Single Family Homes in Vermont” was the message of my talk at Renewable Energy Vermont 2012 last Monday. If you’re working in the renewable energy industry in Vermont, you should join REV.… Continue reading “A Guaranteed 5 Year, $100/MWh FIT For Renewable Thermal Sources Could Eliminate Oil Use for Single Family Homes in Vermont”
Inside Implementing the New Hampshire Thermal REC Program This post is part of a series to do a state by state in-depth analysis of current research, policy and other legislation in New England that is impacting, or has the ability to impact the geothermal industry. An in-depth analysis… Continue reading “Inside Implementing the New Hampshire Thermal REC Program”
New England Geothermal Policy Update, Review, and Next Steps: Massachusetts This is the first piece on geothermal lobbying efforts that I’m completing in addition to other industry communications and research efforts. In the next few weeks, I’ll be publishing information on the current state of policy and next steps in… Continue reading “New England Geothermal Policy Update, Review, and Next Steps: Massachusetts”