solar power

Converting the sun's rays into usable energy is an integral step in decreasing our dependency on fossil fuels and lowering our greenhouse gas emissions. While solar panels have been used in buildings since the 50's, we're just starting to reach the tipping point for their widespread adoption. 

With subsidies that lower the costs of installations and feed-in-tariffs that pay for the electricity solar energy produces, going solar is more than an environmental decision; it makes sense economically.

The technology is actually simple, but everything surrounding it — not so much. It's going to be up to innovative entrepreneurs and policy makers to make solar power more economical, the grid smarter, homeowners and businesses more receptive, and coding and permits more uniform so that all the pieces fit nicely together.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “solar power”

• Q&A: Googles Green Energy Czar

  
  Green Inc. — Authority: 716
  "As a society, we have chosen to invest too little in alternative energy," said Bill Weihl, who steers Googles clean energy endeavors.
  4 hours ago

• MoDOTs solar powered heating system will clear bridges of snow and rain

  
  Greenlaunches.com — Authority: 544
  Crossing a bridge and getting to the other side sure is difficult during snow and rain. Keeping this in mind, a new heating system powered by solar energy will be used by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) and will be installed by Pave Guard Technologies, a Kansas City firm. Scheduled to be first ...
  5 hours ago

• The Scorpion - Eton’s solar powered radio

  
  Greenlaunches.com — Authority: 544
  The concept of utilizing renewable sources of energy especially solar energy is being put to use in every nook and corner of the world today. So much that even radios have come to use solar energy to power themselves up now. Portable radios may have become outdated due to the use of mp3 players that have inbuilt radio ...
  6 hours ago

• Combination Of Solar And Wind Power Keeps Generation Steady

  
  AQUACHANNEL — Authority: 140
  Looking another sources for power generation is on everyone’s mind and with the cost of using fossil fuels continuing to climb other forms of power is growing in popularity. While some parts of the country have an abundance of sunshine and others never lack for wind, a combination solar wind power generation systems ...
  7 hours ago

• EnviroMission Plans Massive Solar Updraft Towers for Arizona

  
  The Far Edge — Authority: 154
  Australia-based EnviroMission Ltd recently announced plans to build two solar updraft towers that span hundreds of acres in La Paz County, Arizona. Solar updraft technology sounds promising enough: generate hot air with a giant greenhouse, channel the air into a chimney-like device, and let the warm wind turn a ...
  11 hours ago

• Auto Transport Quotes:Methods to Harness Solar Energy for your Residence

  
  Alternative Energy HQ — Authority: 437
  Environmentalism is on the minds of almost every one of us these days. This is because pollution is mounting at a shocking rate and is putting too much amount of pressure on the frail balance in the environment. Once this balance is permanently violated it is really not easy for earth to carry on being a ...
  11 hours ago

• Energizers Energi to Go Solar Charger Uses Futuristic Sun Heat Power for Your Gadgets [Solar Power]

  
  Gizmodo — Authority: 895
  Energizer just announced two new portable solar chargers, the SP1000 and SP2000, both of which provide power through an AC or USB adapter. If youre into that kind of hippie "lets not destroy the earth" stuff, this looks pretty good. The SP1000 is a 1000mAh charger, while the SP2000 is, predictably, double that, ...
  12 hours ago

• Solar Power Roads

  
  Sustainability Ninja — Authority: 126
  The global engineering company Ingenieurgesellschaft Auto und Verkehr (IAV) has a plan to get crafty with our roadways. This company is working on a way to refuel electric cars while they are both driving and parked via road embedded solar panels and piezoelectric generators. In execution, the transfer of energy from ...
  17 hours ago

• Solar energy on the rise, offering great opportunities for e-learning

  
  Stockholm College — Authority: 118
  Solar energy seems to be one of the biggest the buzzword for 2010, and the technology is constantly evolving. Portable devices, roofing tiles, and solar heating are just some of the exciting new developments. BBC reports that portable solar devices are becoming smaller and smaller – and, despite this, even more ...
  19 hours ago

• Here Comes the Sun

  
  BEYONDbones — Authority: 132
  I had the chance to go talk with a wonderful and smart bunch of 5th graders at Oran M. Roberts Elementary School about solar energy . I have been interested in solar energy for over two decades now. It started as a cub scout ; we built small solar powered cars, which were made from a 1 foot square piece of ...
  19 hours ago

• Green Energy Is The Best Alternative

  
  Go Solar Power For Homes — Authority: 140
  Green energy is the way to go in today’s world. It is a way in which natural energy such as wind, solar, water and geothermal are used instead of other non-renewable types of energy to heat or cool a house and run the everyday activities. Renewable energy is better for the earth and for the user. At the present ...
  20 hours ago

• Year in Review: Solar Power

  
  TexasVox: The Voice of Public Citizen in Texas — Authority: 560
  Part 4. Sunny With a Chance of Economic Development: Solar Potential, the Solar Session that wasn’t, and City of Austin Solar Plant Last spring, our minds were budding with thoughts of birds, bees, and… Texas’ solar potential (didn’t you know, a robust solar program would put Texans back to work and ...
  21 hours ago

• Hawaii Mandates Solar Water Heaters

  
  Move Trends Real Estate Blog - The Leader in Online Real Estate — Authority: 141
  Under a new law that took effect on January 1st, all new homes in Hawaii will have to be outfitted with solar water heating systems, making Hawaii the first state to mandate these eco-friendly heating systems. Although the solar water heaters typically cost home buyers about $5,000 to $6,000 extra, the systems should ...
  22 hours ago

• SOLAR EAR: Affordable Sun-Powered Hearing Aids

  
  INHABITAT — Authority: 731
  For anyone unfamiliar with hearing aids, know that they require a great deal of two things: money and batteries. Luckily, one humanitarian project aims to make the medical devices much cheaper and more eco-friendly. Solar Ear , a Brazil-based company, creates low-cost hearing aids that get their juice from ...
  22 hours ago

• Government Grants For Small Business: Business Gains from Green Energy

  
  Fashion Forward — Authority: 152
  Environmentalism is the strong subject of discussion nowadays and in this environment solar power has took on huge value. Many people feel that the human race is having a negative effect on the environment because of how much pollution we put out by using the conventional power production that we use on a daily basis. ...
  23 hours ago

• EnviroMission Plans Massive Solar Updraft Towers for Arizona

  
  INHABITAT — Authority: 731
  Australia-based EnviroMission Ltd recently announced plans to build two solar updraft towers that span hundreds of acres in La Paz County, Arizona. Solar updraft technology sounds promising enough: generate hot air with a giant greenhouse, channel the air into a chimney-like device, and let the warm wind turn a ...
  23 hours ago

• Labor Department gives nearly $100 million in green-jobs training grants

  
  L.A. Land — Authority: 139
  The government is funneling nearly $100 million into training programs for green jobs , Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said today . The funds, part of a $500-million green workforce development initiative through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will go to 25 projects around the country. The programs ...
  1 day ago

• National Movers: Solar Energy A Big Advantage to Our Atmosphere

  
  The Solar Cost Guide — Authority: 135
  Environmentalism is considered the most pressing issue to humans today. In order to oppose the results of pollution and also to have a power mine that is renewable scientists are searching for other sources of power. Solar power satisfies both these necessities splendidly and therefore that is being advertised as the ...
  1 day ago

• Travel hot spots

  
  Eco-Friendly Tips — Authority: 509
  It has been called one of the worst winters in a decade so many people are starting to look into ways to make the winter pass by easier, how about flying away somewhere exotic and Eco? If you have the time and resources then this list of the best Eco hot spots is just what [...]
  1 day ago

• Solar Sling Tote Bag Made from Recycled Plastic...and Not Ugly

  
  TreeHugger — Authority: 589
  Image via Concord Keystone Made from reclaimed plastic bottles, this solar tote from Concord Keystone (yes, that very company that gave us the Weird Solar Device of the Day last week) is about to debut at CES 2010. Called the 4U2ReUSE Solar Sling - a name that admittedly needs a lot of work - it is one more item ...
  1 day ago

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