solar power Archives

Leech Lake Community Solar Array First in MN to be 100% Dedicated to Low-Income Residents

August 22, 2017 by Anna Carlson

At a ceremony, fittingly under sunny skies, Leech Lake officials and representatives from the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance unveiled a new solar array at the Prescott Community Center. The walls of solar panels at the community center are one of five spread throughout the reservation, with others at the Palace Casino, Leech Lake Tribal College, the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance office in Pine River and a fifth in Jackson Village.

Solar Panels have been Benefitting the Climate ‘since 2011’

December 15, 2020December 8, 2016 by Sophie Yeo

In 2011, solar power reached a tipping point. This was the year when the solar industry had saved more greenhouse gases than it emitted.

Waiting for the Climacteric: or, the Return of the Greentard

December 15, 2020December 5, 2016 by Chris Smaje

…I want to broach some wider energy-related issues with the help of two acquaintances of this site, before narrowing the scope to agricultural energy in a future post.

Another Failure of Scientific Peer-Review: a Completely Wrong Paper on the Energy Return of Photovoltaic Energy

December 15, 2020November 8, 2016 by Maury Markowitz

Theoretically, whatever is published in a scientific journal should go through a rigorous review process that ensures that it is correct and reliable. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

Five Billion Years of Energy Supply: the “Stereosphere” and the Upcoming Photovoltaic Revolution

December 15, 2020August 23, 2016 by Ugo Bardi

Both the biosphere and the stereosphere use solar light as the energy potential necessary to keep the metabolic cycle going and they build-up metabolic structures using nutrients taken from the earth’s surface environment.

The Solar Transition

December 15, 2020August 15, 2016 by Andrew Curry

Although futurists aren’t supposed to make predictions, the notion that our energy system is switching much more quickly than expected from fossil fuels to renewables, and that solar energy will be at the front of that change, suddenly doesn’t seem so controversial.

The Global Energy Transformation and Innovation: the Case of Solarcentury and Sunstation

December 15, 2020May 31, 2016 by Jeremy Leggett

The solar revolution will continue to unfold, meanwhile, and the better that innovation teams in the clean energy industries deploy their design magic – in the broadest possible sense of that word – the quicker it will all accelerate.

The Real EROI of Photovoltaic Systems: Professor Hall Weighs in

December 15, 2020May 27, 2016 by Charles Hall

The EROI of our various energy options, and its associated issues, may be the most important issues that will face future civilizations.

But What’s the REAL Energy Return of Photovoltaic Energy?

December 15, 2020May 24, 2016 by Ugo Bardi

According to a recent, comprehensive study of the scientific literature (1), the average energy return on energy invested (EROEI) of the most common photovoltaic technology (polycrystalline Si) is 11-12. A far cry from the legend of the “EROI smaller than one” that’s making the rounds in the Web.

How to Get your Apartment Off the Grid

May 19, 2016 by Kris De Decker

The typical solar PV power installation requires access to a private roof and a big budget. However, wouldn’t it be possible to get around these obstacles by installing small solar panels on window sills and balconies, connected to a low-voltage direct current (DC) distribution network?

CCC: UK Wind and Solar will be Cheaper than Gas by 2020

December 15, 2020November 10, 2015 by Simon Evans

Low-carbon electricity from wind and solar farms will be cheaper than gas and effectively subsidy-free by 2020, says the Committee on Climate Change (CCC).

African Lights: Microgrids Are Bringing Power to Rural Kenya

December 15, 2020October 28, 2015 by Fred Pearce

Small-scale microgrids are increasingly seen as the most promising way to bring electricity to the 1.3 billion people worldwide who currently lack it.