Articles by Adam Browning

Pick-me-up books needed

I was at a wedding last week, on the beach. Waves! Friends! Tecates! I was finally starting to unwind.

And then I did something very bad.

I picked up Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

Holy moly.

Regulatory infrastructure will be crucial

I was traveling last week and missed "solar's inevitable dominance."

I disagree. There is nothing at all inevitable about solar. Sure, the technological potential exists. But the problem is not technology. The technology works great. The problem is policy.

Right now, if solar panels were free -- handed out on street corners -- you still would not see market uptake anywhere near the technical potential. Why? Because we do not yet have the right regulatory infrastructure.

Let me give you an example. Last year, the Arizona Corporation Commission passed a huge increase in the state's renewable energy standard. It will require upwards of 2,000 MW of solar, and there's somewhere around a billion dollars worth of funding to help.

So what happens?

Solar is making boats go now — take that, wind!

Wind, you think you are so badass. I tell you, solar is creeping up on you where you least expect it:

Clean-up on aisle … earth

Maybe not on price, but on solar.

Wal-Mart just announced about 10 MW of solar on 22 stores.

Nice.

Kohl's, a grocery chain department store, is doing 30 MW.

Nicer.

These are significant contracts, and the companies signing them deserve kudos for putting their money where their mouths are.