This utility company has found the best way to help people save energy and money
In rural North Carolina, energy bills eat up a massive chunk of a household’s monthly budget—not because the energy rates are especially high, but because the home themselves aren’t built efficiently. Drafty windows, leaky ducts and poor insulation are common, and that means that much of the Read More...
Community solar projects are finally including low-income households
Although community solar projects are on the rise in America, there’s one major flaw: less than half of US community solar projects have any participation from low-income households, and of the projects that do include lower-earning families, only about 5 percent involved a sizable share above 10 Read More...
More Africans have access to electricity than ever thanks to solar energy
Africa’s great size, along with a number of different factors, has made it an extremely difficult task to create electrical grids that consistently deliver power. This has led more and more people to rely on less-clean energy sources such as kerosene or diesel fuel. The good thing is Africa has Read More...
India cancels 14 huge coal-fired power stations as solar energy hits record low
India has canceled plans to build nearly 14 gigawatts of coal-fired power stations – about the same as the total amount in the UK – with the price for solar electricity “free falling” to levels once considered impossible. Analyst Tim Buckley said the shift away from the dirtiest fossil fuel Read More...
Swedish scientists may have found the answer to solar energy storage
Scientists have developed a specialized fluid that can help the solar industry overcome the issue of energy storage. The fluid, which has been called a solar thermal fuel, can store energy from the sun for well over a decade by trapping the solar heat between its chemical bonds. When the energy is Read More...
Politicians in Puerto Rico want to shift to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050
The Puerto Rico House and Senate are considering a bill that would transition the island to 100 percent renewable energy. After the island suffered the longest blackout in US history, Puerto Rico wants to ensure that never happens again by installing solar and wind energy systems across the Read More...
Tree of Life
This bonsai tree is striking as well as smart: it uses solar energy to recharge your phone. The Electree’s 27 photovoltaic panels can load a battery inside the pot in 36 hours. The user plugs in a phone or other device using a USB cable. The 15-inch tree is sold partly assembled, so the user can Read More...
Hot stuff
Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have a new way to prepare meals, without firewood, kerosene or the risk of smoke inhalation - the solar cooker. Marco Visscher | Jan/Feb 2008 issue Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have a new way to prepare meals, without firewood, kerosene or the risk of smoke Read More...
Profile of Martin Vosseler
Editors | Jan/Feb 2009 issue The physiologically-designed, Birkenstockish rubber sandals and home-knit-looking socks on Martin Vosseler's feet have obviously seen a fair amount of travel. As has the red out-door jacket and the bulging backpack slung over his shoulder when meet up at Read More...
Flower power (no, not that kind...)
Why a 19th-century invention is only now finding its place in the sun as a 21st-century energy source. Greg T. Spielberg | October 2010 issue The SunCatcher is an enormous solar dish made of mirrors and metal, but it’s best thought of as a giant silver flower. At thirty feet (11 meters) tall, the Read More...