solar

photo courtesy of General Motors

You may have read how General Motors recently announced that its Zaragosa, Spain factory would be hosting the world's largest rooftop solar array. This Thursday you can get your chance to ask GM Green Power Initiatives Manager Rob Threlkeld all about the plant, solar energy in general, and GM’s use of renewable energy. The chat will take place at the GMnext website, from 3-4 PM, EDT. You’ll have to register to participate prior to the event.

photo: Getty Images

The various renewable energy incentive packages introduced into the U.S. Congress, or stalled in the Senate have been a running post topic in the last month or so on TreeHugger. Now comes word, through GreenTechMedia, that legislative inaction may result in at least one company abandoning two U.S. solar projects.
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photo by James Gordon

Baghdad may not be able to provide city residents enough electricity from the grid to keep the lights on in people’s homes and businesses for more than half the day, but the streetlights may soon may have a more reliable source of power. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Iraqi Electricity Ministry and the U.S. military are in the process of installing solar-powered street lighting throughout the capital.

Security Impetus For Solar Lighting
The Electricity m...

Eastern elevation rendering courtesy of BAPS Shree Swaminarayan Mandir

Recently I wrote about how Hindu temples in India have been making efforts to green their energy usage and commented that, given the core belief of the interconnectedness of all life in Sanatana Dharma, it wasn’t surprising that Hindu temples would embrace cleaner energy. Now comes word, via Inhabitat, that a new mandir (temple) and cultural center in Chino Hills, Calif...

The beauty of "largest" records is that they just keep on growing. Florida Power & Light Company announces the selection of SunPower to build the largest solar photovoltaic power plant in the United States, a 25-megawatt power plant in DeSoto County, Florida, expected to go on-line in 2009, contingent on approval of the Florida Public Service Commission. SunPower's reputation rests on the high-efficiency (22 percent efficient) Gen 2 technology photovoltaic chips, which have been in mass production since 2007....

You wouldn't want to waste your time just lying in the sun. Now you can make the sun work for you whilst you are soaking up the rays.

This chaise lounge has a panel over the head made of solar panel fabric that acts as a sunshade and moves to protect you from the sun. At the same time it collects solar energy. This is converted into electricity that can be used to charge all those essential gadgets needed for the beach such as a dock to download your digital camera pictures and load up MP3 players and even a GPS in case you get lost. It has a sliding laptop table so that you can read TreeHugger at the same time. Of course there are speakers and long-range WiFi antennae. Ca...

photo by laurenatclemson via flickr

Rising oil prices may be making wind power cost-competitive in Spain, but the key to Spain’s rapidly growing solar industry has been generous government subsidies creating market stability. Although nothing is definite yet, simply the mention of reducing the level at which subsidies are capped has created waves in the Iberian solar industry.
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Sulfurcell Headquarters photo courtesy of Sulfurcell.

It was only a few weeks ago when we learned that Intel was getting into solar hrough its Intel Capital division. Well, their solar investments continue once more. This time with a €24 million investment in Sulfurcell, a German thin-film solar developer and manufacturer using

Intel was the leading single investor in the €85 million total equity round, with an additional €38 million coming from a mix of European investors—Climate Change Capital Private Equity, AIG, Demeter Partners, Zouk Ventures and BankInvest. The balance of the...

Good things come in threes. TreeHugger recently reviewed the Bedfan and SunFrost Sleep Genie. The Bedfan cools you under the sheets while you sleep. The Sleep Genie is sized to cool just your sleeping area by insulating around the bed ("Victorian bed curtains" suggests TreeHugger's Lloyd Alter), and could be solar-powered.

Making it three, we mention the Sleepbreeze Personal Cooling System. The Sleepbreeze cooling f...

Victorian Bedcurtains are back, as Sun Frost introduces the Sleep Genie, a tiny air conditioner just big enough to keep you comfy while you sleep in your insulated bedchamber. They note that it runs at 72 Watts, and can be powered by a 280 watt solar array. It is so logical, to reduce the load to reasonable amounts for solar simply by reducing the area cooled to the minimum. ::Sunfrost

But as Allison Arrieff says in the New York Times: "Great. You may be cooler, but now you’re claustrophobic." She continues: "its execution speaks to a larger issue: a general lack of innovation. Instead of re-imag...

photo courtesy of General Motors

Yet another “world’s largest” in solar power: General Motors has partnered with Clairvoyant Energy, Veolia Environmental and the Government of Aragon to install what will be the world’s largest rooftop solar array on its Zaragosa, Spain assembly plant.

According to GM the array will be 12 MW in size and cover two million square feet and consist of approximately 85,000 panels. Installation is expected to be completed this fall. The space for the project will be leased from General Motors by Veolia Environment and Clairvoyant Energy, who will operate and maintain the installation. According to GM the project will help the corporation reduce cost...

Japan's business news source, Nikkei (subscription only), has reported that Toyota is planning a Prius with solar panels manufactured by Kyocera Corp. Toyota has not confirmed the reports. If Toyota achieves the rumored timing, it will be the first major manufacturer to bring a car with integrated solar panels to the mass market.

Toyota has not unveiled any design plans for the solar panels: pictured above is an artist's conception of how the Solar Prius might look. The solar panels will power the air conditioning on the world's most popular hybrid car. The last major revamp of the Prius power system was an upgrade of the hybrid synergy drive i...

Aerial view of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, site of Velankani Renewable Group’s new manufacturing complex. Photo via Wikipedia.

A well-timed announcement can be a thing of beauty. Just days after Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh said that solar energy would be a key point in his new climate plan, Bangalore-based Velankani Group announces that it will be constructing a new manufacturing complex for silicon compounds and solar cells.

Plant to be Built in Visakhapatnam, An...

This year’s Sea No Evil event , also known as the Sea Shepherd Art Show aims to bring art, music and the environment together under one roof in Riverside, CA. The location – The Riverside Art Musem. The date – Saturday, July 12, 2008. The acts – recording artist Matt Costa, DJ Shephard Fairey and art by over 53 artists will be on display. The event is co-hosted by RVCA, the Artist Network Program and Monster Media.

For those of you in the LA or Riverside area, mark your calendars now to come out to Riverside for a good cause. Musical acts include Mat...

Factory welding video grab courtesy of Ausra

While Ausra CEO Robert Fishman was far from excited yesterday about the BLM solar moratorium policy, he was perfectly happy to tout his company’s new 130,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Las Vegas.

“This is a crossover point for this industry. Ausra’s factory is accelerating Nevada’s and America’s solar future by tripling worldwide manufacturing capacity, relieving the supply constraint that has slowed the industry, and continuing to drive down costs,” Fishman said in Ausra’s press release.
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Did you know that the rate of CO2 emissions for average PC use is equal to the CO2 exhaled by 1.5 humans? If not, you probably missed the Virtual Energy Forum 10-11 June 2008. But all is not lost. The presentations are available to registered users at the Virtual Energy Forum website. The live conference took place in a virtual conference environment, saving over 12 million pounds of CO2 emissions, which would have been incurred by air travel, hotel stays and commuting to/from airports to attend a real conference.

We have been watching the movement towards virtual conferences since we reported on

photo by Colin Ashe

Last week saw California and the United Kingdom reveal plans to promote renewable energy and combat climate change. Today, India has announced its intentions in this arena.

Solar Power Will Change the Face of India
In announcing the National Action Plan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that a gradual shift towards renewable energy, in particular solar power, would enable India to “make [its] ec...

image source: United Technologies

The perennial complaint by renewable energy skeptics about wind and solar power is, that despite the fact that they produce clean power, they are intermittent in nature and require some sort of storage technology to fully exploit the power generated. A recent article at Renewable Energy World spotlights one solution to this very real issue: Molten Salt.

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I caught this on Greenbang today:
According to sites that watch all things Apple, the company has filed a patent which hints that iPods and iPhones might be up for the solar treatment in the future. I can see it happening. And I want one.

So we know what it takes to live off grid and how you generate off grid power, but what does living off grid look like? It might be a surprise to some, but some off-grid homes are totally indistinguishable from other houses in the neighborhood (except for the lack of power lines and electricity meters).

Above is the Van Geet Off-Grid Home [pdf], sponsored by the U.S. De...

The 2008 Olympic torch blazes a trail of glory—and carbon dioxide.

Utah goes car crazy over Compressed Natural Gas.

Big electronics retailers step up with e-waste recycling programs.

Triplepundit offers four solar thermal installation considerations.

Which country boasts the world's largest clean energy project?

Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green news?...

Spiegel Online published a series of pictures titled "Desertec: Strom aus der Wüste" (translation: Desertech: Electricity from the desert). It includes this image of how much land would be needed to power the world, Europe or Germany with solar-thermal power. The idea is similar to a post we did a year ago: How Much Land to Power The Whole World with Solar?

The red square on the left is for the whole world, in the middle for Europe-25, and on the right for Germany. Below you can see pictures of the kind of technology they're talking about. It's a bit similar to

When the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, died a couple of years back, after being stung by a stingray, our obituary post sparked off a torrent of views for and against Steve’s style of wildlife conservation. Let’s see how we fare this time?

Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, the organisation set up by Steve Irwin and his family, is currently building what is described as the “world's largest wildlife hospital” next door to Australia Zoo in Queensland. Which is kinda cool on its own. But we also like that it will be housed in “one of the biggest strawbale constructions in the world.”
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We had to do a double take on this one. A UK energy company is building a brand-new house, to 1930s standards, in order to go green. The idea isn’t entirely as daft as it sounds. E.On, one of the largest energy companies in Britain, is teaming up with the University of Nottingham to build a replica 1930s house to test retrofit low carbon technologies. The house will be on campus, and will be lived in by students, and will be used to collect real-life data about the technologies that are utilized:

“"It will be lived in. We want to show the re...

Is the Th!nk City Car the functional, affordable electric dream ride we’ve all been waiting for?

SolarCity makes ‘going solar’ affordable with a leasing program.

The masterminds behind the Meatrix present a new web-based kids show.

A little moth sparks big pesticide debate in California.

A recent survey measures the greenwashing gap.

Most Huggable is a regular roundup of some of Hugg's top green news stories. Why not submit your own green n...