Heather Andrews, a.k.a. @PVaddict, 1978-2012 For those who follow me regularly here on Renewable Energy World, this week’s post will be quite personal, so my apologies in advance for straying somewhat from solar marketing and advocacy, though not completely. My friend, solar installer, and solar PV instructor Heather Andrews died on Wedne

Optimizing Solar Projects to Maximize Return on Investment (ROI)

The solar industry is facing new realities as the economics of solar are changing. Predicting photovoltaic (PV) panel pricing is 'iffy' at best. The US Treasury 1603 cash grants are history. Optimizing the energy produced and making the most of available land have become increasingly important as investors and project developers look for a viable economic model to maximize ROI. With fossil fuel energy prices on the rise, government incentives for solar wavering, and a solar trade war being waged over the price of Chinese solar panels ? delivering innovative, high-performing solar power solutions is more critical now than ever before.

Solar Panels From Grass Clippings: Researchers Make Progress on "Biophotovoltaics"

It's chore day. You've raked the leaves, taken out the recycling, and emptied out the old junk in your garage. But wait ? don't toss it all out! You have all the ingredients for your very own homemade solar system.

Ontario Post Election: Is the Financing Market Ready?

On October 6, 2011 the Ontario Liberals were re-elected paving the way for a continuation of the Green Energy Act. Shortly after that several announcements were made indicating that banks would be financing Feed-in Tariff (FIT) projects in Ontario.

Aviation and Military Biofuels: New Thinking on Finance, Fuels

While most of the United States was focused on the 2012 Super Bowl, the CSPAN television network snuck a revealing interview from Brian Lamb with Secretary of the Navy, former Mississippi governor (and ambassador to Saudi Arabia) Ray Mabus, onto the airwaves last Sunday night.

Wind Historian Says: Build New Wind Farms Farther From Neighbors

Windfall: Wind Energy in America Today, by historian Robert Righter, was recently published by University of Oklahoma Press; it's a follow-up to his 1996 book, a history of the industry through its first commercial boom. As a hearty advocate of wind energy and continued rapid growth of the industry, Righter may surprise some with his strong call for more sensitivity to quality of life concerns of rural residents. He spends chunks of three chapters addressing the increasing problems caused by wind farm noise in rural communities, chides developers for not building farther from unwilling neighbors, and says that new development should be focused on the remote high plains, rather than more densely populated rural landscapes in the upper midwest and northeast.

NLP Solar Sales Training Live Webinar February 22nd & 23rd

A Shining Star of Bipartisan Cleantech Support

Amid all the negative publicity that Solyndra’s failure has brought to the Administration’s cleantech efforts, one cleantech program has received broad bipartisan support: DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-e).  In 2012, ARPA-e will receive $275 million, a 53 percent increase from the prior year with

Assessing the Risks in Solar Project Development

Over the next four years, 5.7 GW of utility-scale solar PV projects is expected to be built in the U.S. and another 1.3 GW in Canada for a total of 7 GW. Both amounts represent a significantly larger volume than what has been installed to date and is expected to be the dominating type of solar installation for that period of time. Yet, 7 GW only represent a fraction of the total capacity of large-scale solar PV projects initiated and under development in the same period, illustrating that solar project development still is a high-risk undertaking.

Iowa Considering Feed-in Tariffs

Senators in the heartland state of Iowa have introduced a modest feed-in tariff bill into the state legislature. The move is the first serious effort to introduce a system of feed-in tariffs anywhere in the U.S. during the current legislative session.

BP: Too Big to Fail?

BP issued its Energy Outlook for 2030, and the coverage and commentary it generated suggests it's an authoritative voice on medium-term energy trends, and as such will have some influence on policy and investment decisions. Leaving aside that one of the world's major fossil fuel incumbents cannot realistically be an impartial arbiter, there was something to like whether your view leans toward the inevitability of renewable energy or necessity of fossil fuels.

What's Driving North America's Solar PV Market in 2012?

The North American solar photovoltaic (PV) market tacked on nearly another full gigawatt (GW) of installations in 4Q11, echoing a late-year surge seen in other markets (think Germany and Asia), says NPD Solarbuzz. New Jersey, California, Arizona, and Ontario accounted for two-thirds of that demand; more than half (59 percent) was for large-scale ground-mount systems.

Don't Count Out Solar Water Heating, It's a $123 Billion Dollar Market

According to a new SEPA report titled “Heating Up: The Impact of Third Party Business Models on the US Market for Solar Water and Space Heating,” Sixteen percent of the 110 million U.S. households are suitable for solar thermal systems, also referred to as solar domestic hot water systems. The report states that at given

Pathways and Challenges to Institutional Development of On-Site Clean Energy

Institutions seeking to deploy on-site clean energy solutions are facing a number of challenging questions:  How can solutions be deployed under tight budget constraints, with a minimum of upfront cost? What deal and financing structures are available to non-tax paying institutions?  Is it best to build and own a system internally, or use

What Happened to Lake Delhi Dam?

Record rainfall, faulty gates and inherent design issues contributed to the July 2010 breach of Iowa's Delhi Dam, investigators found. The overtopping caused the earthen embankment to erode and eventually emptied Lake Delhi, causing millions in property damage.

Germany Invests in Hydrogen Technology for Renewable Storage, Vehicles

The tanks look like they could hold propane, gasoline or any other form of conventional energy.

Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2012: 10 Percent More than Other Top-10 lists

Maybe it was because Seeking Alpha did not carry my annual list of 10 Clean Energy Stocks for 2012 this year, but no one seems to have noticed that there were actually 11 stocks in the list. Call it the Spinal Tap of top-ten lists.

Solar Fred's 7 Keys to Why People Share Marketing Materials on the Web

What triggers you to press one of those share buttons above, or email this post — or any website link — to a colleague or friend? Think about it. Because the keys to knowing why people share things are the keys to so-called "viral" solar marketing. Before we get to why we share, let's talk about how we used to share and how we share

Asia Report: India Sees 52 Percent Rise in Investments

The year 2011 may be remembered in clean energy circles as the moment when India became a major player across several industries.

Clean Energy: How Much Hot Air?

NewScientist’s January 28 issue is likely to unsettle clean energy advocates — but it is worth the read. The cover article, “Power paradox: Clean might not be green forever,” posits that even renewable energy can warm the planet, and eventually change climate, if we continue to ratchet up power production to serve our ever