Does Air Pollution Undermine Solar Energy?
A new study shows that poor air quality has reduced the amount of sunlight reaching China's solar installations, undermining the country's renewable energy efforts.
Solar Energy
How Utilities Stall Progress on Alternative Energy
A new report from the Environmental Working Group claims that Duke Energy, the nation's largest utility, is holding back the transition away from fossil fuels.
Stories You Might Have Missed This Week
The Senate confirms a former lobbyist as EPA head, the U.S. is losing solar jobs, and fishy sightings intrigue scientists.
Why Solar Panels Should Go From Rooftops to Mountaintops
A new study finds that installing solar panels on snow-covered mountains could help close the gap between demand and production during the winter months.
California Becomes the First State to Make Solar Panels Mandatory
The new standard will bring the state closer to meeting its climate goals.
Creating an Energy Independent Future for South Dakota's Native Peoples
On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Henry Red Cloud is leading a movement toward a sustainable energy future.
Trump Tariff Causes Solar Company to Halt $20 Million Investment
Trump intended for the tariff to protect American manufacturing jobs, but many in the American solar industry see it as a hindrance to solar panel production.
COP21 Climate Briefing: The First Three Days
Your recap of a whirlwind opening at the 2015 United Nations climate summit.
The Solar Revolution That Wasn't
Concentrated solar plants are a relatively new technology that has the potential to provide hundreds of thousands of homes with clean energy. So why hasn't it caught on?
When Switzerland Ruled the World of Household-Size Solar
In our final excerpt from his new book on the history of solar power, Let It Shine, author John Perlin describes a key moment in the debate over big, centralized solar sites and smaller, distributed rooftop panels.
How Ronald Reagan Turned Out the Lights on Solar Power
In an excerpt from his new book Let It Shine, John Perlin reveals how one of the first actions of the new Reagan administration was to dim the lights on what had been a promising start for an American solar energy program. Solar in the U.S. has yet to fully recover.
Solar Has Been in Our Energy Portfolio for 6 Millennia
In an excerpt from John Perlin’s new book, Let It Shine: The 6,000 Year Story of Solar Energy, the solar guru explains how making use of the sun's energy is anything but a new technology.
Weaponizing the Sun: A Building That Can Melt Nearby Cars With Light
Solar concentrators are a hot weapon in the renewable energy arsenal. Except sometimes they really can be a weapon.
Wind and Other Renewable Energies Aren't Impractical or Unreliable
Wind and solar remain small components of the U.S. energy portfolio, but two new data points out this week suggest they're starting to to hit their stride.
Navajo Nation Builds Momentum for Renewable Energy
The U.S. Southwest is ground zero in the effort to transition America to an energy portfolio of renewables. What are the first steps, and who is making them?
Consistency Key to Renewable Energy Policy
A new report on funding renewable energy projects offers a primer on how policy decisions are best engineered to boost the industry.
Solyndra's Problems Were More Politics Than Power
Analysis: Solar energy writer John Perlin argues that Solyndra's fall from grace reflects a bad choice in technique, and not a fundamental problem with solar energy.
Greece, North Africa Promote Their Solar Power Projects
Competing solar projects are vying to supply Germany's renewable desires, each one trying to push the other into the shade.
Solar Entrepreneurs' New Sales Pitch
Having seen well-intentioned but unsuccessful attempts to bring alternative energy to the developing world, several NGO founders suggest a more collaborative approach.
Nuclear Power Safety From an Expert
Nuclear engineer Cesare Silvi studied unlikely outside threats to nuclear plants in Italy, which soured him on the energy source and caused him to go solar.
Rooftop Solar Power to the People?
Some environmental advocates say the federal government is ignoring the real future of solar energy: photovoltaic cells on almost every roof. But even supporters acknowledge rooftop solar isn't the complete answer to the energy question — yet.
Are New Solar Power Projects Anti-Environmental?
Big money, big energy and big environmentalism join forces to support big solar energy projects on federal land in the Southwest. But could these "green" projects actually be anti-environmental boondoggles in the making?