In last week's midterm elections, most of the state ballot initiatives pertaining to clean energy suffered losses, though renewable power supporters cheered at the results in Nevada and in some key governor races. In...

Shining the light on solar energy is one of the main goals of the Illinois Solar Energy Association ’s (ISEA) new educational tools. The ISEA recently launched several educational tools to help the public better understand...

Gone are the days when the thought of wind power in some far-off land was strictly a quaint endeavor. Tourists will always have their photo ops of rustic windmills on the farm in Holland or rural Kansas, for that matter. But...

The headquarters for Burbank (Calif.) Water and Power (BWP) has slowly transformed into a green campus. The effort involved repurposing some of the utility’s decaying old facilities, which, in some cases, were more than 100...

Research into photovoltaic (PV) technology, like all renewables, is always striving for greater efficiencies and lower production costs. That quest often creates seemingly unimaginable possibilities. For example, consider...

U.S. solar-panel manufacturers might be hurting these days, but installers’ business is going gangbusters. In 2011, more than 1,800 megawatts (MW) of utility, commercial and residential capacity were installed, according to...

The sustainable energy movement is full of surprises. Naturally occurring sources of power are always ready to emerge from the most unlikely global elements. In this ongoing saga, the next great source of renewable power...

Efficiency and conservation have become well-established elements of the green power movement, and, in that regard, smart meters have become one of the primary tools to help consumers and utilities do their part. Although...

The Department of Energy (DOE) released a renewable-energy resource assessment detailing the potential to develop electric power generation at existing U.S. dams that aren’t currently equipped to produce power. The report...

Despite the rhetoric, popular sentiment and public policies favoring green power, it may be surprising to realize that alternative-energy industries are still the underdog in the transformation of how we generate and consume...

A few months ago, I was driving home from the Los Angeles area and suddenly found myself surrounded by thousands of wind turbines lining both sides of Interstate 10. Even though I have made this trip many times, I am still in...

Energy efficiency is often the ugly stepsister in alternative-energy conversations because quantifying its potential effect is difficult; how do we determine the real value of all those avoided kilowatt-hours? Two current...

I started this series of articles after a friend asked some questions about overcurrent protection for the direct current (DC) output of photovoltaic (PV) modules, the DC output of combiner boxes, the location of disconnects...

One of the biggest challenges transmission-network operators face in integrating large-scale solar and wind farms into their operations is the variability of these natural resources. A passing cloud or a lull in the wind can...

While the economy may be down, enthusiasm for renewable power is not. In fact, investment in renewable-energy projects is on an upward trend and expected to continue in that direction. According to a recent study by the...

At an event in Albuquerque, N.M., U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu announced the 20 collegiate teams selected to compete in the Solar Decathlon 2013 and unveiled the competition’s location: Orange County...

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released two nationwide resource assessments showing that waves and tidal currents off the nation’s coasts could contribute significantly to the United States’ total annual electricity...

In a recent breakthrough, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have made great strides into what could be the future of solar power. Their methods have replicated a process from the natural world...