solar panels
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Critical List: Massive tariffs for Chinese solar panels; Bike to Work Day
The Commerce Department announced that the U.S. could put tariffs of up to 250 percent on Chinese solar panels imported into the country. It’s Bike to Work Day! First the Arizona Congress wanted crazy legislation to ban all government work on sustainability, now it’s the New Hampshire Congress. So trendy!
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Going solar doesn’t mean you’re some weird pickler guy, say new ads
SunRun, a solar leasing company, has a handful of funny ads out.
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Critical List: Tariffs for imported Chinese solar panels; Obama to visit solar facility
The Department of Commerce announced that China was selling solar panels at unfairly low prices in the U.S. and that it would slap tariffs on them. Obama’s on an “all-of-the-above” energy tour today: He’ll stop at a solar facility and at oil and gas fields. The New York Times reported Sunday that the U.S. Department […]
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Critical List: Oil sands carbon footprint revised upwards; new frog discovered in NYC
Oil sands have an even higher carbon footprint than previously thought: No one was counting carbon released when the drilling operations destroy peatlands. In 2011, solar installers put in twice as many solar panels as they did in 2010. The transportation bill now includes a natural gas amendment that fulfills energy magnate T. Boone Pickens’ […]
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Critical List: How red meat will kill you; Bo Obama photobomb
Eating red meat is really, REALLY bad for you, according to a study conducted by cows. I mean researchers at Harvard Medical School. Twin Creeks Technologies can make thin, bendable layers of silicon just 20 microns thick. So what? So cheaper solar panels, that’s what. In northern states, the amount of land covered in forest […]
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Philadelphia Eagles build a green stadium
The Philadelphia Eagles’ helmets are already green, and by next year their stadium will match. The team is partnering with power company NRG to build one of the greenest sports arenas in the country.
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Solar panels made out of grass clippings
An MIT scientist has developed a quick and dirty way to harness solar power using “anything green, even grass clippings.” So basically, solar panels made out of yard waste. This technology is way, way, way, way below the efficiency of commercial solar panels: It converts 0.1 percent of solar energy into power. Commercial solar panels […]
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Embattled teen genius actually better, smarter than most people
Back in August, the Internet discovered Aidan Dwyer, a 13-year-old go-getter who worked out a way to make solar panels more efficient. Because nobody likes a 13-year-old go getter, the Internet basically told him NO YOU'RE WRONG.
Okay, so he should have measured power instead of voltage when testing his solar panel design. But it turns out Dwyer is totally getting the last laugh here, and is proving that nerdy 13-year-old go-getters actually are just better at life than most people on the Internet. Dwyer's spoken at PopTech's annual innovation conference and is scheduled to speak at the World Future Energy Summit. -
Bigger subsidies make bigger solar a bad bet
This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Americans seem unable to resist big things, and solar power plants are no exception. There may be no reasoning with an affinity for all things “super sized,” but the economics of large scale solar projects (and […]