Power companies in areas with a growing amount of clean power are looking at new ways to store compressed air underground. The Pacific Northwest could get some of these next-gen air technologies in the coming years. Read more »
SolarCity is one of the leaders when it comes to installing solar panels on home owner’s rooftops. But the company’s $31 million loss, in its latest quarter, shows the growing pains for the retail solar players. Read more »
When planning our solar panel home project in 2011, we figured on paper that it would take nearly a dozen years to break even on the investment. Turns out that adding an electric vehicle has cut that figure roughly in half. Read more »
Capturing energy from light and heat using tiny antennas could be a way to produce solar energy at a lower cost, and capture and reuse waste heat from industrial processes. They’re still in the prototype phase. Read more »
After reducing production and costs and closing a big solar panel factory, First Solar says it’s done a better job of managing its supply and has sold out of its production through nearly the end of the third quarter of this year. Read more »
Global clean energy investing dropped by 22 percent in the first quarter of 2013 says Bloomberg New Energy Finance CEO Michael Liebreich. In his keynote address for Bloomberg’s energy conference this week, he unpacked some trends in the global financing of next generation energy technology. Read more »
Lost in a sea of conflicting information on solar installers, panel makers, and various subsidies? We’re here to help. Here’s 7 things you need to know about putting solar panels on your rooftop. Read more »
ABB plans to buy power inverter leader Power-One for around a billion dollars. The move shows the expected strong growth in solar panel installations, despite the hard times for the solar panel makers themselves. Read more »
From smart fabrics to sensors that are powered by the very vibrations they measure, researchers and companies are hard at work figuring out how to make the most of the energy around us. Read more »
Swedish thin film solar manufacturer startup Midsummer is taking a cue from optical disc manufacturing for its solar panels, but is facing a difficult solar market. Read more »
A Swedish startup has developed a new technology that it says can boost the efficiency of standard solar panels at a minimal cost using nanowires. Is this the great bright hope for solar manufacturers who have been crippled by the difficult solar market in 2013? Read more »
Even while some of the huge solar thermal plants being built in the deserts are hitting their milestones, others are facing hurdles due to transmission line delays and cost concerns. Meanwhile solar panel farms, particularly of utility scale, reached a record in 2012. Read more »
A new solar inverter has been developed by a quiet startup called Empower Micro Systems, which could land on the market by the end of the year. The company’s CCO says the tech could disrupt the landscape. Read more »
Beleagured Chinese solar giant, Suntech Power, was once the largest solar maker in the world. This week the company was forced into bankruptcy. But it’s not all bad news. Read more »
Contrary to the politics and headlines of the day, clean energy is a relatively trusted sector, and companies should be leveraging that good faith to lead. Read more »
Solar panels are breaking through into the mainstream. Last year there were a record-breaking amount of panels installed on rooftops in the U.S. making solar the fastest growing source of energy in the U.S. Read more »
Suntech Power once seemed unstoppable as the largest solar panel maker in the world. Now it’s facing internal turmoil and market forces that could very well lead to its demise. Read more »
Now that SolarCity is publicly-traded it’s got the quarterly numbers game to play. In its first earnings report post-IPO SolarCity’s shares drop on quarter loss. Read more »
The leader of the 210-year-old science giant DuPont, Ellen Kullman, sits down with GigaOM to give us her take on the future of energy for a world population that will boom to 9 billion in 2050. Read more »
Following the close of a year which saw the politicization of clean energy technologies, the struggles of dozens of solar manufacturers and electric car companies, and a “cleantech cliff” for startup investing, the 2013 ARPA-E Summit could be a sober affair. Read more »
Once hot thin film solar startup Nanosolar has done a round of layoffs — which could be substantial — following a major down round last year. So goes the trend of the once promising next-gen solar panel maker startups. Read more »
President Obama made one of his most aggressive declarations to using market-based means to fight climate change since early on in his first term. Read more »
Coal giant Peabody turns to a tactic that has long been used to cling to old school technology: the manipulative press release. Read more »
The future of energy technology can come from surprising places: algae, hot rocks, fireflies and crowdfunding? Here’s a round up of stories this month that show off 6 technologies that could shape the future of energy. Read more »
Financing the emerging boom of solar rooftops is an area where startups increasingly are doing well. OneRoof Energy, a startup launched just in 2011, has raised another round of equity from Korean giant Hanwha to grow its solar panel financing and sales business. Read more »
China is emerging as a massive market for solar panels, not just the world’s solar panel supplier. As of Q4 2012, China has been buying a third of the world’s solar panels. Read more »
Buying solar electric equipment takes a lot of time, and good information can be hard to come by. A startup in Massachusetts plan to launch a solar shopping portal that it hopes will make solar shopping far less painful. Read more »
The fourth quarter in cleantech saw attention paid to two prominent, publicly traded companies: EV maker Tesla and newly minted public listing SolarCity. It remains a transitional period for the sector as investment declines, with a shift toward those companies able to scale with little additional capital. Read more »
Will the combination of Kickstarter-style crowd-funding and low risk investing lead to a disruptive new form of financing for the world’s solar projects. With some good execution and marketing, I think so. Read more »
While opportunities abound for solar installers, marketers and service companies, the companies that make solar wafers, cells and panels will face an ugly crunch in 2013. There will be 70 percent less of these firms by the end of 2013, according to a report. Read more »
In less than a day, startup Solar Mosaic says its first publicly available solar roof projects have been 100 percent funded. Can crowd-funding revolutionize solar? Read more »
Who wants to make money off of solar roofs? Startup Solar Mosaic is making that possible starting Monday morning, when California and New York residents can put money into solar projects and, the company says, earn a 4.5 percent annual return. Kind of like a mutual fund. Read more »
Can bacteria that live at the bottom of the ocean provide secrets for how to boost the efficiency of solar panels? Certain bacteria can use photosynthesis to harvest 100 percent of the trace amounts of light they encounter. Read more »
Following one of the only successful cleantech IPOs of the year, solar installer and financier SolarCity says it will grow its solar rooftops next year to 250 MW, up from 156 MW in 2012. Can it achieve profitability at the same time? Read more »
Boom — the numbers for cleantech VC investing in 2012 are out and they ain’t pretty. A cleantech cliff of sorts has arrived and represents an end of an era. If you still want to be in the space in 2013, here’s 5 things you should avoid. Read more »
Solar panels that can be integrated right into roofs and walls could provide a bright spot in a difficult solar market over the next five years, according to a new report from Pike Research. Read more »
Tesla’s solar-powered super chargers — which can charge Model S cars in 30 minutes — have officially hit the east coast. Last week Tesla announced it had installed two fast chargers, one in Connecticut and one in Delaware. Read more »
From low silicon and solar module prices to a rising amount of solar panels installed on rooftops, these five charts show that the future of solar is brighter than ever, despite the difficult times for solar manufacturers in 2012. Read more »
Despite a lot of hand wringing this year, various cleantech sectors are on the difficult path to market maturation, and not necessarily in a “crisis.” Read more »
Amidst rampant solar manufacturing bankruptcies, thin film solar startup Stion has raised a $25 million equity round, of a planned $55 million round. At the same time the company is cutting costs and laid off a small amount of workers. Read more »
