Green Building

Renewable Power Puerto Rico Photo Credit OpenClipArt-Vectors / Seagul / Pixabay

Posted Apr 2019

Puerto Rico’s ‘Green New Deal’ Promises 100-Percent Renewable Energy by 2050

Marlena Chertock

Updated on 4/16/19: Gov. Ricardo Rosselló signed the Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act into law on April 18, 2019. While the mainland United States debates the Green New Deal,...

Posted Apr 2019

Florida Utility to Build Largest Solar-Powered Battery System in the World

Katie Kuehner-Hebert

Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) last month announced plans to build the 409-megawatt FPL Manatee Energy Storage Center, expected to be operational by late 2021. The center will cover...

Schneider Electric and Duke Energy Renewables developed advanced microgrids to serve the Montgomery County (Md.) Public Safety Headquarters (PSHQ) and Correctional Facility. The microgrids provide increased resiliency and sustainability at both sites. Photo Credit: Schneider Electric

Posted Apr 2019

Distributed Energy Now Outpacing Centralized Generation

William Atkinson

According to a new report, "Global DER Deployment Database," from Navigant Research, new global capacity deployments of distributed energy resources (DER) are outpacing the deployment of new centralized generation capacity....

Recent Stories

Mar 2019

FPL Bringing Community Solar to Florida

Rick Laezman

Many creative forms of financing solar power have helped boost the technology and overcome challenges to widespread adoption. In Florida, one of the nation’s largest energy providers is embracing one of those innovative...

Mar 2019

Great Plains States Lead in Renewable Power

Katie Kuehner-Hebert

As more coal plants age out, Great Plains states—which are sunny, wide-open, and windy and have a lot of room for ethanol-producing cornfields—now have some of the highest percentages of renewable generation within their...

Mar 2019

Residential Energy Efficiency Gaining Traction

William Atkinson

According to the newly released “2019 Energy-Efficient Home Design Trends Report," published by Fixr, a remodeling cost information firm, homeowners are becoming more motivated to introduce more energy efficiency technologies...

Energy efficient home

Mar 2019

GM and Ford Power Michigan Facilities with Local Wind

Rick Laezman

Recently, two of the world’s biggest automakers—and two of its biggest consumers of fossil fuels—made major announcements concerning renewable power. GM and Ford will now power some their biggest facilities with wind power...

Mar 2019

Global Mining Industry Digging Renewables

Rick Laezman

Solar panels and windmills are powering up homes and businesses at a growing rate. However, they also are making an impact in some unlikely industries. According to a recent study by Navigant Research, the global mining...

Mar 2019

USGBC Creates New DC Power Pilot Program for LEED

William Atkinson

According to a new report from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), while power generation, transmission and distribution in the United States tend to be predominantly alternating current (AC), an increasing number of...

Feb 2019

Oregon Facility to Combine Wind, Solar and Battery Storage on One Site

Rick Laezman

Solar and wind power are the leading sources of renewable energy generation. Combined with advanced battery storage technology, their effectiveness has only increased. Rarely, however, are all three utilized together in one...

Feb 2019

Penn State's 70-MW Solar Project to Reduce Emissions, Power School for 25 Years

Marlena Chertock

Pennsylvania State University and Lightsource BP are partnering to develop a 70-megawatt (MW) project, which will provide 25 percent of the university’s electricity needs for 25 years, according to a university press release...

A solar panel on Penn State's University Park campus. Credit Patrick Mansell

Feb 2019

Energy Storage Increasingly Critical to Defend Against Outages

Rick Laezman

Beyond the fight against climate change, renewable energies and energy storage are teaming up to provide stability and protection for important facilities that can’t afford to be disrupted by outages. According to “Advanced...

Energy Storage Playing an Increasingly Critical Role

Feb 2019

Illinois Tops USGBC's Ninth Annual LEED Leaderboard

Timothy Johnson

Each year, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) ranks the top 10 states for LEED, its green building rating system. This year, Illinois jumped two spots from 2017 to take first place. The 2018 top 10 includes some familiar...