solar photovoltaic power
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Solar PV makes most sense at modest size
Benefits of smaller-scale solar operations far outweigh any potential savings from building bigger.
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It's time to shed more light on solar's potential
As journalists cover record spikes in electricity demand, why are they ignoring solar photovoltaics?
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Here come Japan's post-nuclear model solar communities
If you thought Abu Dhabi's uber-green Masdar city was ambitious and/or doomed, just wait until you see what Japan's cooking up. In a pair of nearby cities in Hiroshima prefecture, Fukuyama and Onomichi, a coalition is going to power as much of their grid as possible with solar energy.
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Anatomy of a solar PV system
Solar photovoltaic gets a lot of attention compared to other forms of clean energy, but the attention is deserved.
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German rooftop solar price *averages* less than $4 per watt
This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Earlier this spring I shared a graphic illustrating the dramatic fall in distributed solar PV prices in Germany, down to $4.11 per Watt installed, for rooftop systems under 100 kilowatts. As it turns out, the graphic was […]
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When will we see solar panels on the White House?
Bill Mckibben reminds President Barack Obama that he promised to put solar panels on the White House by the end of spring. He only has a week left.
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Solar-powered bikini lets you charge gadgets with your boobs
Everybody knows you're not supposed to get a tan anymore. So what's the point of lying out on the beach, if you're just going to wear SPF 800 sunscreen? Well, if you're sporting designer Andrew Schneider's solar bikini, you can at least be charging your iPod while you nurse your pale yet cancer-free flesh. The […]
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Nuclear power is expensive and uninsurable
The world’s beleaguered nuclear industry continues to take a battering. The “nuclear renaissance” juggernaut that once seemed unstoppable now appears dead in its tracks. The cabinet of Germany’s conservative government on Monday voted to take the country out of nuclear permanently by 2022. Not to be outdone on the right, the country’s opposition parties say […]
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Distributed solar approaches grid parity
This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Grid parity is an approaching target for distributed solar power, and can be helped along with smarter electricity pricing policy. Consider a residential solar photovoltaic (PV) system installed in Los Angeles. A local buying group negotiated […]