In the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, 20 collegiate teams compete to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are affordable, attractive, and easy to live in, maintains comfortable and healthy indoor environmental conditions, supplies energy to household appliances for cooking, cleaning, and entertainment, provides adequate hot water, and…
The Milwaukee Public Museum’s 8-story tower’s marble façade facing West Wells Street is being replaced with 234 solar panels. It was reported that, over the past 50 years, the Museum’s heavy marble façade on the south wall facing West Wells Street has weathered and become less stable. Milwaukee County, which…
UPDATE: Natural Resources Defense Council Staff Blog, Great News: NY Governor Cuomo Pledges $1 Billion For Solar (Jan. 8, 2014) On July 17, 2013, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the State University of New York’s (SUNY) College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) will revitalize a vacant…
UPDATE: Sacramento Business Journal, California hits solar power record, twice (Mar. 11, 2014); The Huffington Post, California More Than Doubles Solar Energy In 2013 (Jan. 13, 2014): “California installed more megawatts of solar energy in 2013 than it did in the last 30 years combined, the California Solar Energy Industries…
In early July, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced the withdrawal of lands identified for solar energy development in the West from new mining claims that could impede development of solar energy sites. Public Land Order No. 7818 (PLO 7818) withdraws 303,900 acres of land within 17 Solar Energy…
At the 2013 North America Intersolar Conference in San Francisco, California Governor Jerry Brown, and many others spoke confidently about solar opportunities in California. “Just within the last two months we actually recorded over 2,000 MW of solar energy being put into the grid…,” Governor Brown reported. He also confirmed…
Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) began enforcing Order 1000, a broad and detailed set of guidelines regarding the development of the nation’s power transmission system. The Order, which has been viewed as one of the most significant transformations to the electricity market in recent memory, impacts regional…
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) just released a report titled “Failure to Act, the Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Electricity Infrastructure” and no, the results are not pretty. According to the report, the gap between the amount actually spent on infrastructure across America and the amount…
Earlier this month the Department of Energy announced a 6 year, $180 million initiative to boost the Nation’s wind power capabilities. Starting with $20 million this year, the DOE will spend the money on up to four innovative offshore wind energy installations across the United States. The DOE says the…
The Department of the Interior has opened the public comment period for the environmental impacts of the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) project. The project envisions a link between the proposed off shore wind farms in the Atlantic from Virgina to New Jersey and will provide an efficient means of transporting…